JANUARY 11, 2018 // 11
Gold Medals in very prestigious
competitions”: Antonov in the
2007 International Tchaikovsky
Competition in Moscow, and
Kazantsev at the Nikolai Rubin-
stein International Competition
in Paris, among other accolades.
“It’s been one of those for-
tuitous things; this is about the
only night they were available,”
Clark said. “They’ll be coming
in from New York on the day of
the concert, and they’ll have to
head right back out afterwards.
They’re very busy artists, so
we’re lucky to have them when
we do.”
As performers and lifelong
friends, Sergey and Ilya are deep-
ly simpatico.
“We’ve known each other
since the third grade — we were
actually born three days apart in
Moscow,” Antonov said. “But
oddly enough, even though we
went through music school at
the same time, we never actually
played together until after we
both moved to the States. We
bumped into each other in New
York about ten years ago, and
since then, we’ve worked togeth-
er constantly.”
Though Antonov has plied his
talents at venues ranging from
the Great Hall of Moscow Con-
servatory to the Newport Music
Festival (where he made his
American debut) to Suntory Hall
in Tokyo, and continues to per-
form across the globe, he makes
a point of returning to Astoria as
often as he can.
“I never get tired of saying
this over and over: Astoria is a
special place for me,” Antonov
said. “I admire the town and
I love the people. I’ve been
coming there for nine years now,
twice a year at least, whether I’m
performing or not, and it’s never
enough. It’s a wonderful commu-
nity.”
He has even shown his affec-
tion in musical form, compiling
in 2016 a CD titled “To Astorians
with Love.”
The feeling is mutual.
“Sergey’s in demand all over
the world,” Clark said, “so he
wouldn’t take the time to come
to Astoria if he didn’t feel very
welcome, very much at home.”
And why wouldn’t he be wel-
come? As Clark said, “Sergey’s a
rock star of the cello.” CW
COURTESY DIANE NASETH
Award-winning cellist Sergey Antonov on Mount Hood
FILE PHOTO
Award-winning Russian pianist Ilya Kazantsev
COURTESY MICHAEL MATHERS
Keith Clark, the Astoria Music Festival conductor and artistic director