Dimitri Illarionov
Dimitri Illarionov (born 1979) is a Russian classical guitarist. He is a winner of the Guitar Foundation of America Competition (2002, Miami, USA)[1] and Francisco Tárrega Guitar Competition (2008, Spain).[2]
Music career
Education
Dimitri studied in Russia at the Russian Gnesins's Academy of Music with the famous performer, Professor Alexander Frauchi, in Germany with Professor Andreas von Wangenheim (Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe) and also took lessons with composer and guitarist Nikita Koshkin. He is now Professor at the Russian Gnesins's University of Music in Moscow.
Competitions
Illarionov is the winner and laureate of numerous international competitions in the USA, Spain, Poland, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Russia. These include the Grand Prix in the VI International Promotional Competition "Guitar Talents' Review" (Gdańsk, Poland - 1999) and the title of "The Greatest Hope" in the "Tenth Gdańsk Meeting of Guitarists"; First Prize and Prize of Public in the VIII International Guitar Competition in Coria (Spain - 2004); First Prize in the Russian International Guitar Competition - "Guitar in Russia" in Voronezh (Russia - 2002), Second Prize in Michele Pittaluga International Classical Guitar Competition (Italy - 2007).
Illarionov was the first guitarist to take Second Prize in the III International Competition of Musical Personalities "Alexander Tansman" (Łódź, Poland - 2000). Piano, violin, cello, guitar and other instruments compete directly with each other in this competition, and Illarionov's success there made him the highest-placed guitarist ever in the Tansman competition. In October 2002, Illarionov won The Twentieth International Guitar Foundation of America Solo Guitar Competition (GFA – Miami, Florida, USA). As part of the prize, he conducted his concert tour (in the US and Canada) and will record a concert video. Besides guitar competition, Illarionov is a laureate of composing and conducting competitions.
Performances
Illarionov has an active concert life, playing solo recitals and performing as soloist with orchestras. He has played with such orchestras as I Solisti Veneti, Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta di Valencia, the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the State Symphony Orchestra "New Russia", the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the Irkutsk Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (Russia), the Moscow Chamber "The Seasons" Orchestra (Russia), the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova and the Wuppertal Plucked Orchestra (Germany). In addition to numerous appearances in Russia, he has performed in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Poland, Italy, Germany, USA, Canada and Japan. He has played in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Osaka Symphony Hall, and the Hall of Columns of the National Philharmonic Society (Kiev, Ukraine). He appeared at the Festival of Russian Culture (Los Angeles, California, USA, 2004), at the opening ceremony of the 49th International Book Fair (Warsaw, Poland, 2004), and at the guitar in Nürtingen, in 2002.
Works
Illarionov's repertoire is broad and versatile. It ranges across various periods and styles: music of the Renaissance and Baroque (Luis Milan, Alonso Mudarra, John Dowland, J. S. Bach), original music for guitar from the 19th and early 20th centuries (Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, Francisco Tárrega), and music of the 20th and 21st centuries (Frank Martin, Alexandre Tansman, Manuel Ponce, Joaquín Rodrigo, Joaquín Turina, Agustín Barrios, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, William Walton, Sérgio Assad, Roland Dyens, Dusan Bogdanovic, Angelo Gilardino, the unique cycle 24 Preludes and Fugues for Solo Guitar by Igor Rekhin), as well as compositions for guitar with orchestra and chamber music.
Dimitri Illarionov has recorded the CD Premieres with the Moscow Chamber "The Seasons" Orchestra (conductor – Vladislav Bulakhov) for Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan; two solo CDs: by Naxos Records (Laureate Series) and the CD East Side Story (Daminus Records) with music written by modern Eastern European composers. Illarionov's Classical Duo CD (Delos Records) with Russian cellist Boris Andrianov entered the long-list of the 2004 Grammy Awards.
Reviews
“... with such temperament, musicianship, richness of colour, radiance, sense of timing and feeling the acoustic qualities of his soft-toned instrument that the combination of all these abilities, coupled with an evident gift for entertainment, is the best expressed in one single word: wow!” - Tages-Anzeiger (Zurich, Switzerland)
“Truly, this guitarist is a phenomenon.” – El Norte (Monterrey, México)
“Dimitri Illarionov’s concert was one of the "top five classical concerts" of 2003 in Edmonton (...) According to this standard, elegant and dramatic Angela Hewitt was a shoo-in (and a red-hot number at that). Classical guitarist Dimitri Illarionov had the same kind of charisma. The chemistry between the audience and this young Russian guitarist was exceptional.” - Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
“An outstanding virtuoso” – Oliver Hochkeppel, Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
“...he displayed a firework of virtuosity – the filigree of sounds rivaled the incredibly swift technique of fingers and ardent warmth of bursts of emotions. Only an encore performance could satisfy the storms of applause from the audience.” – Westdeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
“I felt like I was struck by lightning the moment he touched the guitar. It sent chills down my spine. I have never experienced anything like it. Incredible! Simply incredible!” – Irma Wassall (1908-2012) – Poet Laureate and founder of the Wichita Society of the Classical Guitar (USA)
“It was one of the most inspiring guitar performances I have ever heard.”- Dusan Bogdanovic – guitarist and composer. Remarks on Dimitri Illarionov's performance in Gdansk
References
- "Past Winners". Guitar Foundation of America. Archived from the original on 2008-02-08. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
- "Bio on Savarez website".
