Russian National Orchestra / Kirill Karabits

It was something of a political risk back in 1990 when Mikhail Pletnev, with the support of Mikhail Gorbachev, founded the Russian National Orchestra as the first non-state cultural institution in the Soviet Union, and turned it into an ensemble of international renown in the shortest space of time. And as a one-time winner of the Tchaikovsky Prize, the orchestra’s first conductor wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to play the solo part himself in Tchaikovsky’s immensely romantic piano concerto. He is more than happy to hand over the rostrum on this occasion to the versatile Ukrainian Kirill Karabits, who tours regularly with the RNO, and has been introducing a breath of fresh air to Weimar as that city’s general director of music since 2016.