Tchaikovsky - Arensky

• Lev Markiz was born In Moscow, where he studied with Kyrill Kondrashin at the Moscow Conservatory. ln 1965 he founded his own chamber orchestra, The Moscow Soloists, and with this ensemble he made a great many recordings with repertoire ranging from early baroque to music. He also appeared as conductor of all the main Russian orchestras, working with such famous sololists as David Oistrach, Sviatoslov Richter, Emil Gilels, Gidon Kremer, and Natalia Gutman. Since its foundation, Lev Markiz has been the principal conductor and artistic director of Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam.

• Also due to Lev Markiz' inspiring leadership, Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam has acquired the reputation of being one of the finest chamber orchestras in the whole of the Western world. 

• Tchaikovsky's popular Serenade for Strings is one of the (many) great performances from their repertoire preceded here by three nostalgic works with the cello as solo instrument, the famous Cantabile among them, in magic performances with the celebrated Dmitry Ferschtman as soloist and followed by the rarely recorded Elegy from 1884

• Arensky's Tchaikovsky Variations were written after Tchaikovsky's tragic death, on a haunting theme from one of Tchaikovsky's Songs, in memory of the composer.

• Splendid performances an beautiful sound that will capture the heart of every music lover.

Nieuw Sinfonletta Amsterdam was founded in 1987 with the aim of forming a chamber orchestra with an individual sound of its own and with the highest possible level in ensemble playing. Already their first concerts in 1988 met with enthusiastic approval from public and critics alike, and since then Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam has acquired a firm place of its own in concert life. The highlight of the season 1988/8989 proved to be the concert series with Russian Music from the twentieth century. In three different programs works by such composers as Schnittke, Shostakovich, Denisov, Pärt, Prokofiev and Stravinsky were played in the main Dutch concert halls, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw among them. Successful concert tours to the United States and Germany followed with programs based on the works of Stravinsky. The NSA season of 1990/91 opened with a series of three programs with works by Shostakovich, after which followed a great many concerts devoted to the classical repertoire. On the schedule of Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam for 1990/91 are also concert tours to the United States, France, Germany and the USSR. Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam is not strictly a string orchestra, but it also disposes of a regular group of wind players.