MANILA, Philippines - The world-renowned pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy and his two sons, clarinetist Dimitri and pianist Vovka, will perform at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo on March 11 in a concert billed “Concert for a Culture of Peace.”

The concert, which is part of the third ASEAN event series Bridges-Dialogues Towards a culture for Peace is being facilitated by the International Peace Foundation.

In the years since Vladimir Ashkenazy first came to prominence on the world stage in the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw he has built an extraordinary career, not only as one of the most renowned and revered pianists of our times, but as an artist whose creative life encompasses a vast range of activities.

Conducting has formed the largest part of his activities for the past 20 years. Formerly chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic (1998 to 2003), and music director of NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo (2004 to 2007), in January 2009 he took up the new position of principal conductor and artistic advisor to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Alongside these positions, Ashkenazy continues his longstanding relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra of which he was appointed conductor laureate in 2000. 

Dimitri Ashkenazy, born in 1969 in New York, began playing the piano at the age of six and then switched to the clarinet under the tuition of Giambattista Sisini, with whom he continued studying when he entered the Conservatory of Lucerne in 1989. Since completing his studies, he has gone on to perform widely, both as soloist and chamber musician. On tour, he has appeared at the Royal Festival Hall in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Hollywood Bowl with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, at the Sydney Opera House with the SBS Youth Orchestra, at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and in Japan with the Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and Mito Chamber Orchestras.

Vovka Ashkenazy is very active as a chamber musician and has recorded a CD of Italian music with his brother, the clarinettist Dimitri Ashkenazy, together with whom he toured Japan in 1997, 2000 and 2002. Alongside his concert activities, Vovka Ashkenazy also devotes his time to teaching. He has given master classes in Australia, Denmark, England, Greece, Guatemala, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the US, and he has recently become a member of the chamber music coaching staff at Pro Corda in the UK. He was Professor of Piano at the Conservatoire Gabriel Fauré in Angoulême, France, from 1998 to 2007.

The program for the Ashkenazy concert will feature Schumann’s Three Romances, Op. 94, Lutoslawski’s Dance Preludes for clarinet and piano,(1954); Poulenc’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 94; Schubert’s Divertimento al’Hongroise, Op. 54 (to be played on two pianos) and Ravel’s La Valse.

For information, call the CCP Music Division at 832-1125 local 1605 or the CCP Box Office at 832-3704 and 832-1125 local 1409.