At the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the famous Moscow Virtuosi performed. Together with the renowned ensemble, another virtuoso came on stage, winner of national and international competitions, including a television competition – The Nutcracker, cellist Anastasia Kobekina. It was originally planned that Vladimir Spivakov would also be a soloist, but due to an injury he had to change his programme. Reportage by Maria Trofimova.

«Cut the apple with a Japanese knife, very sharp. The knife fell off, and I cut my finger very deeply, stitched, so I can not play, the program has changed, but the concert will take place», – explained the artistic director and chief conductor of the State Chamber Orchestra «Moscow Virtuosi» Vladimir Spivakov.

Is there a programme ? Mozart, Shostakovich, Schubert. According to the maestro, these, at first glance, different composers get along well with each other. Shostakovich, for example, loved it when works by Haydn, Mozart, Bach and Beethoven were performed along with his compositions.

Vladimir Spivakov has known Anastasia Kobekina since she took her first steps in her profession as a child. Scholar of the Vladimir Spivakov International Charitable Foundation, Anastasia admits that if she had not met with the maestro, life would have been quite different. She is currently studying in Germany. She says: after graduating from the Russian School of Music, it is interesting to learn Western techniques.

«The most important thing for them is pleasure. They don’t even have a music school until they are 16 or 18 years old. They do music for pleasure, and the most important thing is to enjoy playing music, playing with each other», Anastasia Kobekina said.

Anastasia has a longstanding friendship with the Moscow Virtuosi. Not only one-time concerts, but also tours. On this evening, together they play Arpeggione Sonata for Schubert’s cello. This is a kind of experiment. The piano part is performed by an entire orchestra.

«Once I was in a hospital in Paris, in an American hospital, I turned on the radio. Rostropovich played this sonata and someone amazingly accompanied him on the piano. I was only waiting for the end of the sonata to see who was accompanying me. It turns out that it was an outstanding English composer and pianist Benjamin Britten. It left a mark on the interpretation of this work», said Vladimir Spivakov.