PROGRAMME
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) Lieutenant Kije Suitę (1934)
1: The Birth of Kijé
2: Romance
3: Kijé’s Wedding
4: Troika
5: The Burial of Kijé
To start with Lieutenant Kijé never existed. He was a typographical error in the inventory of a clerk in Tsar Paul’s army. (Tsar Paul son of Catherine the Great) Unfortunately the Tsar took a liking to the name and promoted him to his own elite guard. As frequently happened to such soldiers Kijé fell out of favour and was sentenced to Siberia. The Tsar then pardons Kijé and even his ‘wife’ goes along with the story. He is promoted to General and to put an end to the deception he is killed and buried with full military honours.
This story excited Prokofiev, as it drew on his ability to create music of great fun and satire.The suite is drawn from the original film score and has been a particular favourite with audiences ever since. The famous Troika being the most well-known of he movements.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)
The Sleeping Beauty Suite Op. 66a (1890)
1: The Lilac Fairy
2: Adagio, Pas d’action.
3: Pas de caractère ‘Puss in Boots and the white cat.’
4: Panorama
5: Waltz
This Ballet was so successful that Tchaikovsky created this Suite for concert performances. He does not follow the story as it appears in the ballet but creates a symphonic work which has shape in its own right.
It opens with the blessing of the ‘Lilac’ Fairy undoing the spells of the evil fairy Carabosse. In the ‘Rose’ Adagio Princess Aurora is courted by four suitors each bearing a rose. She remains on points throughout this scene, (a remarkable feat of endurance) as she is presented with a rose by each of the four suitors. In the ‘Pas de caractère’ Tchaikovsky brilliantly creates the image of Puss-in-boots and the White Cat spitting and fighting. The Panorama which follows opens Act 2 displaying the forest around Aurora’s Castle where everyone has been asleep for a hundred years. And finally the great Sleeping Beauty Waltz brings this wonderful suite to a close.
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 19430 Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor. Op.30 (1909)
1: Allegro ma non tanto.
2: Intermezzo
3: Alla breve
For pianists, Rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto stands as the ultimate challenge. Its herculean technical demands, titanic scale, and emotional richness scared off some of he greatest pianists of the time. Rachmaninoff performed the first performance with the New York Symphony Orchestra in 1909. It was not until Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) championed the work that it began to gain popularity and when Van Cliburn (1934-2013) won the inaugural Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1958, playing this concerto it earned its place as one of the greatest piano concertos ever written.
The piano dominates from start to finish. Beginning in the third bar with a simple and beautiful phrase which is developed throughout the concerto. The second theme has a military feel and leads to an enormous cadenza, in reality more like two cadenzas in one. The movement closes with a short sprint to the final bar.
The Second movement opens with a melancholy main theme played by the orchestra. There follows a series of virtuosic variations falling into a Tchaikoffskyesque waltz. Using the opening bars of the first movement, but with thundering chords this time, Rachmaninoff leads us directly to the energetic Finale full of complex and intricate musical ideas, sweeping melodies and breathtaking technical passages pushing towards the final breathless and climatic conclusion.
MAURIZIO ARROYO REYES
Maurizio, born in Bogotá (Columbia) in 1997,began his musical studies at the age of eight in Madrid, Spain. He trained at the Centro Integrado de Música Padre Antonio Solar under Fedel Campo and Miguel Baselga, graduating with distinction in 2015.
In 2016, he entered the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he graduated with first-class honours in 2020 and received the Carnwarth Piano Scholarship from the Musicians’ Company. He completed his Master’s degree in 2022 under Fali Pavri and Sara Gerzeli Donaldson and is currently pursuing a postgraduate programme at the First Liszt Hochschule für Music Weimar under the tutelage of Prof. Grigory Gruzman.
Maurizio has taken part in masterclasses with leading international musicians, including Klaus Hellwig, Pascal Nemirovsky, Roy Howat, Artur Pizarro and Petras Geniušas. He has performed in renowned venues such as Caird Hall, the Fazioli Piano Factory in Sacile, Palais Lichtenau in Potsdam, the Kühlspot Social Clubbing Berlin, Hrvatski Dom in Split, Palacio Longoria in Madrid, Villa Mettlen in Bern, Bartholomew the Great’s Church in London,the Brunton in Edinburgh and the Instituto León Tolstoy in Bogota.
His orchestral debut took place in 2018, playing Grieg’s piano concerto with the Glasgow Symphony Orchestra, followed by appearances as soloist with RSC Symphony Orchestra, the Edinburgh City Orchestra (2022) and the Dundee Symphony Orchestra at the Caird Hall (2023) and again with the Glasgow Symphony Orchestra in Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto.
Awards include:First Prize and Audience Prize at the Fondation Clavarte International Mastercourse (2025); First Prize and Audience Prize at the Sommerakademie Edwin Fischer (2023); numerous distinctions from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Royal Academy of Music; and early awards in Spain including prizes at Sigüenza and Alfas del Pi.
Maurizio is recognised for his expressive depth, technical mastery, and a musical approach rooted in the unity of body, mind, and spirit. As Stuart Montgomery wrote he is “a master of technique, poetic vision, and complete understanding of music”