National Radio Orchestra - live broadcast
Friday, 18 May 2012 , 19.00

The concert of the National Radio Orchestra on Friday, 18 May 2012, at 19.00 will have, once more, as guest conductor Christian Badea, who proposes this time a Rachmaninoff - Tchaikovsky programme. The soloist of the concert will be Ekaterina Mechetina, one of the most talented Russian pianists of the moment. In the first part of the evening, the soloist will perform, together with the National Radio Orchestra, Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 by Sergei Rachmaninoff. In the second part of the programme we will listen to Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Ekaterina Mechetina's artistic piano activity is marked by numerous concerts held in famous halls all over the world, such as Schauspielhaus in Berlin, Gaveau Hall in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Grand Hall of the Conservatory in Milan and Russia. With eighty concerts held every year, Ekaterina Mechetina has been in the public eye because of her exceptional talent. The pianist studied at the Conservatory in Moscow under guidance of professor V. P. Ovchinnikov, afterwards she had post-graduate classes with Sergei Dorensky. In time she won numerous awards at important competitions such as: Youth Piano Competition - the Mozart Award, the Busoni International Piano Competition, she also won the Vercelli (2002) and the Pinerolo (2003) Competitions, and in 2004 she impressed the jury of the Cincinnati Competition with her exceptional performance.

With his remarkable conducting skills, Christian Badea has developed an amazing international career, as he is a guest at some of the most prestigious concert halls in Europe, North America and Asia. In Europe he was invited to conduct the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Residentie Orchestra, the Amsterdam Philharmonic, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Holland, the Beethovenhalle Orchestra in Bonn, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the L'Île de France Orchestra, the Lyon National Orchestra, the RAI Orchestra in Torino, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, the Maggio Musicale Orchestra in Florence, the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, the Budapest Philharmonic, the Spanish National Orchestra in Madrid. In Asia he conducted the Hong Kong Philharmonic and he also had numerous tours in Japan with the Tokyo Philharmonic. In North America, Christian Badea is a guest conductor of the Symphony Orchestras in Pittsburgh, Washington, Montreal, Atlanta, he collaborates with the Symphony Orchestras in Detroit, Baltimore, with the Rochester Philharmonic and the Carnegie Hall American Orchestra.

His repertoire is impressive and includes symphonic, vocal-symphonic and opera works which cover a wide stylistic palette, as his programmes include works by Zemlinsky, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Honegger, Janáček, Bartók, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Walton, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Lutosławski, Messiaen, Ligeti, at the same being a great supporter of the worldwide promotion of Romanian music. His discography includes the recording of Saint-Saëns' Symphonie no. 3 together with the London Royal Philharmonic (Telarc Records Label), records with works by American composers Roger Sessions and Samuel Barber repaid with awards, as well as a live recording of the opera Antony and Cleopatra by Samuel Barber, which received the Grammy Award.