Whether it is the baroque violin, the violin, the viola or the violoncello da spalla – Sergey Malov intensively and expressively displays his virtuosity, brilliance and stylistic competence on each of these instruments. Born in St Petersburg, the winner of the Mozart competition in Salzburg, the Paganini competition in Genoa and the Heifetz competition in Vilnius, tensions his bows to cover a broad repertoire from historically informed performances of baroque to classicism and romanticism through to improvisation. He will play four baroque masterpieces on two different instruments at the Festival: one is a baroque violin by luthier Goffredo Cappa from Piedmont, the other a violoncello da spalla, the small type of cello on which Bach himself most probably played his cello suites.

So it’s not surprising that Malov’s programme features Bach’s sixth cello suite, which he mirrors on the violin strings with Bach’s partita in d minor and Biber’s passacaglia complementing the «Rosary Sonatas». The French timbre, greatly valued by Bach, is introduced by Malov with Marais, who originally intended the popular folia dance for the viola da gamba.