Russian National Orchestra to Play Eisenhower Auditorium

Some of the best classical musicians from Russia will take the stage at Penn State next month.

The Russian National Orchestra will play at Eisenhower Auditorium on Thursday, March 3, as part of its 25th anniversary world tour.

The orchestra was first premiered in Moscow in 1990 and was the first Russian ensemble to perform at the Vatican and in Israel.

The orchestra was named one of the world’s top such groups in 2008 by a panel of international critics assembled by Gramophone. The ensemble was a Grammy back in 2004, and was nominated for a second that year. It has released over 75 recorings in its 25+ years of existence.

The program at Eisenhower Auditorium will include Alexander Glazunov’s prelude to the suite ‘From the Middle Ages,’ as well as an arrangement of Sergei Prokofiev’s suite from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ written by the orchestra’s artistic director, Mikhail Pletnev. 

American classical violin soloist Stefan Jackiw will join the orchestra for its Penn State show, who will join them to play Felix Mendelssohn’s Violen Concerto in E minor, Op. 64. Jackiw was born in Boston to a Korean mother and Ukrainian father. He started playing violin at four and has studied under a number of acclaimed violinists. He studied music at Harvard and has played with more orchestras than you can count on all your fingers twice over.

Conductor Kirill Karabits will lead the orchestra at the March 3 show. Karabits is a Ukrainian conductor from Kiev who made his first public appearance as a conductor at 19 years old. He won the United Kingdom’s Royal Philharmonic Conductor Award in 2013.

The concert will be preceded by Artistic Viewpoints, a moderated discussion featuring the musicians an hour before the 7:30 p.m. show. Visit the Russian National Orchestra’s website or call 814-863-0255 to order tickets.