Gold Coast virtual concert: Russian Valentine

Gold Coast Chamber Players continue their virtual concerts on Sunday, February 14, 2021 at 4:00pm (Pacific Time) with Russian Valentine. Russian Valentine, the second of six Main Stage Virtual Concerts in 2021, continues the Season Theme celebrating love and diversity. Virtual links remain available for one week following the concert date. Russian Valentine features prominent Bay Area musicians from the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Olga and Sergey Rakitchenkov and illustrates their love story with a program for viola and harp and a rare glimpse inside the couple’s home life. After the concert, the couple will be available on zoom for audience questions and socializing. San Francisco Opera Orchestra’s Associate Principal Violist Sergey Rakitchenkov was born in Moscow and attended the Central School for Musically Gifted Children. He graduated with honors from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow performed with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, rising to become Principal of the viola section and, since 1987, is Associate Principal of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. San Francisco Opera Orchestra’s Principal Harpist Olga Ortenberg-Rakitchenkov won the position of Associate Principal Harp in the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra in 1973 and was promoted to Principal. In 1989, after immigration to the United States, she won the position of Principal Harp for the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. "Her music is very earnest, very rich in soul ... she is a real artistic discovery." - La Suisse In keeping with a Valentine theme, the program offers two pieces for viola and harp by Claude Debussy, Girl with the Flaxen Hair and Romance as well as Debussy’s iconic Arabesques for solo harp. Select movements from Max Reger’s Suite No. 1 for solo viola as well as Reger’s rarely performed Romance are included. Music written for the couple by Dmitri Smirnov titled Shadow and Light and Duo for viola and harp by local composer Shinji Eshima will complete this heartwarming program. Single tickets $20. Concerts are live-streamed via YouTube LIVE. Purchase online at www.GCCPmusic.com or by calling (925) 283-3728. Please visit our website at gccpmusic.com to find regular updates about concert offerings, to make donations, and to purchase tickets.