On Tuesday 14th February, the Kazakh State Symphony Orchestra continue their stay at the 2023 InClassica International Music Festival. Performing under conductor Valid Agayev, the ensemble opens with Kudasha Duman, a short rousing piece for symphony orchestra written by the 20th-century Soviet composer, Erkegali Rakhmadiev. Korean violinist Ji Young Lim then joins the orchestra in a performance of Composer-in-Residence Alexey Shor’s Seascapes violin concerto. Divided into four distinct movements, the concerto adds to a long line of works inspired by the sublime beauty of the sea, featuring haunting melodic lines as well as complex technical passages that promise to carry audiences on a musical journey of their own. After a brief intermission, the ensemble welcomes Israeli pianist Saleem Ashkar to conclude the evening with Shor’s famed Piano Concerto No. 2 ‘From my Bookshelf’. The concerto incorporates a series of eight musical portraits describing some of Shor’s favourite literary figures, aptly demonstrating the composer’s deft programmatic style of writing and strong use of melody.
