The review is in

Cellist Rusian Biryukov receives a standing ovation at 'afternoon concert' series

Victor Kamont / Roundup

The concert series at Pierce College continued Thursday afternoon with an exquisite performance by cellist Rusian Biryukov accompanied by pianist Maskim Velichkin in room 3400 in the music department. The audience gave a rousing applause and screamed for an encore.

Biryukov began playing music at the age of seven. In 1995, at the age of 11 he started performing internationally as a soloist and chamber musician playing as many as 150 concerts a year.

Velichen is a collaborative pianist, a harpsichordist, and a cellist. Biryukov is the director of the “MiMoDa” concert series in Los Angeles. He plays popular music with well-known artists such as Stevie Wonder. The concert was upbeat with Biryukov playing brilliantly and his jovial manner showing through with his interaction with the audience during a question and answer at the end of the performance.

“I talk less to the audience now. People would ask me question’s and I would get really animated, sometimes I would talk for two hours,” Biryukov said to the audience.

The duo performed Camille SaintSaens: Cello Concerto No.1 in a minor, Op. 33 (1872) and Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky’s: “Variations on a Rocco Theme”, Op. 33

Biryukov’s explained how the appreciation for this music is still here after many years.

“The music was written with passion about the feeling’s and emotion’s of every day life,” Biryukov said.

“The beauty is in you, the beast is in you. Our job is to make life a little better, a little happier for you,” Biryukov said.

Jim Bergman is an adjunct professor of music at Pierce. He organized the Concert @ Pierce series, which are performed in the music department.

“The purpose of these concerts is to expose the students to high quality music that they probably haven’t been exposed to before,” Bergman said.

Bergman explained that a lot of the students think they don’t like classical music.

“After these concerts I read concert reports. I am reading hundreds of students opinions of what they heard and many of them are not afraid to tell me they didn’t like this and didn’t like that,” Bergman said.

Bergman talked about how students enjoy these concerts.

“A lot of them say they were surprised, they were shocked, they actually enjoyed it, they stayed awake,” Bergman said.

Samantha Martinez, 20, is majoring in child development at Pierce. She is taking her first music class this semester and this was her first recital.

“I was pleasantly surprised. This is the first time I came to a concert here and next week I will be glad to come back,” Martinez said.

Daiale Anderson, 19, is a business major at Pierce. This the first time she heard the cello.

“I never heard the cello before, it is very pretty. It goes good with the piano,” Anderson said.

Biryukov was asked if he suffered any injuries. He held up his hands, the fingers on one hand were larger. He had worn the fingers down on the hand that grabs the neck of the cello.

“Sometimes I have to play to please the audience no matter how I feel. If I am sick, Tired, or sad,” Biryukov said.

Biryukov will be a guest on the “Happy Hour” show Oct. 26 from 1 to 2 p.m. on KPCRadio.com.

The concert series continues next Thursday with violinist Ji Young An.