07:00 pm
Rasul Klychev Conductor
Aynur Otuzova Piano
Aidan Gold Composer
Pierre Thilloy Composer
CHARY NURYMOV · Concerto for piano and Orchestra (1975)
WELI MUHATOV · „My Homeland“ symphonic poem(1950)
AIDAN GOLD · „Songs from Turkmenistan“ concerto for percussion and Orchestra (2018, German Premiere)
NURY HALMAMMEDOV · „Wind from the Karakum Desert“ symphonic pictures
PIERRE THILLOY · „Diable qui danse“ op. 265 (2023, German Premiere)
ARTURO MÁRQUEZ · Danzón Nr. 2 (1994)
There is plenty to discover in this concert of the National Youth Orchestra of Turkmenistan! The young musicians from the country located between the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan and Iran have dedicated their debut concert at Young Euro Classic to composers who will probably be unknown to most concertgoers in Berlin. Have you heard of Chary Nurymov, Weli Muhatov and Nury Halmammedov? All three are big names in their homeland, having contributed many important works to Turkmenistan’s musical culture. In their time, they were sent to Moscow for their education, and upon their return they dedicated their music to the great themes of Turkmenistan’s history, its landscape and culture. Weli Muhatov contributed the symphonic poem My Homeland to this programme, and the symphonic pictures Wind from the Karakum Desert by Nury Halmammedov form the concert’s finale. A piano concerto, a composition for percussion and orchestra and – as a special dash of colour – a new composition by the French composer Pierre Thilloy round out this programme – unique to Young Euro Classic!
In the beginning was a chamber orchestra which the young conductor Rasul Klychev founded in 2007. It made a name for itself in a short period of time, with several invitations to the Festival of Young Talents in Bayreuth, Germany. Seeking to perform larger works, from 2018 onwards the orchestra added new members, changing its name to Youth Symphony Orchestra of Turkmenistan. Thanks to active support from the government, the conditions for concerts on a high artistic level of excellence were soon established. A special highlight in the fairly short history of the orchestra was its successful participation in the World Orchestra Festival in Vienna, where the orchestra won distinction both in 2024 and 2025.
Born in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, in 1988, Rasul Klychev began studying violin before turning to conducting, which he studied from 2009 onwards at the National Conservatory of Turkmenistan. In 2014, he graduated from that institution; only one year later, he was appointed artistic director and chief conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra of Turkmenistan. Klychev takes an active interest in training young musical talents. Beyond the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Turkmenistan, since 2019 he has also been the chief conductor of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the association of successor states to the former Soviet Union, which include Turkmenistan as well as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, among others.
Born in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, in 2007, Aynur Otuzova began studying at the Special School for Music at the age of six, where she remained until 2025. During this time, she won numerous national and international competitions, taking first prizes at “Cycle of Talents” in Kazan, Russia (2021), at “From Classics to Modernity” (2022) and “Steps to Mastery” (2023). Today, the pianist studies with Maya Kuliyeva at the National Conservatory of Turkmenistan. She regularly performs with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Turkmenistan. Her repertoire includes Turkmen and Russian composers as well as the international classical repertoire.
Aidan Gold is a composer, conductor, percussionist, and educator. His work often focuses on musical games, improvisation, theatricality, and narrative/storytelling. He is fascinated with the idea of music as a social act – a game/ritual that we perform to allow us to communicate and connect with one another, defining, challenging, and expanding our individual and collective identities. Gold is currently pursuing a DMA in Composition at the Juilliard School. His music has been performed by the Juilliard Orchestra, the JACK Quartet, the Chelsea Symphony, and others, and has won awards including the Arthur Friedman and Palmer Dixon prizes. Aidan Gold is one of the founding members of AFK, a New York City contemporary chamber music collective that focuses on creating interactive musical experiences. His other interests include origami and hiking. He was always fascinated by the immense scale and interconnectedness of the natural world and its broad and diverse ecosystems. His compositional goals are to support these connections, exploring new ways we can interact with each other while making music, and how these multifaceted connections can enrich our communities.
The French composer Pierre Thilloy began his musical education in Nancy and later studied composition at one of the conservatories in Luxembourg and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. His oeuvre includes ten symphonies, 20 symphonic poems, 30 concertos, an oratorio for three orchestras, choruses and soloists, two operas and 250 other works. For more than 20 years, his travels all over the globe, especially to India, Central Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, have enabled him to comprehend his art in a world-encompassing context, creating a strong counterweight to hegemonial and colonial globalisation. In 2002, Thilloy founded the musical publishing house La Salamandre, which publishes composers from all over the world with different musical horizons. In cooperation with the French Ministry of Culture, the 55-year-old composer is active in musical projects in countries including Brazil, Canada, Lithuania, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.