Kindred Spirit Orchestra – Love and Turmoil
May 21, 2022 at 8 p.m. – Richmond Hill Centre, 10268 Yonge St, Richmond Hill
Inspired by the sixteenth century fresco by Raphael, Hindemith paints his own endearing musical picture depicting the myth of Amor and Psyché. Canadian pianist Leonid Nediak takes centre stage with Rachmaninoff’s colourful and jazz-flavoured Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4. Written during the years of postwar Stalinist Russia, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6 is a tragically ominous reflection of society and the composer’s own inner turmoil.
Kristian Alexander | conductor
Leonid Nediak | pianist
Michael Berec | host
Intermission discussion and Q&A with Leonid Nediak and Michael Berec.
Recognized as one of the top ten pianists of his age group in the world, Kingston’s Leonid Nediak has already been a featured soloist with l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Toronto Symphony, and the Kingston Symphony, all while scooping up prizes at the Cleveland International Piano Competition and the Canadian Music Competition. Named by CBC as one of the “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30,” this dazzling young Kingston pianist has a brilliant international career ahead of him.
Nediak has written numerous compositions for solo piano, as well as a piano trio, and a string quartet. He has won multiple prizes in composition competitions, including the 2019 Young Composer Award of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), the first prize at the 2014 International Hal Leonard Carol Klose Composition Competition, and the Grand Prize in all age categories of the 2016 Canadian National Composition Competition.
During the 2020-2022 global pandemic, Nediak collaborated with poet Meg Freer, pairing her poetry with Brahms’ music in series of online video recording. He also collaborated with Cleveland artist Mel Grunau featuring his paintings in audiovisual series of performances. Nediak also experimented with multitrack video production technology and recorded his own arrangement for 6 pianos of Rachmaninoff’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4.
Nediak has started playing the piano at the age of four. He was awarded the Taylor Prize and a full-scholarship at the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy of the Royal Conservatory of Music. He studied with Marina Mdivani from 2018 to 2021 and continues his education at the University of Toronto.
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