Denis Shapovalov, a cellist from Russia, performed at the concert within the 53rd BEMUS on Friday, November 5, at the Kolarac Endowment, together with the 13 Strings ensemble led by cellist and associate professor Srđan Sretenović.
Shapovalov, who appeared in the double role of composer / arranger and soloist on two instruments – classical and electric cello, performed works by Vivaldi and Haydn in the first part of the concert, which he said were his favorite composers. The audience then listened to the premiere performance of Shapovalov's composition entitled ‘Bravura Concert’. In the second part, the atmosphere of a rock concert prevailed, and the artist presented arrangements of the famous band Pink Floyd. Denis stated that he loved classics and rock equally, and that this was a bold experiment whose main concept is to mix and unite rock and classical music. The hits ‘Another Brick in the Wall’, ‘Great Gig in the Sky’, ‘Money’, ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’ were heard in unusual cross over arrangements, which the audience greeted with loud applause.
Denis Shapovalov won the first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1998. He has performed at numerous international festivals in Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Lithuania, Poland, France and many other countries. He has collaborated with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Moscow Virtuosos Chamber Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles. He regularly holds master classes in Russia and abroad as a visiting professor, and in 2014 he started the project teaching ‘Cello Travel International Academy’.
The 13 Strings chamber ensemble was founded in 2016 on the initiative of Associate Professor and cellist Srđan Sretenović. The name of the ensemble is inspired by the golden age of chamber music in Serbia, when the ‘Dušan Skovran’ string orchestra under the direction of Professor Aleksandar Pavlović numbered 13 musicians and when numerous works by contemporary Serbian composers were created for that orchestra.