Just in time for their latest concert, Bute Arts Society had successfully installed a piano in their new concert venue at Bute Parish Church. Centre stage. On Friday, November 8 it again welcomed the dazzling playing of Nikita Lukinov.
Named the ‘Rising Star’ by BBC Music Magazine, Scotland is fortunate to now be the home of such an international talent.
He dazzled us with Brahms’s Six Pieces for Piano (Op. 118) where he demonstrated the emotional range and fluidity of his touch.
This was followed by the dazzling fireworks of Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bald Mountain, a descriptive piece that is more usually performed by a full orchestra.
This wild, exciting piece evokes a witches’ Sabbath, their dancing exploding in a frenzy of intense playing, blurred hands flying around the keyboard, only for a single repeated note to break through, denoting a church bell that dispels the frantic revellers.
Before the interval, Nikita treated us to a delightful encore with the ‘Adagio’ from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty ballet.
In the second half, Nikita was joined by The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland String Quartet, who are accompanying him on his current tour.
They performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 Op 58, one of his later more complex pieces.
This was a rare opportunity to see this piece performed with a string quartet arrangement.
Nikita had composed the cadenza to further showcase his virtuosity, including the Fate motif from Beethoven’s fifth symphony, surely the most famous of classical trademarks.
A final encore of ‘Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf’ by Rachmaninov sent us all home in awe of his performance.
As-well-as concert performances on this tour, Nikita and the string ensemble are taking classical music out to those who wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to experience it with outreach events in schools and care homes, including an event for children at Achievement Bute on the Isle.
This is Nikita’s third appearance for Bute Arts and judging from the resounding applause, we all hope that it won’t be his last.
A near capacity audience of around 120 people joined us for the concert in the warm and welcoming surrounding of the Isle of Bute Parish Church which was beautifully decorated for the Armistice Day service.
The performance area was lit with both standard lamps and uplighters purchased through a donation from Fyne Homes.
Bute Arts Society is enjoying a bit of a revitalisation with our new venue, where audience members are joining us from far and wide, including the Yachting fraternity who sail in for the concert.
As always, Children join us for free, thanks to the support of For Bute – our local island Charity.
