Gabrielius Alekna
The New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra’s April 7th concert at Symphony Space had a fine guest soloist, Lithuanian pianist Gabrielius Alekna and a solid guest conductor, Bulgarian Guerguan Tsenov, who led this semi-professional ensemble in works by Beethoven and Brahms.
Mr. Alekna, according to the biography in the printed program, is the only Lithuanian to hold a D.M.A. from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal. Alekna, who has garnered several impressive honors, won more than a dozen top prizes in competitions–both stateside and in Europe: Second Prize in the 2005 International Beethoven Piano Competition; Hilton Head (USA); Maria Canals (Spain); Guirlionis (Lithuania); and has soloed with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bertrand de Billy); the Juilliard Orchestra (James de Priest); and also the Belarus State Symphony, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and the Christopher Chamber Orchestra. A devoted chamber musician, Mr. Alekna performed the Bartok Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with Ursula Oppens and New York Philharmonic timpanist Joe Periera. He has also collaborated with the cellist Zvi Harel, and with both the Vilnius and Cuirlianus String Quartets. Daniel Barenboim recently cited him as “a highly gifted pianist and musician.” He brought sterling virtuosity and comprehension to Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto, Op. 73. His assured but refined pianism had clarity, bravura authority, and easily held its own amidst Beethoven’s busy orchestration. He obliged his enthusiastic admirers with a lovely, flexible singing acount of “Bruyeres” from Debussy’s second book of Preludes.
Earlier, the orchestra played conscientious, traditional versions of the “Egmont” Overture and the Brahms Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a. Maestro Tsenov has studied with Kurt Masur, and has also participated in seminars with David Zinman, George Manahan, and Michael Tilson Thomas. In company with his piano soloist, Tsenov (who is a pianist himself) is a knowing, well- grounded musician.
