Focus Residency

Art Under a Tombstone, Behind the Music

It is hard to believe that Tchaikovsky’s wondrous ballet music was being written only decades before the events of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The subsequent chapter of Russian history radically altered the course of one of the great musical and literary cultures of the world.
This residency explores Russia’s transformation and the period of Soviet repression through the music of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, poems of Aleksandr Blok, and life stories of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, as told by his son, pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn. Ignat will share unpublished works by his father in this multi-dimensional Residency, which features a discussion of music and literature on November 7. This is followed by a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in a minor, and both early and late works by Shostakovich, on Friday, November 8.
Curators Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim will also be joined by cellist David Finckel and soprano Hyunah Yu.