Penderecki: Concerto Grosso for Three Cellos and Orchestra (mvts. IV, V, VI)

Arto Noras, Marek Szpakiewicz, Josephine Knight, cellos
Harbin Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Russell, conductor

IV. Notturno (1:00)
V. Allegro con brio (5:47)
VI. Adagio (15:35)

Recorded September 7, 2023 in Harbin Concert Hall for the Gala Opening of the 2023 Schoenfeld International String Competition in Harbin, China. This performance featured the final three movements of Penderecki's six-movement work.
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ARTO NORAS, Founder and Artistic Director of the Naantali Music Festival and the International Paulo Cello Competition, is one of Finland’s most celebrated performers and among the world’s most outstanding cellists. He is known as an expressive and technically brilliant soloist as well as an intense and sensitive chamber musician.

In 1966, he was awarded second prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, which launched an international career that has brought appearances at the most important concert halls of Europe, Asia, and both North and South America, where he has performed regularly ever since. He was awarded Denmark’s Sonning Prize in 1967 and the Finnish State Music Prize in 1972.

Arto Noras’ repertoire covers all the principal works composed for his instrument, including those by contemporary composers, works he has recorded extensively for the Finlandia label (Warner). His extensive discography includes concertos with the Norwegian and Finnish Radio Orchestras, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Warsaw National Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Arto Noras has been closely associated with the music of Penderecki having performed the Concerto Grosso for Three Cellos over 100 including with the Boston Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2013, he performed at gala 80th Birthday celebration for Penderecki in Warsaw.

Arto Noras has served on the juries of the Tchaikovsky, Casals, Rostropovich, and Cassado competitions and he gives master classes throughout the world.
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Polish-born cellist MAREK SZPAKIEWICZ has been described by Yo-Yo Ma as an artist whose “energy, motivation, earnestness and generosity of spirit are evident through his work.” Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Corigliano stated, “(Szpakiewicz’s) performance of my ‘Fancy on a Bach Air’ is absolutely gorgeous.”

He began cello lessons at the age of six in Lublin, Poland. In his early years, he studied with Ryszard Losakiewicz and Stanislaw Firlej. He later studied with Stephen Kates at the Peabody Conservatory. Szpakiewicz completed his doctorate degree under the tutelage of Eleonore Schoenfeld at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. He also studied with such distinguished cellists as Daniil Shafran, Lynn Harrell, and Siegfried Palm.

Szpakiewicz currently teaches cello and chamber music at Azusa Pacific University, where he serves as Director of Chamber Music. His students have won top prizes at numerous international and national competitions and have been accepted by such schools as Juilliard School, Peabody Conservatory, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, and USC Thornton School of Music. He has also contributed his talent to film orchestration as a collaborator with Polish composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek. Among the scores he has worked on, the music for the critically acclaimed movie “Finding Neverland,” received the 77th Academy Award for Best Original Score in 2005. http://www.szpakiewicz.com
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Since her sell-out solo recital debut at London’s Wigmore Hall, British cellist JOSEPHINE KNIGHT has gone on to a highly acclaimed international career spanning over 25 years,
performing in the world’s most renowned concert halls. She has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras in the UK and abroad, working with distinguished conductors
such as Sir Colin Davis, Edward Gardner, Richard Hickox and Vasily Petrenko. In 2005 she gave her BBC Proms concerto debut, with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Josephine has recorded for the EMI Classics, Deutsche Grammophon and Chandos labels. Other, more diverse collaborations have included recordings with Nigel Kennedy, Paul McCartney and Madonna.

A sought-after chamber musician, Josephine has performed with many leading
international artists including Daniel Hope, Maxim Vengerov, Lisa Batiashvili, Wu Han,
Menahem Pressler, Michael Tree, and the Emerson and Takács Quartets. She makes
regular appearances at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Bath, Cheltenham, Casa da Música in
Porto, Gstaad, Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Salzburg, and performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall and the Southbank Centre.

Josephine has received many honours including being unanimously elected a Fellow of
both the Royal Academy of Music and Wells Cathedral School. She holds the Alfredo Piatti
Chair at the Royal Academy of Music where she is Professor of Cello.

Josephine plays on a 1728 Johannes Guidantus cello, purchased from Florian Leonhard.