St. Hugh presents cellist Anna Litvinenko

St. Hugh-Steinway Concert Series continues its 2016-17 Season on Friday, April 28, at 8 pm with a recital by the remarkable Miami cellist Anna Litvinenko, shown here, with Artistic Director Roberto Berrocal, piano.  

St. Hugh-Steinway Concert Series is in its fifth season of vocal and instrumental concerts, presenting four concerts each year of both classical and popular music. Each concert is followed by a free wine & cheese reception in the adjoining hall to meet the artists attended usually by eighty percent of the audience. 

The church has a striking vertical interior with beautiful stained glass and excellent acoustics. The intimate 500-seat church has become one of South Florida’s newest concert venues.  

An American cellist of Cuban and Ukrainian heritage, Anna Litvinenko has captured the attention of audiences in venues throughout Europe and the Americas. At six she began the cello with her father Konstantin Litvinenko and from a young age gained attention at competitions, gave solo recitals, and appeared as a soloist with the Miami Symphony, the New World Symphony, la Orquesta Juvenil Teresa Carreño, and the Odessa Philharmonic. 

A Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award winner, a Sphinx Competition laureate, and a Young Arts winner, Anna has been invited to perform in chamber music performances throughout Miami, New York City, Washington D.C., and London. She has collaborated with musicians from the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and worked with Joshua Bell in “Joshua Bell – A Young Arts Master Class.”

While dedicated to the traditional classical repertoire, Anna has embraced new classical music styles. She  participated in the 8th Creative Dialogue Symposium, working with new music composers and exploring improvisation with Magnus Lindberg, cellist Anssi Karttunen, and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones. In 2015 she  premiered Yuri Boguinia’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra at Carnegie Hall with the Aeon Music Ensemble.
 Anna completed her undergraduate degree at Julliard where she was a principal cellist in the Julliard Orchestra, and was awarded the John Erskine Prize for excellence. She prizes her cello study with Joel Krosnick, baroque cello with Phoebe Carrai, composition with Philip Lasser, and improvisation with Noam Sivan.

In the Fall of 2016 she began graduate studies in London on scholarship with Richard Lester at Royal College of Music. She is grateful for the generous financial support of her studies by the Jack Kent Foundation.

Atristic director Roberto Berrocal grew up in Bilbao, Spain. In 1996 he entered College of Charleston, South Carolina and made his professional debut at 18 playing Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2. After graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music, he has garnered rave reviews for his superb musicianship both as a soloist and an accompanist. 
In addition to his solo recital repertoire, Roberto has played the piano concertos of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Shostakovich, and Mozart in Europe, Latin America and the US. In 2015 he played Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in the St Hugh-Steinway Series at the New World Center, and in 2016 Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 at St. Hugh Catholic Church. In October, 2016 he performed the concerto with the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra.

In 2006, Roberto joined the Florida Grand Opera as principal pianist and vocal coach for the 25th, 26th, and 27th National Voice Competitions and Young Artist's Program. He has taught at The New World School of the Arts, and in 2007 became the Music Director at St. Hugh Catholic Church. He founded the  St. Hugh-Steinway Concert Series in 2011 with St. Hugh Pastor, Fr. Federico Capdepón.  

Tickets $45 and $30 are available online at www.sthughconcerts.org, by phone at 305-318-5008 or at the door.