Louisville Orchestra Presents Vladimir Feltsman

By Joyce Trammell

Pianist Vladimir Feltsman will be joining the Louisville Orchestra for a series of three concerts in early November.

The November 2 concert will begin at 10:45 a.m., with free Danish and coffee available prior to the concert. On Friday and Saturday, November 3 and 4, a pre-concert discussion of the concert pieces with conductor Lawrence Leighton Smith at 7 p.m. will precede the 8 p.m. concerts. All three concerts will be held at the Kentucky Center for the Arts.

Vladimir Feltsman

Feltsman, a native of Russia, comes to Louisville much heralded as a concert pianist. Some of the exciting highlights in his career include performances in Paris, Milan, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Seattle, Miami and many other cities.

Mr. Feltsman was well on his way to being a superstar in Russia until he and his wife applied to immigrate to Israel. For eight years his musical activities were severely curtailed until friends in Europe and the United States gave considerable help, enabling the Feltsmans to obtain permission to leave the Soviet Union.

Debuts at Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center followed.

When asked how he felt about leaving the Soviet Union Mr. Feltsman said: "It was very painful and I'm sorry that I had to leave my motherland. But I believe that my real motherland – and the real motherland for any artist, if you've got a gift from God – would be a concert hall."

The Louisville Orchestra and the Kentucky Center welcomes Vladimir Feltsman to an adopted motherland.