Classical meets jazz when world-renowned violist Yuri Bashmet, hailed by
The Times of London as “without doubt, one of the world’s greatest living musicians,” and saxophone virtuoso Igor Butman, Russia’s premier jazz musician, bring their talents and orchestras together in a Seattle performance of “Crossover Concerto.” The concert takes place at Benaroya Hall (200 University Street) one night only, Friday, February 20, at 8:00 p.m.
The Seattle performance launches a national tour of “Crossover Concerto” that is being presented by Maestro Artist Management Inc. (
www.maestroartist.com) in some of the most prestigious venues in the United States, including Avery Fisher Hall in New York’s Lincoln Center and Symphony Hall in Boston.
Tickets for the Seattle concert, priced from $35.00 to $85.00, are now on sale and are available from 206.292.ARTS, Ticketmaster.com and the Benaroya Hall ticket office.
“Crossover Concerto” features pieces from the classical repertoire of the Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra—which, along with its conductor Yuri Bashmet, garnered a 2008 Grammy Award—and jazz arrangements of Russian classics by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, performed by Igor Butman and his Big Band. Also featured will be “Jazz Suite for Viola, Saxophone, Piano, String Orchestra and Big Band” by critically acclaimed pianist/composer Igor Raykhelson.
“Yuri Bashmet’s artistry has inspired many composers to write for him, myself included,” says Mr. Raykhelson, whose composition “Adagio for Viola and String Orchestra” garnered critical praise when it was performed by Mr. Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists at Carnegie Hall in April 2003. Mr. Raykhelson, a New York City resident originally from St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), Russia, studied jazz and classical piano at the Leningrad Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. He tours internationally as both a jazz and classical pianist, making solo and chamber appearances.
Yuri Bashmet, one of today’s leading musicians, has appeared with top orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and London Philharmonic. The Moscow Soloists, a chamber ensemble founded by Mr. Bashmet that comprises young graduates of the Moscow Conservatory, has performed at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall in London and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, among others.
Igor Butman is Russia’s number one jazz personality. His performance of his composition “Nostalgie” at a Kremlin state dinner for Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton in 2000 prompted the former U.S. President to describe Mr. Butman in his memoir My Life as “my favorite living tenor saxophonist” and to include him on the CD The Bill Clinton Collection.
Mr. Butman has performed and recorded with the world’s top jazz musicians, including Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Randy Brecker, Pat Metheny, Gary Burton, Louie Bellson, Grover Washington, Jr., Billy Taylor, Walter Davis, Jr., Monty Alexander, Lionel Hampton, Eddie Gomez and Lyle Mays. Since 1999, Mr. Butman’s Big Band has toured all over Russia, and regularly appears at Moscow’s top jazz venue, Le Club, where Mr. Butman is artistic director and a musical ambassador connecting Russian and U.S. jazz musicians.
For more information about the U.S. tour of “Crossover Concerto,” please visit
www.maestroartist.com.
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