2013 – 2014 Season
Saturday, March 22, 7:30, Marina Civic Center
Featuring guest Alexei Romanenko
Performing Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B minor
The Winter Olympics may be over but a nod this year’s host country and its musical treasures will be evident at the next Panama City POPS concert, March 22, 7:30pm at the Marina Civic Center.
Headlining the evening, Russian cellist Alexei Romanenko, performing Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B minor.
POPS patrons met Russian cellist Alexei Romanenko last year and it was love at first sound. Tonight’s concert welcomes the return of the internationally renowned soloist, recognized as one of the most compelling and electrifying artists of today.
“In a word, this concert is gorgeous,” stated Maestro Eddie Rackley. “The audience will settle in and savor Dvorak’s concerto, one of the most beautiful, sonorous concertos ever written”
“Olympic Fanfare and Theme” by American composer John Williams and “Dance of the Flowers” by Russia’s beloved classical composer Pyotr Ilich Tchaikowsky as well as several other pieces will comprise the second half of the concert.
Alexei Romanenko
An artist of classical refinement, sterling musicianship, and blazing virtuosity, Russian-born cellist Alexei Romanenko has graced the international stages as one of the most compelling and electrifying artists of today. T.J. Medrek of the Boston Herald hailed his performance stating, “The times when music and musician and musical instrument combine to form an almost mystical union are rare. One such occasion came when Alexei Romanenko dazzled with his playing of Zoltan Kodaly’s Sonata for solo cello.”
The Russian-born cellist Alexei Romanenko has performed in such venues as Boston’s Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., Chicago’s Preston Bradley Hall among many others. He has been heard on the international broadcast of “Voice of America” in Russia, broadcast live on Chicago’s WFMT Fine Arts Radio, Atlanta’s WABE, Boston’s WGBH Radio “Classical Performances”, including “Musical Offering”on September 11, 2002. His performances were also broadcast on Chicago’s TV Channel 25 as well as radio stations in San Francisco, Atlanta, Florida, Maine and Alabama.
Mr. Romanenko is the author of cadenzas for a number of cello concerti as well as unaccompanied cello compositions and arrangements for cello, such as J.S. Bach’s Chaconne from Partita No. 2 for violin, which he successfully performed in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, D.C, Moscow and St. Petersburg. In recent years, he appeared in cello concerti of Boccherini, Haydn, Dvorak, Schumann, Schostakovich and Tchaikovsky as soloist with Jacksonville Symphony, Kensington Symphony, Nashua Symphony, Montgomery Symphony, Bar Harbor Music Festival Orchestra, Moscow Youth Chamber Orchestra, the Far Eastern TV and Radio orchestra, Udmurtia Philharmonic in a “Vistuosos of 21st century” concert among others.
He has also performed Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 cellos with cellist Matt Haimovitz in the “Cellobration” concert presented by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in 2009. In 2005, he was featured in a cello quartet arrangement of the Rococo-Variations during the “Greenhouse Celebration” dedicated to Bernand Greenhouse’s 90th birthday in Greensboro, NC. As a chamber musician, he collaborated with Janus 21 Ensemble and Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston. Romanenko’s repertoire includes most major works written for cello as well as chamber music literature. He has recently performed Beethoven’s 5 Sonatas cycle as well as Bach’s 6 Cello Suites in several venues, including San Francisco’s Old First Church.
Romanenko has served as principal cellist with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra in Boston’s Symphony Hall and in New York’s Carnegie Hall. Earlier, he was invited to perform at a gala concert at the Berlin Brandenburg Gates under the direction of Maestro M. Rostropovich (2000). Mr. Romanenko was honored to perform for President Clinton while he was visiting the New England Conservatory of Music as part of Clinton’s farewell tour in January 2001.
Born in Vladivostok, Russia, Alexei Romanenko began playing the cello at the age of six and won First Prize in the Far-Eastern Competition when he was twelve. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory with professor Valentin Feygin and in 1993 became a Laureate of the international program known as “New Names” and concertized extensively throughout Russia. In 1993 he was awarded top prize in the Gnesina College Cello Competition. In 1998 Mr. Romanenko came to the United States where he completed his studies with Bernard Greenhouse and Laurence Lesser at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he received his Artist Diploma. In 1999, he was the recipient of the Presser Music Award in Boston and in the same year won First Prize at the 8th International Music Competition in Vienna, Austria. He was also awarded first prize at the 2nd Web Concert Hall International Auditions in the year 2000.