Lewisville Lake International Chamber Series

featuring emerging artists from around the world.

Sponsored by the Lewisville Lake Symphony in cooperation with the University of North Texas

Friday October 8, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.

Trinity Presbyterian Church  (Map)
5500 Morriss Road, Flower Mound TX 75028
(Just south of Marcus HS, on the other side of the road.)

Concert is free  - a donation to the Symphony is welcomed

Arsentiy Kharitonov talks about the music

Arsentiy at Tchaikovsky's grave in St. Petersburg

The main thing why I play these pieces is simple: I love these compositions. I feel I can say and express so much by playing this program.

Chopin Fantasy: In this piece I can see the composer going through difficulties in his life, it is a constant transition from dark, melancholic funeral march, to the bright, willing to live fanfare at the end of the piece.

Scriabin Sonata: Scriabin is one of my favorite composers, and this particular sonata seems to be a piece where composer is searching for a new musical writing style. (From romantic, to symbolism and later expressionism) This is Scriabin's last sonata which is tonal (F sharp Major). To me I find very important is to listen for the "sound of silence". In this piece composer gives tremendous role for the rests. They are just as important as notes. I also love how Scriabin brings back the theme from the first movement in to the last bars of the piece, making it sound like a fanfare of living things. Optimism is a definite winner!

Liszt sonata: To me this is a great example of a true masterpiece. Liszt writes this sonata under influence from reading Goethe's Faust. So, it has plenty of characters which are represented by certain motifs. Composer uses them in order to make music be very alive. Throughout the whole piece these motifs are being heard. To me this whole piece is never ending philosophical argument, or i might say, battle between good and bad, life and death, love and hate. Sonata lasts for about 30 minutes without breaks. I think by doing that, composer wanted to emphasize or picture a whole human life from birth to death and even to raise a question: is life a fate of itself.
 

Arsentiy Kharitonov

Nikita Fitenko and Arsentiy after a concert in Louisiana

Arsentiy Kharitonov is the winner of numerous competitions including 2003 “Slavic Music” Competition (Ukraine), Beethoven Piano Sonata competition (Memphis), and Franz Liszt International Competition (Los Angeles.) He has performed in recitals and with orchestras in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. 

Kharitonov’s orchestral appearances include performances with the St. Petersburg Philarmonic orchestra, Mariinsky youth orchestra, Northwestern Symphony, and the Monroe Symphony. In 2006, Mr. Kharitonov was invited to play a recital at the Consulate of Finland in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Arsentiy Kharitonov began studying piano at age five in his native town of Stary Oskol in southern Russia close to the Ukraine . At age of 7 he won the Russian Sergei Rachmaninoff piano competition. After graduating from Stary Oskol's central music school Kharitonov continued his studies at the Rimsky-Korsakov Music College in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2008, Kharitonov received his Bachelor's in Music Performance at Northwestern State University, studying with pianist Nikita Fitenko.

Currently, Arsentiy Kharitonov is studying with Joseph Banowetz at the University of North Texas.