Guitar Recital

"Dimitri Illarionov: Guitar Recital shows off the talent of the young Russian who won first prize in the 2002 Guitar Foundation of American Competition. Illarionov plays standards by Francisco Tarrega, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Mauro Giuliani, but he also takes on excerpts from Igor Rekhin's solo guitar cycle 24 Preludes and Fugues, an ambitious blend of classical, jazz and rock."
-- John Fleming, St. Petersburg Times May 9, 2004

"Illarionov is as fine a guitarist as I have ever heard. He is aided and abetted by this beautifully chosen recital which one can listen to from start to finish."
-- Gary Higginson, Musicweb.uk.net

"Both these recordings are splendidly recorded (Illarionov much closer in than Montesinos) and highly recommended."
- John Duarte, Gramophone, 12/03

Dimitri Illarionov is one of the most brilliant classical guitarists of his country. In 1997 he graduated with honours from the Academic Music College at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he studied with Natalia Dmitrieva, continuing at the Russian Gnesin Academy with the famous performer and professor Alexander Frauchi. In 2002 he graduated there summa cum laude, and since October 2002 he has served as an assistant to Professor Frauchi. Dimitri Illarionov won the Grand Prix in the VIth International Promotional Competition Guitar Talents' Review (Gdansk, Poland, 1999) and the title of The Greatest Hope in the Xth Gdansk Meeting of Guitarists. In 2000 he won the First Prize in the most prestigious Russian International Guitar Competition, Guitar in Russia (Voronezh, Russia). He is the laureate of numerous international competitions. His awards include the Second Prize in the IIIrd International Competition of Musical Personalities Alexander Tansman (Lodz, Poland, 2000), laureate of the VIIth International Classic Guitar Competition Printemps de la guitare 2000 (Charleroi-Seneffe, Belgium), laureate of the XIth International Biannual Guitar Competition in Kutna Hora (Czech Republic, 2002), laureate of the International Competition Classic Heritage (Moscow, 1997) and winner of Moscow Guitar competition (1997). In October 2002 Dimitri Illarionov won the most prestigious guitar competition in the world, the Twentieth International Guitar Foundation of America Solo Guitar Competition (GFA – Miami, Florida, USA). Part of this award is in the form of the present Naxos recording, with a concert tour in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and a concert video recording. His repertoire is broad and varied, including original guitar music of different periods and styles, the unique cycle 24 Preludes and Fugues for Solo Guitar by Igor Rekhin, as well as compositions for guitar with orchestra, lute music, and other works. He has recorded with Boris Andrianov, one of the most gifted young Russian cellists, and has an active concert life, performing as a soloist with orchestras and playing solo recitals. In addition to numerous appearances in Russia, he has given concerts in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Poland, Japan and Germany, with a solo concert at one of the world's major guitar events, the Nürtingen Festival in Germany. the performer.