Like old friends...

It's a musical match made in heaven.

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel and pianist Kirill Gerstein both made their San Francisco Symphony debut performances last weekend and the result was nothing less than explosive.

The Mercury News of March 22 2008 built upon the "explosive" metaphor describing Dudamel's instigations as "cannon shots" and Gerstein's retorts as "volleys across the keyboard" and continued lauding the collaboration in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto Nr 1 as

"...an out-of-this-world swoon from the orchestra, which Dudamel coaxed and tugged, with liquid fingertips, from the strings. And then: fabulous drizzled figurations from Gerstein, whose cadenza was a ball of fire, holding and gradually building its energy. The slow, quiet second movement - first composed, with the rest of the concerto, in 1891, though it hints at Gershwin, Bill Evans, even Adam Guettel of today's Broadway - is largely given over to the soloist. Gerstein's performance, here and straight through the thunderclap finale, was prodigious - a word which, applied to Gerstein, means abnormally good. "

The San Francisco Chronicle of March 22 2008 had equal praise for the collaboration, describing Kirill Gerstein's interpretation "romping nimbly through the piece's passagework and collaborating with Dudamel in a briskly rhythmic account of the two outer movements."

The second half of the programme in San Francisco was comprised simply of the full score of Stravinsky's 1910 Firebird. The Chronicle described Dudamel's interpretation as "marked by brilliant instrumental color, narrative clarity and rhythmic exuberance" and noted his "knack for locating and shining a spotlight on piquant details. "

Papers as far and wide as the London Financial Times of 27 March 2008 pointed out Dudamel's "skills as a colourist and his palpable delight in orchestral textures" in commenting his Firebird and suggests Gerstein as a pianist "with prodigious technical resources and undeniable flair" for his unforgettable Rachmaninoff.

Both Kirill and Gustavo will meet again in a few weeks in Caracas for concerts with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela - from the sounds of things, it's a collaboration not to be missed!

Congratulations to both AH artists!

Photo credit: Sasha Gusov

Contact: Mark Newbanks or Victoria Just