New Names from Moscow is a charity which supports the musical education of young performers, mainly from Russia. Its work is all the more important given the economic stresses which have followed the collapse of the Soviet system. Since it was established in 1989, NNFM has helped around 500 students, both educationally and in their concert careers.
On Tuesday night in the National Concert Hall's John Field Room, the Limerick Music Association presented six such Russians before a packed audience, which included distinguished figures from that country's artistic and political worlds.
Juliana Avdeeva (piano), Gaik Gazazian (violin), Alexander Buzlov (cello), Alexandra Grishkina (mezzo-soprano), Alexander Kobrin (piano) and Igor Fedorov (clarinet) performed music which ranged chronologically from Mozart to Rachmaninov. With 24 listed pieces plus the obligatory speeches and encores the evening was long. But it was so impressive that time flew.
The musicians are aged from 13 to the early 20s, and most of them are in their teens. They stood out for their musical maturity as much as their superb technique, for they dug into the deeper things of music and put expressive considerations well before displays of ego.
The hot-house, unashamedly elitist system which produces such prodigies is controversial. Yet out of it have come such luminaries as Rostropovich, Vengerov and Kissin. Its priorities are distinctive, and to me nothing showed this more than the concert's emphasis on ensemble playing.
Rattling off a Liszt paraphrase at 13 is remarkable enough. Being able also to address the subtle demands of a Haydn piano trio or a folksong arrangement for voice and trio is extraordinary.