#MiddayMusic presents Dimitrios Soukaras (guitar) and Antonina Suhanova (piano)

This week our Young Artists Dimitrios Soukaras (guitar) and Antonina Suhanova (piano) performed for #MiddayMusic. You can watch their videos below. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch Anna Kondrashina (flute) perform next Monday and Ugnius Pauliukonis (piano) perform next Wednesday, both at midday.  Details of their repertoire can be found in the details section on YouTube.  All of our #MiddayMusic videos can be watched on our exclusive playlist.

 

DimitrioSoukaras: Expressing emotions through art  

Music has the power to touch us emotionally, where words alone can’t. For Dimitrios Soukaras, winner of 21 international awards including the Company’s Ivor Mairants Guitar Award 2019, music is also a great source of escape and distraction in challenging times. 

Dimitrios says: “Artists of every form are fortunate to be able to express feelings in their art. Through my Musicians’ Company concert, I am trying to express all the energy that I need to communicate with the  audience, all the passion that I believe this music can bring to others and to help them feel more alive, more present in the moment.” 

For the Musicians’ Company #MiddayMusic series, Dimitrios chose music by two important figures of the Elizabethan periods, John Downland and William Walton. Dimitrios says: “William Walton was inspired by the great guitarist Julian Bream to write the Five Bagatelles. Here I perform the first bagatelle, which is the most energetic and vivid. Its rhythmicality creates a perfect contrast to Dowland’s melancholic atmosphere.”

Antonina Suhanova: Swapping stage for screen  

Multi-award winning pianist, Antonina Suhanova, is a no stranger to competitions or playing to audiences at the world’s glitziest concert halls. Having won three major competitions in 2019 alone, including the Musicians’ Company award, Antonina currently teaches and spends her free time exploring new works for next season. She is also involved in virtual concerts for the Musicians’ Company and Help Musicians UK

Antonina says: “Last year I received help from the Help Musicians UK Transmission Fund, enabling me to take part in the Classical Bridge Festival in New York.” More recently, Antonina was invited by the charity to do a virtual recording which she recorded in her hometown, Riga, at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. “I was thrilled to have been selected; it’s been encouraging and interesting to see music organisations host live-streams and virtual concerts in the absence of live venues. Antonina has performed on international stages since 2000

While Antonina is enjoying her virtual performances and teaching, she is keen to get back on stage. “When you perform in front of a live audience you build a special connection, you’re telling a story and sharing that experience together”. Her most treasured recent live performances include a concert with the Kensington Chamber Orchestra in London in March 2020 performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and performing the Bartok Three Burlesques Op. 8c in the Purcell Room for her Musicians’ Company award win. 

Antonina has chosen to perform the same three short, lively Bartok pieces that she played in the Purell Room for the Company’s #MiddayMusic series. Antonina says: “During this uncertain time, it’s good to hear something bright, positive and funny.”