Internationally renowned, Grammy nominated violinist Anastasia Khitruk is a champion of rarely performed works. Through her World Premieres, concert performances and recordings of such historic composers as Ivan Khandoshkin, Leon de Saint-Lubin, and contemporary composers David Winkler, Efrem Podgaitz and Michael Colina, she has gained a superb reputation as a masterful interpreter of older works from a modern perspective and a strong advocate for new voices, all of which she performs with passionate and intense musicality.
She has appeared in recitals in Europe at such prestigious venues as the Salle Corot (Paris), Sala Bulgaria and the National Center for Culture (NDK) (Sofia, Bulgaria), Opéra d’Avignon (France), Theatre du Cavaillon (France), Teatro Carlo Fenice (Genoa, Italy), Salons de Musique and Geneva Conservatoire (Geneva, Switzerland), the Royal Palace (Stockholm), ADMF (Abu Dhabi), the Arts Center (Dubai) and numerous appearances in Moscow and St Petersburg (Russia). In the United States, she performed at Aspen Music Tent (Colorado), Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, Merkin Concert Hall and Bargemusic (New York City), as well as numerous performances in Boston and Los Angeles.
Ms Khitruk, a laureate of the “Premio Paganini,” has been a soloist with internationally acclaimed orchestras including the Adelaide Symphony (Australia), the Sofia Symfonietta and the Burgas Philharmonic (Bulgaria), BDMG Orchestra, Belo Horizonte (Brazil), the Avignon Symphony (France), Orchestra della Fondazioni Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa (Italy), the Hermitage Orchestra (St Petersburg), the Kazakh State Chamber Orchestra (Kazakhstan), the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra (Lithuania), the St Petersburg Philharmonia and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra (Russia), the La Grange Symphony Orchestra, Georgia, the Auburn Symphony Orchestra, Alabama and the Fordham University Orchestra, New York (United States). She has also toured throughout France with the Seasons Orchestra (Russia), and the Orchestre Chambre Francais. She has performed under the baton of renowned conductors such as Claude Bardon, Hannu Lintu, Svilen Semenov and Saulis Sondeskis.
Her numerous festival appearances include the Royal Palace Festival (Sweden), Telstra Adelaide Festival (Australia), Sofia Music Weeks (Bulgaria), Musicales du Luberon, Festival de Musique de Chambre les Musicimes à Courchevel (France), the Festival “Elba, Isola Musicale d’Europa” (Italy) “Sommet Musicaux” Festival in Gstaad (Switzerland), American Music Festival (Wroclaw, Poland), Aspen Festival, Long Island Mozart Festival and Festival of Russian Culture in Los Angeles (United States).
An avid chamber collaborator, Ms Khitruk has performed with such renowned artists as Alexandre Brussilovslky, Sergey Antonov, Francois Salque, Dennis Matsuev, Tasso Adamopoulos, Sergey Babayan, Mark Peskanov, Emilio Colon, and others.
Ms Khitruk earned a 2007 Grammy Award nomination for her performance of Miklos Rozsa’s Violin Concerto and Sinfonia Concertante with conductor Dmitry Yablonsky and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra (Naxos 8.570350). This CD was honored with a nomination for Best Solo Performance with Orchestra. Interestingly, this is the great composer’s only Grammy nomination.
Naxos has also released a CD of previously unknown and unrecorded work by Léon de Saint Lubin (1805–1850), performed by Ms Khitruk, with pianist Elizaveta Kopelman. This recording, Violin Virtuoso Works, Vol. 1 (Naxos 8.572019), includes Saint Lubin’s wonderful Fantaisie sur un thème de Lucia di Lammermoor, Grand Duo Concertant, Two Salon Pieces and Adagio religioso.
She has also recorded other rarely performed works on her debut CD “La Folia” (suoni e colori SC 253312) and the “Works of Ivan Khandoshkin” (Naxos 8.570028). She has also premiered and collaborated in the creation of a new live music score accompanying the first Oscar winning silent film “Wings,” from 1927. She has also recorded the Brahms Violin Sonatas with David Korevaar (Titanic 260).
Anastasia comes from a musical and artistic family. Her talent was immediately recognized when she made her orchestral debut at the age of eight. After immigrating to America, she continued the violin studies that she had begun at Moscow’s Central Music School with Dora Schwartzberg, Zinaida Gilels, and Dorothy DeLay at Mannes College and The Juilliard School.
Anastasia Khitruk’s website is http://www.anastasiakhitruk.com.
