Movses Pogossian will perform at St. Matthew’s Music Guild
St. Matthew’s Music Guild opens its 38th season of concerts at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 14, with renowned violinist Movses Pogossian.
Pogossian has performed with members of the Tokyo, Kronos, and Brentano string quartets, and frequently collaborates with the Apple Hill Chamber Players, touring worldwide and teaching annually at their summer music festival in New Hampshire.
A committed propagate of new music, he has premiered over 30 works, and worked closely with composers such as G. Kurtag, A. R. Thomas, T. Mansurian and V. Sharafyan.
Since earning his advanced degrees from the Komitas Conservatory in Armenia and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow, Pogossian has held teaching positions at Duquesne, Bowling Green, Wayne State, and SUNY Buffalo Universities, and is currently professor of Violin and Director of the Armenian Music Center at UCLA.
The violinist made his American debut performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall in 1990. Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe wrote: “There is freedom in his playing, but also taste and discipline. It was a fiery, centered and highly musical performance…”
Pogossian is a prizewinner of the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Competition, and the youngest-ever First Prize winner of the USSR National Violin Competition.
He performs with the Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s under the direction of Music Director and Conductor Dwayne S. Milburn.
The concert opens with Mozart’s jubilant Symphony No. 34, composed in 1780.
Also, on the program is the evocative essay “Unspoken” by southern Californian Alan Menton.
Menton is Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Fullerton College and has been hailed for his cross-cultural style that encompasses diverse musical interests but also literature, history, religion and dance.
He writes, “for ‘Unspoken’ I set out to write a film score for an imaginary film…leaving the…task [of coming up with the images] to the audience.”
All concerts are held at St. Matthew’s Church, 1031 Bienveneda Ave., Pacific Palisades. Tickets are $35 or Music Guild Season passes are available for as little as $200. For information, visit MusicGuildOnline.org or call (310) 573-7422.