The VI International Music Festival — Annecy Classic is drawing to a close. In the town’s Castle Museum, young virtuosi, Alexander Malofeev and Ilia Lomtatidze, who had won prizes at the international festival Astana Piano Passions, now gave solo performances.

The level of playing achieved by these young musicians was unusually high, thanks to its emotional intensity and natural musicality. Alexander Malofeev was bold enough to include in his programme his own arrangement of the first scene from Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, The Rite of Spring. Despite the unusual nature of his rendering, Malofeev managed to sound convincing to his audience, which was enthralled by the contrasting characters and the pianist’s impeccable technique. Ilia Lomtatidze also left the audience with vivid impressions, particularly thanks to his intellectual manner of playing and to the selection of pieces in his program, which included Vladimir Horowitz’ highly complex arrangements of works by Bizet and Berlioz for piano.

The traditional opera gala concert took place that evening in the Bonlieu Theatre. Stars from the international opera stage performed on this occasion — Dinara Alieva and René Barbera — accompanied by Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Fayçal Karoui.

The audience was offered a feast of delights — arias and duets from French and Italian operas in an enchanting sequence of melodies by Georges Bizet, Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti and Giacomo Puccini sung with thrilling aplomb.

Victor Alexandrov, the AVC Charity Foundation music reviewer