Sinfonietta will perform works of Salieri, Mozart

• Advocate News Features staff
• Published: Oct 25, 2009

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Antonio Salieri’s meeting with W.A. Mozart will be the theme of the Louisiana Sinfonietta’s second concert of the 2009-2010 season.

The Sinfonietta, under the direction of Dinos Constantinides, will perform at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, at First Baptist Church.

The 1984 film Amadeus claimed that Salieri poisoned Mozart. Many scholars disagree. Was Salieri jealous of Mozart? Possibly yes. It was unbearable for him to be a composer and competing with Mozart. The first number of the program, Salieri’s The School of Jealousy, will tell this story.

Two masterpieces of Mozart will follow with his Fourth Violin Concerto featuring Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Borislava Iltcheva as the soloist.

The piece will be followed by Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 9 with piano virtuoso Michael Gurt as soloist.

Iltcheva started playing the violin at age 5. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the Bulgarian National Academy and her master’s and doctorate degrees in violin performance from LSU.

Borislava holds prizes from several national and international competitions such as the Closter Shöntal International Violin Competition, the MTNA Chamber Music Competition, the LSU Dean’s Concerto Competition and the Saverio Mercadante International Competition.

Iltcheva has an active schedule as a soloist and chamber musician. She has been featured as a soloist with the Louisiana Sinfonietta, Baton Rouge Symphony and Acadiana Symphony. She has performed recitals throughout Europe and the United States. She recently performed a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York and had a concert tour in Greece, Bulgaria and Croatia. Iltcheva is the concertmaster of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.

Gurt is professor of piano and the keyboard division chairman at LSU. He was awarded the Stanley Medal upon completing his bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Michigan.

He did his graduate work at the Juilliard School in New York, where he won several honors, including the William Petschek Scholarship and the concerto competition. As a result of winning this competition, Gurt was invited to perform the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center.

In 1982, Gurt won first prize in the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. He also has won prizes in international competitions in Sydney, Australia, and Pretoria, South Africa.

Gurt has appeared in recital at Alice Tully Hall in New York, Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles, Orchestra Hall in Detroit, City Hall in Hong Kong, the Victorian Arts Center in Melbourne, Australia, Baxter Hall in Capetown, South Africa and the Attaturk Cultural Center in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition, he has appeared as soloist with the Chicago, Philadelphia, Utah, Baltimore, and Memphis symphony orchestras.

Gurt was featured on a nationwide PBS broadcast in 1983, performing the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto.