On September 13, 2025, the “Yasnaya Polyana” Cultural Center will host the concert “Leo Nikolaevich Invites.” Performing for the Yasnaya Polyana audience will be Moscow cellist Maria Zaitseva, laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition (2023), and pianist Maria Zaitseva Sr. On this day, works by Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, and Enescu will be performed. The concert is dedicated to L. N. Tolstoy’s birthday, which is celebrated on September 9.
The concert will open with the Sonata for Piano and Cello No. 1 (F minor) by Romanian composer George Enescu. His music was influenced by European Romanticism, later shaped by the Second Viennese School, neoclassicism, and neo-Baroque. A constant element of his work was his use of Romanian folklore, which gives the sonata a special color. The program continues with two classical pieces: one of the most famous instrumental works of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Pezzo capriccioso, and Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano (B-flat major) by Felix Mendelssohn, in which the cello reveals its full range of expression.
Critics note that the young cellist Maria Zaitseva plays “with incredibly precise sound, filled with emotion and meaning.”
“It is a great honor to congratulate Leo Nikolaevich on his birthday. That makes me want to play something Tolstoy loved. And when you have Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky in your hands, there’s nothing to think about. Also, if I had been Tolstoy’s contemporary, I would have wanted to introduce him to sonatas that are undeservedly rarely performed—and Enescu’s sonata fits this description perfectly,”
— says Maria Zaitseva about her choice of works for the concert.
Background information:
Maria Zaitseva graduated from the Moscow Gnessin Special School of Music (class of Igor Zimin and Oleg Bugaev) and the Maimonides Academy (class of Oleg Bugaev). She is currently a student at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
She is a laureate of the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition (Zagreb, 2020; 2nd Prize), the S. Knushevitsky International Cello Competition (Saratov, 2021; 1st Prize), and the All-Russian Music Competition (Ufa, 2022; 1st Prize). At the 17th International Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow – St. Petersburg, 2023) she was awarded the 2nd Prize and a silver medal. She is also a scholarship holder of the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation.
The concert will open with the Sonata for Piano and Cello No. 1 (F minor) by Romanian composer George Enescu. His music was influenced by European Romanticism, later shaped by the Second Viennese School, neoclassicism, and neo-Baroque. A constant element of his work was his use of Romanian folklore, which gives the sonata a special color. The program continues with two classical pieces: one of the most famous instrumental works of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Pezzo capriccioso, and Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano (B-flat major) by Felix Mendelssohn, in which the cello reveals its full range of expression.
Critics note that the young cellist Maria Zaitseva plays “with incredibly precise sound, filled with emotion and meaning.”
“It is a great honor to congratulate Leo Nikolaevich on his birthday. That makes me want to play something Tolstoy loved. And when you have Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky in your hands, there’s nothing to think about. Also, if I had been Tolstoy’s contemporary, I would have wanted to introduce him to sonatas that are undeservedly rarely performed—and Enescu’s sonata fits this description perfectly,”
— says Maria Zaitseva about her choice of works for the concert.
Background information:
Maria Zaitseva graduated from the Moscow Gnessin Special School of Music (class of Igor Zimin and Oleg Bugaev) and the Maimonides Academy (class of Oleg Bugaev). She is currently a student at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
She is a laureate of the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition (Zagreb, 2020; 2nd Prize), the S. Knushevitsky International Cello Competition (Saratov, 2021; 1st Prize), and the All-Russian Music Competition (Ufa, 2022; 1st Prize). At the 17th International Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow – St. Petersburg, 2023) she was awarded the 2nd Prize and a silver medal. She is also a scholarship holder of the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation.
tickets online