This year, the European Foundation for Support of Culture (EUFSC) has joined forces with SAMIT Event Group to present the latest edition of the InClassica International Music Festival in Dubai, which started on Aug. 15 and will continue until Sept. 26. This musical event is taking place at two of the city’s most important venues: The Dubai Opera and the Coca-Cola Arena.
In addition, the festival is also presenting the Classic Piano International Competition, as well as the Middle East Classical Music Academy (MECMA). Classic Piano featured the winners of 14 preliminary competitions from around the world, who were competing in Dubai across four rounds in a stunning display of musicianship and pianistic excellence. MECMA, taking place in parallel with InClassica (from Sept. 4 to 23) welcomes some of the most esteemed professors and performers from across the globe for a series of workshops, lectures and open masterclasses.
“After such a challenging period for the world of classical music and culture in general, I am proud to announce the InClassica International Festival, featuring an exclusive program with some of the greatest soloists, orchestras, and conductors from all over the world. Along with our other projects, this event mixes together talent, fame and passion, and I cannot wait to welcome our valued audiences to Dubai,” said Konstantin Ishkhanov, president of the EUFSC.
Konstantin Ishkhanov, president of the EUFSC
In addition to repertoire by famous European composers, InClassica will feature works by contemporary composer Alexey Shor, who serves as composer-in-residence for the festival. Shor’s pieces have been performed all over the world by a number of prestigious ensembles, including the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, to name a few.
Featured soloists for InClassica include:
- Recipient of the 2011 Leonard Bernstein Award, first prize winner of the Walter E. Naumburg Viola Competition and the 2010 Avery Fisher Career Grant, violist David Aaron Carpenter (US);
- First prize and golden medal recipient at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and winner of the IX Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover and Singapore International Violin Competition, violinist Sergei Dogadin (Russia);
- Double second prize winner at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 2011 and 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, pianist Yeol Eum Son (South Korea);
- First prize and audience award recipient at Placido Domingo’s Operalia in 2002, soprano Carmen Giannattasio (Italy);
- Winner of the Sydney International Piano Competition in 2016 and prize winner for Best Overall Concerto, Best 19th/20th Century Concerto, Best Violin and Piano Sonata and Best Preliminaries for his first-round recital, pianist Andrey Gugnin (Russia);
- And recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the German Record Critics’ Association, seven Juno Awards, 11 Grammy nominations, the 2018 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance awarded by Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Awards for Keyboard Artistry from the Ontario Arts Foundation, pianist Marc-André Hamelin (Canada).
Featured conductors due to appear at InClassica include: Arkady Feldman (Russia), Michael Francis (UK/US), Mikhail Kirchhoff (Russia), Felix Korobov (Russia), Gergely Madaras (Hungary), Mikhail Pletnev (Russia), Daniel Raiskin (Russia/Netherlands), Alexander Sladkovsky (Russia), Sergey Smbatyan (Armenia), Marius Stravinsky (UK) and Dmitry Yablonsky (US/Israel/Spain). Orchestras performing at InClassica include: The Russian National Orchestra, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (Israel); Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra (Russia) and the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (Germany).
