Andrej Rubcov

Andrey Rubtsov is currently an assistant to Donald Runnicles at BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and was the 2014 Leverhulme Conducting Fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His pieces have been performed in more than 50 countries from Malaysia to Bermuda and published in the United States. He composed a chamber ballet for a Bolshoi Theatre project and his woodwind quintet has become a standard repertoire piece with already more than 35 quintets all over the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. Rubtsov has had numerous commissions from the Russian State Chamber Orchestra and the Russian National Orchestra. Notable recent events include his Oboe Concerto as a compulsory piece for the Moscow Conservatoire International Music Competition Final in November 2015 and Violin Concerto première in February 2016 in nine German cities with Julia Fischer and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

Two Reflections on The Nutcracker uses Tchaikovsky’s original material in order to create a kind of music that will be comfortable in the 21st century, with its interest in mixing classical elements with easy-listening, minimalist, meditation elements. The opening episode begins with Sugar Plum Fairy material and then switches to a less readily recognisable Russian dance tune, while the second part is based solely on Pas de deux music.