NEW YORK, June 7. /TASS/. Moscow pianist, composer and teacher at the Moscow Conservatory Nikita Mndoyants is set to debut on the Carnegie Hall stage on Wednesday, the musician told TASS ahead of the performance.
Mndoyants, the winner of the 2016 Cleveland International Competition, will perform classical material, as well as his own works.
"Performing at Carnegie Hall has a special meaning to Russian musicians, because Petr Tchaikovsky took part in opening it. Sergei Rachmaninov performed here a lot. It is a Hall with a rich history, one of the most important international stages, and performing on it is considered a high point in the biography of any musician," he said.
"I was very thorough in selecting the repertoire, because I understand that it is hard to surprise the New York audience. That is why there won't be any popular classics and hits at my concert," the 28 year old performer said.
"For the program, I chose one of the last works of Ludwig van Beethoven - The Six Bagatelles, which stand apart in his work, and they allow for the performer's imagination," said Mndoyants, adding that the first part of the concert will also consist of Robert Schumann's cycle of variations, while the second will consist of Sergei Prokofiev’s Eighth Sonata as well as the young composer's’ own works.
Mndoyants, a member of the Union of Composers of Russia, will perform Variations on a theme of Paganini as a composer at Wednesday’s concert.
"Few composers can say how and when the grain of a new work is born. It is a process that has is pondered for a long time, you are always scrolling through the material - on the road, on vacation, your thoughts are constantly engaged in it. Later on at the instrument, certain pieces are worked through, themes are developed," he said.
After the performance at Carnegie Hall, Mndoyants has a lengthy tour ahead of him to South Africa and in 2018 in China.
"Right now, I enjoy performances, concerts, tours, concerts with orchestra. And I don’t have as much time to compose, but I don’t feel like it is a bad thing. Possibly, in the future, 30 years from now, when it will be harder for me to go on tour, I will dedicate more time to music and to teaching," said he.