Cellist Claudio Bohórquez performs
with the Russian National Orchestra

When Moscow’s Russian National Orchestra performs at Penn State, the “living symbol of the best of Russian art” (Miami Herald) will envelop Eisenhower Auditorium in music that can only be produced by excellent musicians with a passion for their repertoire. And yet a German and the son of an Italian movie star may be the ones who really dazzle the audience.

Claudio Bohórquez, a German born-and-bred cellist whose Spanish surname comes from his Peruvian and Uruguayan parentage, performs as guest soloist. “Bohórquez,” raves a Boston Globe reviewer, “has an astonishing gift for the instrument.”

Carlo Ponti Jr., the orchestra’s associate conductor, leads the ensemble in concert at Penn State. Ponti, who is also the music director and principal conductor of California’s San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra, is the son of Oscar-winning Italian actress Sophia Loren and the late Italian film producer Carlo Ponti.

The program for the 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 26, concert features Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104, with Bohórquez as soloist, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36.

Bohórquez, who won the 2000 International Casals Competition, performs concertos with acclaimed orchestras on three continents. The Berlin resident also appears as a chamber musician, a recital soloist, and a collaborator with a variety of visual and performing artists.

In the United States, he has performed as a soloist with the symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. He has worked with noted conductors Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Neville Marriner, Krzysztof Penderecki, Leonard Slatkin, and David Zinman. He has also performed with his younger brother, violinist Oscar Bohórquez.

Conductor Ponti’s debut with the Russian National Orchestra received so much critical acclaim that he was appointed in 2000 as the ensemble’s associate conductor. A year later he assumed his post in San Bernardino. He has attracted attention in California for his innovative programming and for raising the artistic level of the orchestra.

Ponti, who began his musical studies in Paris, earned prizes in several competitions as a pianist. He received a master’s degree in conducting from UCLA and also attended the Conductor’s Institute in Hartford, Connecticut. He has studied musical direction with Zubin Mehta, Andrey Boreyko, and Leopold Hager.

As a guest conductor, Ponti has appeared with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orquesta de Valencia, Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and other ensembles. He has also conducted at numerous international music festivals.

Ponti, who regularly teaches master classes in conducting, and members of the orchestra are scheduled to work with Penn State School of Music students for several days while in State College.

Guided since its inception in 1990 by Artistic Director Mikhail Pletnev, the Russian National Orchestra was the first Russian ensemble of its kind to perform at the Vatican and in Israel. The orchestra, which routinely tours Europe, Asia, and the Americas, has recorded more than fifty CDs, including the first album by a Russian orchestra to garner a Grammy Award.

Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring a visiting artist or local expert, is offered in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis.

Note: Greek-born conductor Teodor Currentzis, who had been scheduled to lead the orchestra in State College, had to drop out of the tour.