by AdminTyBarts | Dec 16, 2025 | News
Boris Giltburg stepped in at the last minute to replace Evgeny Kissin, who cancelled due to ill health, and played Prokofiev’s Third and Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto with the London Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall on November 17 under the baton of Lawrence Foster.
Giltburg received excellent reviews and was featured in The Times:
“bouncing on his piano stool, Giltburg attacked the [Prokofiev] with crisp staccato and precision power… There was delicate pedalling in the middle movement’s theme and variations, and the finale’s coda thrilled, powered by knuckled glissandos.”
The Times, Mark Pullinger
by AdminTyBarts | Dec 16, 2025 | News
On November 14, Maximiano Valdés led the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico (OSPR) in a landmark debut at the Boston Symphony Hall. The concert was part of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One initiative, celebrating the diverse musical voices that shape the nation’s cultural landscape.
A special highlight of the evening was the presence of Luis Sanz, a leading performer of the Puerto Rican cuatro. The cuatro is a traditional Latin American string instrument of the lute family—distinctive for its ten strings in five courses and rich, resonant sound—and holds a central place in Puerto Rico’s musical identity.
The program showcased works by Puerto Rican composers that bridge classical and popular traditions, including selections by Angélica Negrón, Roberto Sierra, Alfonso Fuentes, and Ernesto Cordero’s Concierto Criollo, in which Sanz’s cuatro featured prominently. The evening also included beloved cultural favorites such as En mi Viejo San Juan, connecting audiences with Puerto Rico’s deep musical heritage.
With Valdés’s vast international experience—spanning the United States, Europe, and Latin America—and Sanz’s mastery of the cuatro, the concert embodied the lasting cultural dialogue between the U.S. and Latin America. Audiences responded with enthusiasm and warmth, celebrating a night in which Puerto Rico’s music heritage took centre stage in one of the world’s great concert halls.
Here is an excerpt from the rave review:
“Conductor Valdés, who has been leading the OSPR since 2008 … knows his Orquesta well, shows them off to great effect, and provided helpful introductions to each work.
… cuatro star Luis Sanz was a show unto himself, not only playing the descarga movement from Ernesto Cordero’s Concierto Criollo para cuatro y orquesta sinfonia beautifully … He also displayed some spectacular showmanship as he performed on his instrument, a small guitar with 10 steel strings, over his head, à la Jimi Hendrix.”
The Arts Fuse, Steve Elman
by AdminTyBarts | Dec 16, 2025 | News
We are exceptionally pleased to welcome Elena Graf to TYB Arts. The first violinist in our roster, Graf plays the Stradivari “Tullaye” (1669), on loan from L-Bank Baden-Württemberg.
Graf’s upcoming season promises a series of high-profile performances, including Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Kammerphilharmonie Mannheim in Heidelberg, Brahms’ Double Concerto at the Mannheimer Rosengarten, Sibelius’ Violin Concerto with Arcademia Sinfonica in Balingen, and a new project by Fazil Say with the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonika in Spain.
A renowned soloist and chamber musician, Graf has performed with orchestras such as the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, and the Stuttgart State Orchestra, and at major festivals including the Rheingau Musik Festival, Cape Classic Festival in South Africa, and Musica in Trancoso Festival in Brazil.
Her performances have been described as “technically perfect, with a phenomenal richness of sound and a spirited, vibrant musicality” (Kronen Zeitung).
Click here to find out more.
by AdminTyBarts | Nov 12, 2025 | News
TYB Arts is delighted to announce that Georgian pianist David Khrikuli, finalist of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition, has signed with the agency for global management representation.
David Khrikuli’s performances drew exceptional attention for their uncompromising honesty, expressive intensity, and rich dynamic range — qualities that set him apart as one of the competition’s most individual voices.
David Khrikuli is currently touring Poland and will be giving recitals in Mallorca, Madrid, Berlin and NY.
More information at https://tybarts.com/david-khrikuli
by AdminTyBarts | Sep 19, 2025 | News
Boris Giltburg delivered yet another extraordinary performance to open the Essen Philharmonic’s season. The audience responded with overwhelming enthusiasm and Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung gave a glowing review:
“Boris Giltburg showed no trace of strain [notwithstanding the immense technical challenges for the soloist], sitting calm and composed at the Steinway – hands flying – and, to the delight of the audience (two encores!), managed to combine the sensitivity of touch with pianistic bravura and elemental percussive force.”
Giltburg’s exquisite blend of precision, expression, and virtuosity set a high standard for the season ahead, confirming his status as one of today’s most thrilling pianists.
by AdminTyBarts | Aug 26, 2025 | News
Elmar Lampson’s new opera Wellen, based on Eduard von Keyserling’s 1911 novel, has received outstanding praise following its world premiere at Theater Bremen in May. In a major review for leading opera magazine Opernwelt, critic Volker Tarnow writes that “Elmar Lampson delivers an opera that defies contemporary triviality.” From the “intricate, harmonically dense overture” that evokes a sense of elemental threat, to “delicate textures—fragile echoes of a long-lost Romantic era,” Wellen offers a musically and emotionally charged portrait of a fading world. Lampson draws “striking motifs from the prosody and speech melody of short phrases,” weaving them into a “vibrant, polystylistic score” that reimagines traditional elements like the pentatonic scale with striking originality. As Tarnow concludes: “This piece will undoubtedly ripple through many opera houses.”
Critics have responded enthusiastically to the musical language of Wellen. Andreas Schnell of Kreiszeitung praised the “iridescent score,” while Wolfgang Denker in Der Opernfreund spoke of “passages of unearthly beauty.” Christine Gorny (Bremen Zwei) observed that “Elmar Lampson’s music remains constantly in flow, carrying the action forward.” Ute Schalz-Laurenze in Neue Musikzeitung emphasized the score’s expressive range: “Lampson’s music holds nothing back: it moves between wild and tender, between major and minor, with numerous pentatonic touches and hugely demanding ensemble sections. . . . it repeatedly manages to create completely unexpected constellations and confrontations. The percussion formations positioned on both sides of the stage are thrilling.”
Jürgen Gahre from Opera UK also gave a glowing review, praising the captivating music “that is as poetic as it is exciting”, with music that is “in constant motion and shimmers in many colours” and “Orchestral interludes … [that] provide a deep insight into people’s psyches…” Gahre similarly ends inviting “other companies … [to] take up this rich and rewarding opera”.
One can only hope that other opera houses will follow suit and take up this rich and rewarding work, letting its waves travel far beyond Bremen.
