Polyansky Symphonic Chapel. State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia. History of the creation of the Svyatoslav Richter Foundation

Ruslan Rozyev

Ruslan Rozyev is a soloist of the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia.

Born in 1984 in Chardzhou (Turkmenistan). He graduated from the piano department of the Belgorod Music College named after S. A. Degtyarev (2002, class of teacher L. N. Girzhanova), studied at the Voronezh State Academy of Arts in the department of solo singing (2002–2007, class of N. N. Amelin), after which he continued education at the Galina Vishnevskaya Center for Opera Singing. On the stage of the Center he made his debut as Monterone in the opera “Rigoletto” by G. Verdi. The singer also took part in the master class of Cheryl Milnes (as part of the II Festival of Master Classes “Glory to the Maestro”), and in 2011 he trained at the Tampa Opera (Florida, USA).

Ruslan Rozyev is a laureate of the 2nd prize at the interregional competition of young vocalists “Orpheus” (Volgograd, 2006) and the IV International Competition of Opera Singers of Galina Vishnevskaya (Moscow, 2012), winner of a diploma for participation in the Gala concert of the XXXV review of vocalists - graduates of music universities in Russia (St. -Petersburg, 2007).

In the 2010/11 season - guest soloist of the Royal Walloon Opera (Liège, Belgium) and the Santander International Festival (Spain), in the 2011/12 season - guest soloist of the Lyon Opera (France) and the Aix-en-Provence Opera Festival (France), in the 2012/13 season - guest soloist at the Rome Opera (Italy).

The singer's repertoire includes roles in operas by G. Verdi - Sparafucile and Monterone (Rigoletto), Banco (Macbeth); parts of Bartolo (The Marriage of Figaro by W. A. ​​Mozart); Mephistopheles (“Faust” by C. Gounod); Escamillo and Zunigi (“Carmen” by J. Bizet); roles in the operas of P. Tchaikovsky - King René and Bertrand (Iolanta), Gremin, Zaretsky and Rotny (Eugene Onegin); N. Rimsky-Korsakov - Malyuta Skuratov (“The Tsar’s Bride”), Father Frost (“The Snow Maiden”), Tsar Saltan (“The Tale of Tsar Saltan”); D. Shostakovich - Priest (“Katerina Izmailova”), Shvokhnev (“Players”); parts of Boris Godunov, Varlaam and Pimen (“Boris Godunov” by M. Mussorgsky); Aleko (“Aleko” by S. Rachmaninov); The Inquisitor (Fire Angel by S. Prokofiev); Mr. Gobineau (“Medium” by D. Menotti).

With the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia under the direction of V. Polyansky, R. Rozyev took part in the premiere production of A. Tchaikovsky’s opera “The Legend of the City of Yelets, the Virgin Mary and Tamerlane” (2011). Also performed the roles of: Marquis de Calatrava in “Force of Destiny” by G. Verdi, Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, General Bellard in “War and Peace” by S. Prokofiev; bass parts in the Requiems of A. Dvorak and G. Verdi, “Solemn Mass” by L. van Beethoven.

Ruslan Rozyev successfully tours in Russia, France, Belgium, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, the USA, and Mexico.

Maxim Sazhin

Maxim Sazhin is a soloist of the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia.

Born in 1978 in Kostroma. Graduated from the vocal department of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts (2006, class of G. I. Mitsenko).

Laureate of the III All-Russian Open Competition of Vocal Music named after G. V. Sviridov (2007, 2nd prize), II International Competition of Young Opera Singers in Memory of M. D. Mikhailov (2011), diploma winner of the III All-Russian Open Competition of Opera Singers “St. Petersburg” (2007 ) and the International Tenor Competition in Memory of Luciano Pavarotti (2008).

His career as a musician began during his student years. He was a soloist of the Mari State Opera and Ballet Theater named after E. Sapaev (2004–2008), the Galina Vishnevskaya Center for Opera Singing (2007–2009), and a guest soloist of the Perm Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (2011–2012). Since 2008 - soloist of the Moscow State Academic Children's Musical Theater named after N. Sats, since 2009 - guest soloist of the Russian Opera Theater.

Since 2010, Maxim Sazhin began collaborating with the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia under the direction of Valery Polyansky, and three years later he became a soloist of the group. The singer participated in many concerts and opera performances of the Capella, including the world premiere of A. Tchaikovsky’s opera “The Legend of the City of Yelets, the Virgin Mary and Tamerlane” in the city of Yelets, “War and Peace” by S. Prokofiev, “The Voevoda” by P. Tchaikovsky.

As a guest soloist, he performed on the stages of foreign theaters - the Royal Walloon Opera, the Lyon Opera, the Roman Opera, and took part in international festivals in Aix-en-Provence and Santander.

Anastasia Privoznova

Anastasia Privoznova is a soloist of the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia under the direction of Valery Polyansky. In February 2015, she performed in the Capella program dedicated to the 175th anniversary of P. I. Tchaikovsky, on the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia.

Anastasia Privoznova graduated from the Ural State Conservatory named after M. P. Mussorgsky (2006, class of Professor V. Yu. Pisarev). From 2003 to 2006 she was a soloist of the Nizhny Tagil Philharmonic. She collaborated with the symphony orchestra under the direction of E. Revinzon, the Ryabinka folk instrument orchestra under the direction of O. Popov, the Classic chamber orchestra under the direction of D. Davydov, the piano trio Bon ton, the Theater of Ancient Romance under the direction of E. Vernigor.

The singer is a laureate of the IV Regional Vocal Competition of the Urals and Siberia (Ekaterinburg, 1996), III Open All-Russian Competition “Three Centuries of Classical Romance” (St. Petersburg, 2006), II International Competition of Opera Artists G. Vishnevskaya (Moscow, 2008), vocal competition named after I. Petrov (Moscow, 2009), winner of the Grand Prix of the IV International Vocal Competition “Path to the Stars” (Moscow, 2011).

From 2006 to 2008, A. Privoznova studied at the Center for Opera Singing under the direction of G. Vishnevskaya. As a soloist of the Center, she participated in productions of the operas “The Tsar’s Bride” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov (Marfa), “Carmen” by J. Bizet (Mikaela), and in the phantasmagoric play “Marriage and Other Horrors” (Parasya). In 2006, she took part in the tour of the Opera Singing Center in St. Petersburg, dedicated to the anniversary of Galina Vishnevskaya. Participated in festivals in Russia, Bulgaria, Mexico, Azerbaijan. In 2010, she performed in a production of the opera “Boris Godunov” at the Royal Walloon Opera in Liege (Belgium) and at the Santander International Festival (Spain). She took part in the celebration of International Women's Day in Pyongyang (North Korea).

As a guest soloist of the Russian Opera Theater, she performed the role of Parasi in M. Mussorgsky’s opera “Sorochinskaya Fair” (2010). Participates in projects of the Moscow Philharmonic.

He is a member of the jury of the International Competition-Festival of Military-Patriotic Songs “Heirs of Victory”, and gives charity concerts as part of this festival.

The singer's repertoire includes: Tatiana (Eugene Onegin by P. Tchaikovsky), Iolanta (Iolanta by P. Tchaikovsky), Francesca (Francesca da Rimini by S. Rachmaninov), Violetta (La Traviata by G. Verdi), Mimi ( “La Bohème” by G. Puccini), Margarita (“Faust” by C. Gounod); soprano parts in W. A. ​​Mozart's Requiem, G. B. Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, F. Poulenc's Stabat Mater, arias, romances and songs by Russian and foreign composers.

Vladimir Ovchinnikov

“Whoever has ever heard the performance of Vladimir Ovchinnikov - the most sensitive and expressive pianist - realizes the perfection of form, the purity and power of sound that his fingers and intellect produce,” this statement of the Daily Telegraph largely reflects the brightness and originality the art of a musician-continuator of the famous Neuhaus school.

Vladimir Ovchinnikov was born in 1958 in Bashkiria. He graduated from the Central Special Music School at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of A. D. Artobolevskaya, and in 1981 from the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied in the class of Professor A. A. Nasedkin (a student of G. G. Neuhaus).

He is a laureate of the International Piano Competition in Montreal (Canada, 2nd prize, 1980), and the International Chamber Ensemble Competition in Vercelli (Italy, 1st prize, 1984). Particularly important are the musician’s victories at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1982) and at the International Piano Competition in Leeds (Great Britain, 1987), after which Ovchinnikov’s triumphant debut took place in London, where he was specially invited to play in front of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

The pianist performs with many of the world's largest orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Orchestra (Great Britain), the Royal Scottish Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Montreal, Zurich, Tokyo, Hong Kong, the Gewandhaus Orchestra (Germany), the National Orchestra of Polish Radio , The Hague Resident Orchestra, the French Radio Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Great Symphony Orchestra and the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia.

V. Ovchinnikov’s creative partners were many famous conductors: V. Ashkenazi, R. Barshai, M. Bamert, D. Brett, A. Vedernikov, V. Weller, V. Gergiev, M. Gorenshtein, I. Golovchin, A. Dmitriev, D. Conlon, J. Kreizberg, A. Lazarev, D. Liss, R. Martynov, L. Pechek, V. Polyansky, V. Ponkin, G. Rozhdestvensky, G. Rinkevičius, E. Svetlanov, Y. Simonov, S. Skrovashevsky, V. Fedoseev, G. Solti, M. Shostakovich, M. Jansons, N. Järvi.

The artist has an extensive solo repertoire and tours in the best halls in the world. Among them are the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall in London, Hercules Hall and Gewandhaus in Germany, Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Salle Pleyel in Paris.

The pianist took part in famous international festivals held in different countries of the world: Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and Van Clyburn in Fort Worth (USA); in Edinburgh, Cheltenham and BBC Proms (UK); Festival of Schleswig-Holstein (Germany); in Sintra (Portugal); in Stresa (Italy); at the Singapore Festival (Singapore).

At various times, V. Ovchinnikov recorded works by Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, N. Rubinstein, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Mussorgsky, Reger, Barber on CDs, which were released on the labels EMI, Collins Classics, Russian Seasons, "Shandos", "Gold Club", "Olympia".

Pedagogy occupies a significant place in the life of an artist. For several years, V. Ovchinnikov worked at the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK. Since 1996, he began teaching at the Moscow Conservatory; since 2001, the pianist has also been working at Sakuya University in Japan, and since 2005 - at the Faculty of Arts of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov as a visiting professor of piano. From 2011 to 2016, Vladimir Ovchinnikov headed the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory.

V. Ovchinnikov has been performing in concerts of the Moscow Philharmonic for many years. He is also People's Artist of Russia (2005), a member of the jury of many prestigious international piano competitions - including the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow, the Viana da Motta competition in Lisbon, the Busoni competition in Italy, Scheveningen in The Hague, the PETINA competition in Tokyo, the A.D. Artobolevskaya in Moscow.

Valery Polyansky

Valery Polyansky is a musician of multifaceted talent, the highest culture, and deep erudition. His conducting charisma is equally evident both in the field of choral art and at the helm of a symphony orchestra, and his creative searches are brilliantly realized in a variety of genres - be it operas, works for a cappella choir, monumental cantata-oratorio works, symphonies, contemporary works .

Valery Polyansky was born in 1949 in Moscow. His calling was determined very early: upon graduating from music school, at the age of 13 he was already conducting a choir. This was followed by years of study with E. Zvereva at the school at the Moscow Conservatory, which V. Polyansky completed in three years; At the Moscow State Conservatory, the young musician studied simultaneously in two faculties: conducting and choral (class of Professor B. Kulikov) and opera and symphony conducting (class of O. Dimitriadi).

In graduate school, fate brought V.K. Polyansky together with G.N. Rozhdestvensky, who had a great influence on the further creative activity of the young conductor.

The most important milestone in the life of Valery Polyansky was 1971, when he organized the Chamber Choir of students of the Moscow Conservatory, and also became the conductor of the Moscow Operetta Theater.

In 1975 in Italy, at the largest International Competition “Guido d’Arezzo”, Valery Polyansky and his Chamber Choir became undisputed winners. For the first time, a choir from Russia received a Gold medal in the “academic singing” category, also receiving the “Golden Bell” - a symbol of the best choir of the competition. Valery Polyansky was awarded a special prize as the best conductor of the competition. The Italians then wrote about the musician: “This is a genuine Karajan of choral conducting, possessing exceptionally bright and flexible musicality.”

In 1977, V. Polyansky, without leaving the choir, became the conductor of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR, where, among other things, he participated with G. Rozhdestvensky in the production of Shostakovich’s opera “Katerina Izmailova” and conducted other performances.

In those same years, cooperation with the Union of Composers began: Valery Polyansky boldly took on new scores and became a regular participant in the Moscow Autumn festival of contemporary music. The best Russian composers—N. Sidelnikov, E. Denisov, A. Schnittke, S. Gubaidulina, D. Krivitsky, A. Vieru—dedicate their compositions to him. “...It is necessary that the works of our days be played. We live in a world that is full of a wide variety of emotional colors, mental moods, experiences, and conflicting passions. All this is reflected in one way or another in the richest treasury of world music, everything should be presented on the modern concert stage. It is our duty to support contemporary composers,” says the conductor.

While heading the State Chamber Choir, Valery Polyansky simultaneously fruitfully collaborated with leading symphony groups in Russia and foreign countries, and repeatedly performed with orchestras in Belarus, Iceland, Finland, Germany, Holland, the USA, Taiwan, and Turkey. He staged Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin” at the Gothenburg Musical Theater (Sweden), and for several years he was the chief conductor of the “Opera Evenings” festival in Gothenburg.

Since 1992, Valery Polyansky has been the artistic director and chief conductor of the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia.

The conductor has made over 100 recordings at leading recording companies, both in Russia and abroad. Among them are works by Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, Glazunov, Scriabin, Bruckner, Dvorak, Reger, Szymanovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke (Schnittke’s Eighth Symphony, released by the English company Chandos records in 2001, was recognized as the best recording of the year). It is impossible not to mention the recording of all the choral concerts of the wonderful Russian composer D. Bortnyansky and the revival of the music of A. Grechaninov, which was almost never performed in Russia.

The conductor is also one of the best interpreters of Rachmaninov's legacy; his discography includes all of the composer's symphonies, all of his operas in concert performance, and all of his choral works. Valery Polyansky is the President of the Rachmaninov Society, heads the International Rachmaninoff Piano Competition.

Currently, the conductor’s attention is given to G. Mahler: for the first time in Russia, the State Skapella is conducting a unique cycle “Gustav Mahler and His Time”, designed to last several years. In 2015, when Tchaikovsky’s anniversary was widely celebrated, V. Polyansky and the Capella held the “Music for All Seasons” festival, which was called “unprecedented” in the media. As part of the festival, all the composer’s symphonies, Nine Spiritual Choirs, “Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom" and the opera "The Queen of Spades" in concert performance.

Since 2000, the State Skapelle’s programs have clearly shown a tendency towards the genre of opera in concert performance. To date, V. Polyansky has performed about 30 operas. These include Russian classics (Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Grechaninov), and foreign authors, in particular Verdi, to whom the maestro has dedicated special subscriptions for several seasons in a row. Among the Verdi masterpieces presented by the chapel are the operas “Louise Miller”, “Il Trovatore”, “Rigoletto”, “Force of Destiny”, “Falstaff”, “Macbeth” and others. To mark the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth, on the historical stage of the Bolshoi Theater, V. Polyansky and the State Capella held a gala concert “Viva, Verdi”, which included fragments from 13 operas and the composer’s “Requiem”. The project turned out to be so popular that it was then repeated several times in the Moscow Philharmonic's subscriptions and at the closing of the Amber Necklace festival (Kaliningrad, 2015).

The conductor is constantly in the field of view of modern scores; he has performed a number of Russian and world premieres, including: “Gesualdo” by A. Schnittke (2000), “The Last Days of Pushkin” by A. Nikolaev (2007), “The Legend of the City of Yelets, the Virgin Mary and Tamerlane" by A. Tchaikovsky (2011), "Albert and Giselle" by A. Zhurbin (2012), oratorio "The Sovereign's Affair" by A. Tchaikovsky (2013).

Valery Polyansky strives to present the opera in a historically accurate interpretation, uses the original author's editions, and involves musicians from the State Capella and leading singers of famous Russian theaters in the implementation of operas in concert performance. Collaboration with the Capella has allowed many singers to express themselves creatively in operas that are not on the playbills of their theaters, and thus expand and enrich their repertoire. Polyansky managed to gather a team of like-minded people and develop his own original style in interpreting the form of concert performance of the opera.

The conductor's contribution to musical culture has been highly recognized by state awards. Valery Polyansky is People's Artist of Russia (1996), laureate of the State Prizes of Russia (1994, 2010), holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (2007).

Sergei Rachmaninov

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov (April 1 (March 20) 1873 - March 28, 1943) - Russian composer, pianist and conductor.

He synthesized in his work the principles of the St. Petersburg and Moscow schools of composition (as well as the traditions of Western European music) and created his own original style, which subsequently influenced both Russian and world music of the 20th century.

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov was born on April 1, 1873 into a noble family. For a long time, the place of birth was considered to be the estate of his parents Oneg, not far from Novgorod; Research in recent years has named the Semenovo estate in Starorussky district, Novgorod province (Russia).

The composer's father, Vasily Arkadyevich (1841–1916), came from the nobility of the Tambov province. The history of the Rachmaninov family goes back to the grandson of the Moldavian king Stephen the Great, Vasily, nicknamed Rachmanin. Mother, Lyubov Petrovna (nee Butakova) is the daughter of the director of the Cadet Corps, General P.I. Butakov. The composer's paternal grandfather, Arkady Alexandrovich, was a musician, studied piano with J. Field and gave concerts in Tambov, Moscow and St. Petersburg. Romances and piano pieces of his composition have been preserved, including “Farewell Gallop for 1869” for piano four hands. Vasily Rachmaninov was also musically gifted, but he played music exclusively amateurishly.

S. V. Rachmaninov’s interest in music was discovered in early childhood. His first piano lessons were given to him by his mother, then music teacher A.D. Ornatskaya was invited. With her support, in the fall of 1882, Rachmaninov entered the junior department of the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class of V.V. Demyansky. Studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory was going poorly, since Rachmaninov often skipped classes, so at the family council it was decided to transfer the boy to Moscow and in the fall of 1885 he was accepted into the third year of the junior department of the Moscow Conservatory under Professor N. S. Zverev.

Rachmaninov spent several years in the famous Moscow private boarding school of the music teacher Nikolai Zverev, whose pupil was also Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin and many other outstanding Russian musicians (Alexander Ilyich Ziloti, Konstantin Nikolaevich Igumnov, Arseny Nikolaevich Koreshchenko, Matvey Leontyevich Presman, etc.). Here, at the age of 13, Rachmaninov was introduced to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who later took a great part in the fate of the young musician.

In 1888, Rachmaninov continued his studies at the senior department of the Moscow Conservatory in the class of his cousin A.I. Ziloti, and a year later, under the guidance of S.I. Taneyev and A.S. Arensky, he began to study composition.

At the age of 19, Rachmaninov graduated from the conservatory as a pianist (with A.I. Ziloti) and as a composer with a large gold medal. By that time, his first opera had appeared - “Aleko” (thesis work) based on A. S. Pushkin’s work “Gypsies”, his first piano concerto, a number of romances, pieces for piano, including a prelude in C sharp minor, which later became one of Rachmaninov's most famous works.

At the age of 20, due to lack of money, he became a teacher at the Moscow Mariinsky Women's School, and at 24, he became a conductor at the Moscow Russian Private Opera of Savva Mamontov, where he worked for one season, but managed to make a significant contribution to the development of Russian opera.

Rachmaninov gained early fame as a composer, pianist and conductor. However, his successful career was interrupted on March 15, 1897 by the unsuccessful premiere of the First Symphony (conducted by A.K. Glazunov), which ended in complete failure both due to poor quality performance and, mainly, due to the innovative nature of the music. According to A. V. Ossovsky, Glazunov’s inexperience as an orchestra leader during rehearsals played a certain role. This event caused a serious nervous illness. During 1897-1901, Rachmaninov was unable to compose, and only the help of an experienced psychiatrist, Dr. Nikolai Dahl, helped him overcome the crisis.

In 1901 he completed his Second Piano Concerto, the creation of which marked Rachmaninoff’s emergence from the crisis and at the same time the entry into the next, mature period of creativity. Soon he accepted an invitation to take the place of conductor at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater. After two seasons he went on a trip to Italy (1906), then settled in Dresden for three years to devote himself entirely to composition. In 1909, Rachmaninov made a large concert tour of America and Canada, performing as a pianist and conductor. In 1911, S. V. Rachmaninov, while in Kyiv, at the request of his friend and colleague A. V. Ossovsky, listened to the young singer Ksenia Derzhinskaya, fully appreciating her talent; he played a big role in the development of the famous singer’s opera career.

Soon after the revolution of 1917, he took advantage of an unexpected offer from Sweden to perform in a concert in Stockholm and at the end of 1917, together with his wife Natalya Alexandrovna and daughters, he left Russia. In mid-January 1918, Rachmaninov traveled through Malmo to Copenhagen. On 15 February he made his first appearance in Copenhagen, where he played his Second Concerto with conductor Heeberg. By the end of the season, he performed in eleven symphony and chamber concerts, which gave him the opportunity to pay off his debts.

On November 1, 1918, he and his family sailed from Norway to New York. Until 1926 he did not write significant works; The creative crisis thus lasted for about 10 years. Only in 1926-1927. new works appear: the Fourth Concerto and Three Russian Songs. During his life abroad (1918-1943), Rachmaninov created only 6 works that belong to the pinnacles of Russian and world music.

He chose the USA as his place of permanent residence, toured extensively in America and Europe and was soon recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his era and a major conductor. In 1941 he completed his last work, recognized by many as his greatest creation, Symphonic Dances. During the Great Patriotic War, Rachmaninov gave several concerts in the United States, all proceeds from which he sent to the Red Army Fund. He donated the money collected from one of his concerts to the USSR Defense Fund with the words: “From one of the Russians, all possible assistance to the Russian people in their fight against the enemy. I want to believe, I believe in complete victory.”

Rachmaninov's last years were overshadowed by a fatal illness (lung cancer). However, despite this, he continued his concert activities, which were stopped only shortly before his death.

The creative image of Rachmaninoff the composer is often defined by the words “the most Russian composer.” This brief and incomplete description expresses both the objective qualities of Rachmaninov’s style and the place of his heritage in the historical perspective of world music. It was Rachmaninov’s work that acted as the synthesizing denominator that united and fused the creative principles of the Moscow (P. Tchaikovsky) and St. Petersburg schools into a single and integral Russian style. The theme “Russia and its destiny,” which is general for Russian art of all types and genres, found an exceptionally characteristic and complete embodiment in Rachmaninov’s work. In this regard, Rachmaninov was both a successor to the tradition of the operas of Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and the symphonies of Tchaikovsky, and a connecting link in the continuous chain of national tradition (this theme was continued in the works of S. Prokofiev, D. Shostakovich, G. Sviridov, A. Schnittke and etc.). The special role of Rachmaninov in the development of the national tradition is explained by the historical position of Rachmaninov’s work - a contemporary of the Russian revolution: it was the revolution, reflected in Russian art as a “catastrophe”, “end of the world”, that has always been the semantic dominant of the theme “Russia and its fate” (see N. Berdyaev, “The origins and meaning of Russian communism”).

Rachmaninov's work chronologically belongs to that period of Russian art, which is commonly called the “Silver Age”. The main creative method of art of this period was symbolism, the features of which were clearly manifested in the work of Rachmaninov. Rachmaninov's works are full of complex symbolism, expressed through symbolic motifs, the main one of which is the motif of the medieval chorale Dies Irae. This motif symbolizes Rachmaninov’s premonition of a catastrophe, “the end of the world,” “retribution.”

Christian motifs are very important in Rachmaninov’s work: being a deeply religious man, Rachmaninov not only made an outstanding contribution to the development of Russian sacred music (Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, 1910, All-Night Vigil, 1916), but also embodied Christian ideas and symbolism in his other works

Rachmaninov's work is conventionally divided into three or four periods: early (1889-1897), mature (it is sometimes divided into two periods: 1900-1909 and 1910-1917) and late (1918-1941).

Rachmaninov's style, which grew out of late romanticism, subsequently underwent significant evolution. Like his contemporaries A. Scriabin and I. Stravinsky, Rachmaninov radically updated the style of his music at least twice (c. 1900 and c. 1926). Rachmaninov’s mature and especially late style goes far beyond the boundaries of the post-Romantic tradition (“overcoming” which began in the early period) and at the same time does not belong to any of the stylistic trends of the musical avant-garde of the 20th century. Rachmaninov’s work, thus, stands apart in the evolution of world music of the 20th century: having absorbed many of the achievements of impressionism and the avant-garde, Rachmaninov’s style remained uniquely individual and original, having no analogues in world art (excluding imitators and epigones). In modern musicology, a parallel with L. van Beethoven is often used: just like Rachmaninov, Beethoven went far beyond the boundaries of the style that raised him (in this case, Viennese classicism), without joining the romantics and remaining alien to the romantic worldview .

The first - the early period - began under the sign of late romanticism, assimilated mainly through the style of Tchaikovsky (First Concerto, early plays). However, already in the Trio in D minor (1893), written in the year of Tchaikovsky’s death and dedicated to his memory, Rachmaninov gives an example of a bold creative synthesis of the traditions of romanticism (Tchaikovsky), “kuchkists,” ancient Russian church tradition and modern everyday and gypsy music. This work, one of the first examples of polystylistics in world music, seems to symbolically announce the continuity of tradition from Tchaikovsky to Rachmaninov and the entry of Russian music into a new stage of development. In the First Symphony, the principles of stylistic synthesis were developed even more boldly, which was one of the reasons for its failure at the premiere.

The period of maturity is marked by the formation of an individual, mature style, based on the intonational baggage of Znamenny chant, Russian songwriting and the style of late European romanticism. These features are clearly expressed in the famous Second Concerto and Second Symphony, in the piano preludes op. 23. However, starting with the symphonic poem “Island of the Dead,” Rachmaninov’s style becomes more complex, which is caused, on the one hand, by turning to the themes of symbolism and modernity, and on the other, by the implementation of the achievements of modern music: impressionism, neoclassicism, new orchestral, textured, harmonic techniques. The central work of this period is the grandiose poem “The Bells” for choir, soloists and orchestra, to the words of Edgar Allan Poe translated by K. Balmont (1913). Brilliantly innovative, rich in unprecedentedly new choral and orchestral techniques, this work had a huge influence on choral and symphonic music of the 20th century. The theme of this work is characteristic of the art of symbolism, for this stage of Russian art and Rachmaninov’s creativity: it symbolically embodies various periods of human life leading to inevitable death; the apocalyptic symbolism of the Bells, carrying the idea of ​​the End of the World, presumably influenced the “musical” pages of T. Mann’s novel “Doctor Faustus”.

The late - foreign period of creativity - is marked by exceptional originality. Rachmaninov's style is made up of a seamless fusion of the most diverse, sometimes opposing stylistic elements: the traditions of Russian music - and jazz, ancient Russian Znamenny chant - and the "restaurant" stage of the 1930s, the virtuoso style of the 19th century - and the harsh toccataism of the avant-garde. The very heterogeneity of stylistic premises contains a philosophical meaning - the absurdity, cruelty of life in the modern world, the loss of spiritual values. The works of this period are distinguished by mysterious symbolism, semantic polyphony, and deep philosophical overtones.
Rachmaninov's last work, Symphonic Dances (1941), vividly embodying all these features, is compared by many with M. Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, completed at the same time.

The significance of Rachmaninov's compositional creativity is enormous: Rachmaninov synthesized various trends in Russian art, various thematic and stylistic directions, and united them under one denominator - the Russian national style. Rachmaninov enriched Russian music with the achievements of art of the 20th century and was one of those who brought the national tradition to a new stage. Rachmaninov enriched the intonation fund of Russian and world music with the intonation baggage of the Old Russian Znamenny chant. Rachmaninov was the first (along with Scriabin) to bring Russian piano music to the world level, becoming one of the first Russian composers whose piano works are included in the repertoire of all pianists in the world. Rachmaninov was one of the first to carry out a synthesis of the classical tradition and jazz.

The significance of Rachmaninov's performing creativity is no less great: Rachmaninov the pianist became the standard for many generations of pianists from different countries and schools, he established the global priority of the Russian piano school, the distinctive features of which are: 1) deep content of performance; 2) attention to the intonation richness of music; 3) “singing on the piano” - imitation of vocal sound and vocal intonation using the piano. Rachmaninov the pianist left master recordings of many works of world music, on which many generations of musicians study.

State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia

The State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia is a unique group of over 200 artists. It unites a choir, an orchestra and solo vocalists, who, existing in organic unity, at the same time retain a certain creative independence.

The State Capella was formed in 1991 with the merger of the USSR State Chamber Choir under the direction of Valery Polyansky and the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture, headed by Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Both teams have gone through a glorious creative path. The orchestra was founded in 1957 and until 1982 was the orchestra of the All-Union Radio and Television, and since 1982 - the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture. At different times it was led by S. Samosud, Y. Aranovich and M. Shostakovich. The chamber choir was created by V. Polyansky in 1971. Since 1980, the group received a new status and became known as the State Chamber Choir of the USSR Ministry of Culture.

With the choir, Valery Polyansky traveled to all the republics of the USSR, initiated a festival in Polotsk, in which Irina Arkhipova, Oleg Yanchenko, and the Ensemble of Soloists of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR took part... In 1986, at the invitation of Svyatoslav Richter, Valery Polyansky and his choir presented a program of works by P. I. Tchaikovsky at the “December Evenings” festival, and in 1994 - “All-Night Vigil” by S. V. Rachmaninov. At the same time, the State Chamber Choir made a name for itself abroad, triumphantly performing with Valery Polyansky at the festivals “Singing Wroclaw” (Poland), in Merano and Spoleto (Italy), Izmir (Turkey), in Naarden (Holland); Memorable participation in the famous “Promenade concerts” at the Royal Albert Hall (Great Britain), performances in historical cathedrals in France - in Bordeaux, Amiens, Albi.

The State Skapella’s birthday is December 27, 1991: then Antonin Dvorak’s cantata “Wedding Shirts” was performed in the Great Hall of the Conservatory under the baton of Gennady Rozhdestvensky. In 1992, Valery Polyansky became the artistic director and chief conductor of the State Concert Hall of Russia. The activities of the choir and orchestra of the Capella are carried out both in joint performances and in parallel. The ensemble and its chief conductor are welcome guests at the best venues in Moscow, regular members of the Moscow Philharmonic, the Moscow Conservatory and the Moscow International House of Music, and have performed with the finalists of the international Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov competitions. The choir triumphantly toured the USA, England, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and the countries of Southeast Asia.

The basis of the ensemble's repertoire consists of cantata-oratorio genres: masses, oratorios, requiems of all eras and styles - Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz, Liszt, Verdi, Dvorak, Rachmaninov, Reger, Stravinsky, Britten, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Eshpai . Valery Polyansky constantly conducts monographic symphonic cycles dedicated to Beethoven, Brahms, Rachmaninov, Mahler and other great composers.

Many Russian and foreign performers collaborate with the Capella. The team has a particularly close and long-term creative friendship with Gennady Nikolaevich Rozhdestvensky, who annually presents his personal philharmonic subscription with the State Capella of Russia.

In recent years, the team has developed its own scheme for organizing the season. Its extremes are dedicated to performances in small towns. Since 2009, the Capella has been holding the September Evenings festival in Tarusa (together with the Svyatoslav Richter Foundation), introducing masterpieces of symphonic and choral music to residents of Torzhok, Tver, and Kaluga. In 2011, Yelets was added, where the world premiere of Alexander Tchaikovsky’s opera “The Legend of the City of Yelets, the Virgin Mary and Tamerlane” staged by director Georgy Isaakyan was triumphantly held. “You don’t need a lot of words about patriotism,” V. Polyansky formulated his position, “young people just need to hear this music, which inspires love for the homeland. It is a crime that there are cities where people have never heard a live symphony orchestra or seen an opera performance. We are trying to correct this injustice."

The repertoire policy of the State Chapel also reflects the most important dates in world history. To mark the 200th anniversary of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, a concert performance of Prokofiev’s opera “War and Peace” took place (in Torzhok and Kaluga); the world premiere of the oratorio “The Sovereign’s Affair” by A. Tchaikovsky was timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty (2013, Lipetsk, Moscow), and on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia M. Glinka’s “Life for the Tsar” was performed.

A landmark event of 2014 was the concert performance of the rarely heard opera “Semyon Kotko” by Prokofiev by the State Capella, which took place on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater and in the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army and was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. At the same venues, the team celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory with a performance of K. Molchanov’s opera “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet.”

The State Capella's touring activities are intensive. The orchestra's superior performance was applauded by the British public during the 2014 autumn tour. “There are conductors who consider Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony too famous and perform it as if on autopilot, but Polyansky and his orchestra were simply magnificent. Tchaikovsky's music, of course, became part of the flesh and blood of this group; Polyansky played this immortal masterpiece the way I’m sure Tchaikovsky himself would have wanted to hear it,” noted British critic and composer Robert Matthew-Walker.

In 2015, the group’s concerts were triumphantly held in the USA, Belarus (festival of sacred music “Mogutny Bozha”) and Japan, where the public appreciated V. Polyansky’s interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s last three symphonies.

State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia– a unique group of over 200 artists. It unites a choir, an orchestra and solo vocalists, who, existing in organic unity, at the same time retain a certain creative independence.

The State Capella was formed in 1991 with the merger of the USSR State Chamber Choir under the direction of Valery Polyansky and the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture, headed by Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Both teams have gone through a glorious creative path. The orchestra was founded in 1957 and until 1982 was the orchestra of the All-Union Radio and Television, and since 1982 - the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture. At different times it was led by S. Samosud, Y. Aranovich and M. Shostakovich. The chamber choir was created by V. Polyansky in 1971. Since 1980, the group received a new status and became known as the State Chamber Choir of the USSR Ministry of Culture.

With the choir, Valery Polyansky traveled to all the republics of the USSR, initiated a festival in Polotsk, in which Irina Arkhipova, Oleg Yanchenko, and the Ensemble of Soloists of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR took part... In 1986, at the invitation of Svyatoslav Richter, Valery Polyansky and his choir presented a program of works by P. I. Tchaikovsky at the “December Evenings” festival, and in 1994 - “All-Night Vigil” by S. V. Rachmaninov. At the same time, the State Chamber Choir made a name for itself abroad, triumphantly performing with Valery Polyansky at the festivals “Singing Wroclaw” (Poland), in Merano and Spoleto (Italy), Izmir (Turkey), in Naarden (Holland); Memorable participation in the famous “Promenade concerts” at the Royal Albert Hall (Great Britain), performances in historical cathedrals in France - in Bordeaux, Amiens, Albi.

The State Skapella’s birthday is December 27, 1991: then Antonin Dvorak’s cantata “Wedding Shirts” was performed in the Great Hall of the Conservatory under the baton of Gennady Rozhdestvensky. In 1992, Valery Polyansky became the artistic director and chief conductor of the State Concert Hall of Russia. The activities of the choir and orchestra of the Capella are carried out both in joint performances and in parallel. The ensemble and its chief conductor are welcome guests at the best venues in Moscow, regular members of the Moscow Philharmonic, the Moscow Conservatory and the Moscow International House of Music, and have performed with the finalists of the international Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov competitions. The choir triumphantly toured the USA, England, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and the countries of Southeast Asia.

The basis of the ensemble's repertoire consists of cantata-oratorio genres: masses, oratorios, requiems of all eras and styles - Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz, Liszt, Verdi, Dvorak, Rachmaninov, Reger, Stravinsky, Britten, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Eshpai . Valery Polyansky constantly conducts monographic symphonic cycles dedicated to Beethoven, Brahms, Rachmaninov, Mahler and other great composers.

Many Russian and foreign performers collaborate with the Capella. The team has a particularly close and long-term creative friendship with Gennady Nikolaevich Rozhdestvensky, who annually presents his personal philharmonic subscription with the State Capella of Russia.

In recent years, the team has developed its own scheme for organizing the season. Its extremes are dedicated to performances in small towns. Since 2009, the Capella has been holding the September Evenings festival in Tarusa (together with the Svyatoslav Richter Foundation), introducing masterpieces of symphonic and choral music to residents of Torzhok, Tver, and Kaluga. In 2011, Yelets was added, where the world premiere of Alexander Tchaikovsky’s opera “The Legend of the City of Yelets, the Virgin Mary and Tamerlane” staged by director Georgy Isaakyan was triumphantly held. “You don’t need a lot of words about patriotism,” V. Polyansky formulated his position, “young people just need to hear this music, which inspires love for the homeland. It is a crime that there are cities where people have never heard a live symphony orchestra or seen an opera performance. We are trying to correct this injustice."

The repertoire policy of the State Chapel also reflects the most important dates in world history. To mark the 200th anniversary of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, a concert performance of Prokofiev’s opera “War and Peace” took place (in Torzhok and Kaluga); the world premiere of the oratorio “The Sovereign’s Affair” by A. Tchaikovsky was timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty (2013, Lipetsk, Moscow), and on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia M. Glinka’s “Life for the Tsar” was performed.

A landmark event of 2014 was the concert performance of the rarely heard opera “Semyon Kotko” by Prokofiev by the State Capella, which took place on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater and in the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army and was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. At the same venues, the team celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory with a performance of K. Molchanov’s opera “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet.”

The State Capella's touring activities are intensive. The orchestra's superior performance was applauded by the British public during the 2014 autumn tour. “There are conductors who consider Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony too famous and perform it as if on autopilot, but Polyansky and his orchestra were simply magnificent. Tchaikovsky's music, of course, became part of the flesh and blood of this group; Polyansky played this immortal masterpiece the way I’m sure Tchaikovsky himself would have wanted to hear it,” noted British critic and composer Robert Matthew-Walker.

In 2015, the group’s concerts were triumphantly held in the USA, Belarus (festival of sacred music “Mogutny Bozha”) and Japan, where the public appreciated V. Polyansky’s interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s last three symphonies.

Valery Polyansky

Valery Polyansky– a musician of multifaceted talent, the highest culture, and deep erudition. His conducting charisma is equally evident both in the field of choral art and at the helm of a symphony orchestra, and his creative searches are brilliantly realized in a variety of genres - be it operas, works for a cappella choir, monumental cantata-oratorio works, symphonies, contemporary works .

Valery Polyansky was born in 1949 in Moscow. His calling was determined very early: upon graduating from music school, at the age of 13 he was already conducting a choir. This was followed by years of study with E. Zvereva at the school at the Moscow Conservatory, which V. Polyansky completed in three years; At the Moscow State Conservatory, the young musician studied simultaneously in two faculties: conducting and choral (class of Professor B. Kulikov) and opera and symphony conducting (class of O. Dimitriadi).

In graduate school, fate brought V.K. Polyansky together with G.N. Rozhdestvensky, who had a great influence on the further creative activity of the young conductor.

The most important milestone in the life of Valery Polyansky was 1971, when he organized the Chamber Choir of students of the Moscow Conservatory, and also became the conductor of the Moscow Operetta Theater.

In 1975 in Italy, at the largest International Competition “Guido d’Arezzo”, Valery Polyansky and his Chamber Choir became undisputed winners. For the first time, a choir from Russia received a Gold medal in the “academic singing” category, also receiving the “Golden Bell” - a symbol of the best choir of the competition. Valery Polyansky was awarded a special prize as the best conductor of the competition. The Italians then wrote about the musician: “This is a genuine Karajan of choral conducting, possessing exceptionally bright and flexible musicality.”

In 1977, V. Polyansky, without leaving the choir, became the conductor of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR, where, among other things, he participated with G. Rozhdestvensky in the production of Shostakovich’s opera “Katerina Izmailova” and conducted other performances.

In those same years, cooperation with the Union of Composers began: Valery Polyansky boldly took on new scores and became a regular participant in the Moscow Autumn festival of contemporary music. The best Russian composers—N. Sidelnikov, E. Denisov, A. Schnittke, S. Gubaidulina, D. Krivitsky, A. Vieru—dedicate their compositions to him. “...It is necessary that the works of our days be played. We live in a world that is full of a wide variety of emotional colors, mental moods, experiences, and conflicting passions. All this is reflected in one way or another in the richest treasury of world music, everything should be presented on the modern concert stage. It is our duty to support contemporary composers,” says the conductor.

While heading the State Chamber Choir, Valery Polyansky simultaneously fruitfully collaborated with leading symphony groups in Russia and foreign countries, and repeatedly performed with orchestras in Belarus, Iceland, Finland, Germany, Holland, the USA, Taiwan, and Turkey. He staged Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin” at the Gothenburg Musical Theater (Sweden), and for several years he was the chief conductor of the “Opera Evenings” festival in Gothenburg.

Since 1992, Valery Polyansky has been the artistic director and chief conductor of the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia.

The conductor has made over 100 recordings at leading recording companies, both in Russia and abroad. Among them are works by Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, Glazunov, Scriabin, Bruckner, Dvorak, Reger, Szymanovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke (Schnittke’s Eighth Symphony, released by the English company Chandos records in 2001, was recognized as the best recording of the year). It is impossible not to mention the recording of all the choral concerts of the wonderful Russian composer D. Bortnyansky and the revival of the music of A. Grechaninov, which was almost never performed in Russia.

The conductor is also one of the best interpreters of Rachmaninov's legacy; his discography includes all of the composer's symphonies, all of his operas in concert performance, and all of his choral works. Valery Polyansky is the President of the Rachmaninov Society, heads the International Rachmaninoff Piano Competition.

Currently, the conductor’s attention is given to G. Mahler: for the first time in Russia, the State Skapella is conducting a unique cycle “Gustav Mahler and His Time”, designed to last several years. In 2015, when Tchaikovsky’s anniversary was widely celebrated, V. Polyansky and the Capella held the “Music for All Seasons” festival, which was called “unprecedented” in the media. As part of the festival, all the composer’s symphonies, Nine Spiritual Choirs, “Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom" and the opera "The Queen of Spades" in concert performance.

Since 2000, the State Skapelle’s programs have clearly shown a tendency towards the genre of opera in concert performance. To date, V. Polyansky has performed about 30 operas. These include Russian classics (Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Grechaninov), and foreign authors, in particular Verdi, to whom the maestro has dedicated special subscriptions for several seasons in a row. Among the Verdi masterpieces presented by the chapel are the operas “Louise Miller”, “Il Trovatore”, “Rigoletto”, “Force of Destiny”, “Falstaff”, “Macbeth” and others. To mark the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth, on the historical stage of the Bolshoi Theater, V. Polyansky and the State Capella held a gala concert “Viva, Verdi”, which included fragments from 13 operas and the composer’s “Requiem”. The project turned out to be so popular that it was then repeated several times in the Moscow Philharmonic's subscriptions and at the closing of the Amber Necklace festival (Kaliningrad, 2015).

The conductor is constantly in the field of view of modern scores; he has performed a number of Russian and world premieres, including: “Gesualdo” by A. Schnittke (2000), “The Last Days of Pushkin” by A. Nikolaev (2007), “The Legend of the City of Yelets, the Virgin Mary and Tamerlane" by A. Tchaikovsky (2011), "Albert and Giselle" by A. Zhurbin (2012), oratorio "The Sovereign's Affair" by A. Tchaikovsky (2013).

Valery Polyansky strives to present the opera in a historically accurate interpretation, uses the original author's editions, and involves musicians from the State Capella and leading singers of famous Russian theaters in the implementation of operas in concert performance. Collaboration with the Capella has allowed many singers to express themselves creatively in operas that are not on the playbills of their theaters, and thus expand and enrich their repertoire. Polyansky managed to gather a team of like-minded people and develop his own original style in interpreting the form of concert performance of the opera.

The conductor's contribution to musical culture has been highly recognized by state awards. Valery Polyansky is People's Artist of Russia (1996), laureate of the State Prizes of Russia (1994, 2010), holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (2007).

Philharmonic Choir "Yaroslavia"

Philharmonic Choir "Yaroslavia" was created in the fall of 2003 by the famous Yaroslavl musician and teacher S. M. Berezovsky. The appearance of a group of this scale and level in Yaroslavl became a significant cultural event. The Capella included professional musicians, graduates of universities in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, and Kostroma.

The chapel leads an intense creative life. Her performances are distinguished by their vibrant theatricality and artistry. The group is able to organically transform into a chamber and large concert choir, which allows it to perform a wide variety of repertoire.

In 2008, Vladimir Kontarev, a famous conductor and teacher, professor at the Moscow Conservatory, laureate of the L. V. Sobinov Prize, became the artistic director and chief conductor of the Yaroslavia Philharmonic Choir. The musician's high authority and rich artistic experience helped the group win international recognition.

In the spring of 2011, “Yaroslavia” was awarded the title of laureate at the International Festival of Church Music in Hainówka (Poland). The skill of the Capella, which continues the best traditions of the Russian choral performing school, was highly appreciated by the international jury, critics and the musical community.

The Philharmonic Choir “Yaroslavia” is a participant in many bright creative projects. Thus, with the State Symphony Orchestra “New Russia” conducted by Yuri Bashmet, soloists of the Bolshoi Theater and dramatic artists, a concert version of P. I. Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin” was performed; with the Symphony Orchestra, choir and soloists of the Mariinsky Theater conducted by Valery Gergiev - “The Bells” by S. V. Rachmaninov. The Capella also participated in major projects with artists of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the Moscow Academic Musical Theater named after K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, the Moscow Novaya Opera Theater named after E. V. Kolobov, with the National Academic Orchestra of Folk Instruments Russia named after N.P. Osipov, Yaroslavl Academic Governor's Symphony Orchestra, chamber orchestras Pratum Integrum, "Russian Camerata", ensemble of soloists "Hermitage". Among such artistic events are concert performances of the operas “Tosca”, “Madama Butterfly” by G. Puccini, “Othello” by G. Verdi, “Cinderella” by G. Rossini, “Khovanshchina” by M. P. Mussorgsky; works of the cantata-oratorio genre - “Alexander Nevsky” by S. Prokofiev, Requiem and Great Mass in C minor by W. A. ​​Mozart, “Nenia” by J. Brahms, “Carmina Burana” by C. Orff, “Kursk Songs”, “Pathetic Oratorio” ", "Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin" by G. Sviridov, "Seven Songs about God" by A. Mikita, "Requiem" by A. Karamanov. Famous conductors have performed with the Capella: Vladimir Andropov, Murad Annamamedov, Yuri Bashmet, Evgeny Bushkov, Dmitry Volosnikov, Valery Gergiev, Wolf Gorelik, Valery Polyansky, Dimitris Botinis (Greece), Claudio Vandelli (Italy), Johannes Wildner (Germany), Terje Mikkelsen (Norway), Andres Mustonen (Estonia) and others.

The team constantly takes part in major Russian and foreign festivals, including the Moscow Easter Festival under the direction of Valery Gergiev, the Yuri Bashmet festivals in Yaroslavl and Sochi, “Moscow Autumn”, the Transfiguration Arts Festival and the Leonid Roizman International Organ Music Festival in Yaroslavl, “ Festival of Five Kremlins" in Veliky Novgorod, J. S. Bach Music Festival in Tver, "Organ Evenings in Kuskovo" in Moscow, Prokofiev Festival in Donetsk (Ukraine), Credo Festival of Orthodox Sacred Music (Estonia), music festivals in Bialystok, Katowice , Rybnik (Poland), in Vologda, Vladimir, Kostroma, Rybinsk and many other cities.

Oksana Sekerina

Oksana Sekirina born in the city of Novy Urengoy, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Graduated from the Khanty-Mansiysk branch of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music.

The singer's concert activities began while she was still studying. Among the most striking events is participation in the program for the 30th anniversary of Metropolitan Hilarion’s creative activity in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, where Oksana Sekerina performed accompanied by the Russian National Orchestra (2014); performance of the role of the Virgin Mary in the British premiere of the oratorio “St. Matthew Passion” by Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) at London’s Cadogan Hall (conducted by Alexey Puzakov), which received rave reviews from the press. In September 2015, Oksana Sekerina performed as Lisa Brichkina in a concert production of the opera “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” by Kirill Molchanov on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia (conducted by Valery Polyansky).

Rustam Yavaev

A native of Astrakhan, Rustam Yavaev graduated from the Moscow State Pedagogical University in the class of opera and chamber performance (class of teacher M.A. Ganeshina and Professor G.I. Urbanovich) and graduate school (2005) in the class of solo singing at the State Classical Academy named after. Maimonides (class of teacher Professor G.I. Urbanovich). In 2006, the singer completed an internship at the G.P. Vishnevskaya Center for Opera Singing.

Winner of the All-Russian student competition in Yekaterinburg (1st prize, 2000), winner of the Be11a Vose competition in Moscow (2001), laureate of the international music competition of the 20th century in St. Petersburg (2nd prize, 2002), laureate of the All-Russian competition in Kostroma (1st prize , 2004), laureate of the International Ilham Shakirov Competition (Kazan, 2005), laureate of the International Competition "Amber Nightingale" in Kaliningrad (3rd prize, 2006), laureate of the International Competition in Italy (Pesaro) "Citta di Pesaro" (2nd prize, 2009) .

Rustem Yavaev collaborated with the College of Ancient Music at the Moscow Conservatory, where with his participation operas and oratorios by C. Monteverdi, I. A. Hasse, J. S. Bach, G. F. Handel, A. Scarlatti, C. V. were performed. Gluck, G. Pergolesi, F. Cavalli, J. Peri, D. Bortnyansky. The singer has repeatedly participated in the Moscow Autumn festival at the Moscow House of Composers, performing music by contemporary domestic and foreign composers. In 2011, Rustam Yavaev was invited as a soloist to the Bolshoi Theater of Russia to perform the cantata "Stabat mater" by A. Vivaldi in the ballet performance "Reflection". The singer conducts active concert activities in Russia and abroad.

Anton Vinogradov

Anton Vinogradov Graduated from the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music (class of professor, Honored Artist of Russia V.V. Gromova) and graduate school at the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky (class of professor, People's Artist of Russia P.I. Skusnichenko). In 2011 he took part in a master class by D. Hvorostovsky.

Winner of the 1st prize at the competition within the framework of the Moscow International Festival of Slavic Music (2008) and the 2nd prize at the International Music Competition of S. V. Rachmaninoff (St. Petersburg, 2009).

In 2010 he became a soloist of the Moscow Concert and the Moscow Novaya Opera Theater. E. V. Kolobova. Since 2014 - soloist of the Moscow State Academic Chamber Musical Theater named after B. A. Pokrovsky. He toured in Switzerland, Hungary, Canada, Australia.

The singer's repertoire includes: Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro by W. A. ​​Mozart), Belcore (Elisir of Love by G. Donizetti), Malatesta (Don Pasquale by G. Donizetti), Count di Luna (Il Trovatore by G. Verdi ), Germont (“La Traviata” by G. Verdi), Athanael (“Thais” by J. Massenet), Tonio (“Pagliacci” by R. Leoncavallo), Alfio (“Honour Rural Country” by P. Mascagni), Michele (“The Cloak” by G. Puccini), Onegin (“Eugene Onegin” by P. Tchaikovsky), Robert, Ebn-Hakia (“Iolanta” by P. Tchaikovsky), Yeletsky (“The Queen of Spades” by P. Tchaikovsky).

As a guest soloist of the State Capella of Russia, he took part in a concert performance of Donizetti’s opera “Elisir of Love” on the stage of the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.

On March 20, 2012, a concert of the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia will take place in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory under the direction of artistic director and chief conductor Valery Polyansky. The audience will be presented with Ludwig van Beethoven's work Solemn Mass, opus 123.

The uniqueness of combining a choir and a symphony orchestra allows us to achieve a harmonious masterpiece. Thanks to his talent, the artistic director of the Capella brings the spirit of modernity to a piece of music created several centuries ago.

The “Tribute to Svyatoslav Richter” project is an annual event conceived as a tribute to the memory of the brilliant pianist. For several years now, this concert has been a traditional highlight in the life of Moscow and attracts a wide audience of professionals and classical music lovers. “The public comes to this annual concert with pleasure, paying tribute to the memory of one of the most brilliant musicians of the 20th century. Playing a concert on his birthday was Svyatoslav Teofilovich’s tradition, which we continue,” notes Svyatoslav Pisarenko, General Director of the Svyatoslav Richter Foundation.

The discovery and promotion of talents from the province, musicians and artists, is one of the main activities of the Foundation. The beginning of summer festivals, where young people can show their achievements, was laid by a group led by Valery Polyansky, a sound that conveys various shades of the famous Svyatoslav Richter himself. Many young performers were lucky enough to participate in this project and get the chance to be presented to the general public, demonstrate their talent and love for music.

On March 20, on the birthday of the great maestro, already famous musicians who have won love and respect will take the stage in the Great Hall of the Conservatory and dedicate their performance to Svyatoslav Teofilovich. The concert starts at 19:00.

The State Academic Symphonic Capella of Russia (GASK) arose in December 1991 as a result of the merger of the USSR State Chamber Choir under the direction of Valery Polyansky and the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture. Valery Polyansky became the artistic director and chief conductor of the new ensemble.

The activities of the choir and orchestra of the GASK of Russia under the direction of V. Polyansky are carried out both in joint performances and separately. Due to this special, unique structure, the Capella has the opportunity to turn to many wonderful examples of classical music - masses and oratorios, requiems and cantatas - intended for performance by soloists, choir and orchestra.

The extraordinary diligence and perseverance of the chief conductor is reflected in the quality of performance. Every detail of the composition is carefully verified and then included in the interpretation of the entire work. The conductor is especially successful in monumental works: Mahler's symphonies, Berlioz's oratorios "Romeo and Julia" and "The Childhood of Christ", large forms by Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Schnittke, etc.

As a regular participant in the subscriptions of the Moscow Conservatory and the International House of Music, the group often performs with finalists of the International Tchaikovsky, Scriabin and Rachmaninoff competitions, tours in the USA, England, Italy (Spoletto), Germany, Switzerland (Geneva), and in the countries of South-East Asia.

Russian conductor, choirmaster, teacher; laureate of the International Competition, People's Artist of Russia, laureate of State Prizes of Russia, artistic director and chief conductor of the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia - Valery Polyansky belongs to a rare number of musicians of the generation with which the flourishing of Russian musical classics is associated.

During his student years, Valery Kuzmich was the leader of several amateur choirs. Later he became a conductor of the Moscow Operetta Theater, then the Bolshoi Theater, while teaching at the Moscow State Conservatory.

Polyansky is one of the few who to this day combine devoted service to tradition and bold innovation. Not only his creative work, but also the life of the Maestro itself is an example of service to art. The devotion with which the legendary musicians of bygone times treated their skills. Therefore, the interpretations of famous classical masterpieces performed by Valery Polyansky and the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia, headed by him, sound especially stylish and harmonious.

Valery Polyansky uniquely combines attention to the heritage of the past and adherence to high canonical models with a constant search for the new, bold experiments and the most unusual experiments. This combination of tradition and innovation is the credo of the maestro and his Chapel. After all, it was Polyansky and his team who once became the first performers of many of Alfred Schnittke’s oratorio works, which became real phenomena in the 90s and opened up unknown musical worlds.

History of the creation of the Svyatoslav Richter Foundation

To bring great art to the provinces and help young talented musicians and artists - this was the main idea of ​​Svyatoslav Richter when creating the Foundation in 1992. The foundation was conceived by him as a charitable organization - at that time one of the few in the country that devoted its efforts to holding classical music festivals and developing creativity in the Russian provinces.

In the sixties, in the “House on the Oka” near a small town famous for the names of great artists, writers and musicians, among the amazing Russian nature, Svyatoslav Teofilovich worked a lot and fruitfully. He thought it was an excellent place for creativity. It was there, during the flying season, that Richter prepared six musical programs for his first tour in the United States. After this trip, the musical world recognized the great pianist of our time.

In the early 90s, Richter had the idea of ​​​​creating a House of Creativity for young musicians and artists in Tarusa, where they could, like he did in his time, be fruitfully engaged. He saw financial support for active recreation for young people in receiving funds from annual music and art festivals, from his personal and charitable contributions from friends and colleagues. Therefore, he planned himself to actively participate in the festival concerts, as well as to invite Yuri Bashmet, Natalia Gutman, Eliso Virsaladze, Galina Pisarenko and others: those who became the founders of the Foundation with him. Richter’s idea of ​​​​creating the Foundation was supported, and he himself transferred the ownership of the “House on the Oka”, located on the edge of the forest on the high bank of the Oka, to the Foundation.

The first Music and Art Festival in Tarusa, dedicated to the work of Grieg, took place in the summer of 1993. The artistic design of the festival, the program of which was compiled by Richter himself, was an exhibition of works by Scandinavian artists from the collection of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin. The concerts were a huge success, both in Tarusa and Moscow. Unfortunately, Richter did not have time to implement the idea of ​​​​creating a creative laboratory for young people.

The foundation continues the ideas of the master. In the summer of 2012, the traditional summer music festival in Tarusa will be held for the twentieth time, in which, along with outstanding musicians, young performers also participate. For each of them, this invitation is an event in their professional and creative life, a start consecrated in the name of the great musician.

On March 20, the Foundation annually celebrates Svyatoslav Teofilovich’s birthday with a concert “An Offering to Svyatoslav Richter” in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. Currently, in addition to festival and concert activities, the Foundation is implementing a summer creative music school program. At one time, hundreds of outstanding musicians attended summer camps.

The State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia is a grandiose group of over 200 artists. It unites solo vocalists, choir and orchestra, which, existing in organic unity, at the same time retain a certain creative independence.

GASK was formed in 1991 with the merger of the USSR State Chamber Choir under the direction of V. Polyansky and the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture, headed by G. Rozhdestvensky. Both teams have gone through a glorious creative path. The orchestra was founded in 1957 and immediately took its rightful place among the best symphony groups in the country. Until 1982, it was the orchestra of the All-Union Radio and Television, at different times it was led by S. Samosud, Y. Aranovich and M. Shostakovich: since 1982 - the State Orchestra of the Ministry of Culture. The chamber choir was created by V. Polyansky in 1971 from among the students of the Moscow State Conservatory (subsequently the composition of the choir was expanded). A real triumph was brought to him by participation in the International Competition of Polyphonic Choirs “Guido d’Arezzo” in Italy in 1975, where the choir received gold and bronze medals, and V. Polyansky was recognized as the best conductor of the competition and was awarded a special prize. In those days, the Italian press wrote: “This is a genuine Karajan of choral conducting, with exceptionally bright and flexible musicality.” After this success, the team confidently stepped onto the big concert stage.

Today, both the choir and the GASK orchestra are unanimously recognized as one of the most high-quality and creatively interesting musical groups in Russia.

The first performance of the Capella with the performance of A. Dvořák’s cantata “Wedding Shirts” under the direction of G. Rozhdestvensky took place on December 27, 1991 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and was an outstanding success, which set the creative level of the group and determined its high professional class.

Since 1992, the Chapel has been headed by Valery Polyansky.

The Capella's repertoire is truly limitless. Thanks to a special “universal” structure, the group has the opportunity to perform not only masterpieces of choral and symphonic music belonging to different eras and styles, but also turns to huge layers of the cantata-oratorio genre. These are masses and other works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Rossini, Bruckner, Liszt, Grechaninov, Sibelius, Nielsen, Szymanowski; requiems by Mozart, Verdi, Cherubini, Brahms, Dvorak, Fauré, Britten; “John of Damascus” by Taneyev, “The Bells” by Rachmaninov, “Le Noces” by Stravinsky, oratorios and cantatas by Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Shostakovich, vocal and symphonic works by Gubaidulina, Schnittke, Sidelnikov, Berinsky and others (many of these performances became world or Russian premieres) .

In recent years, V. Polyansky and the Capella have paid special attention to concert performances of operas. The number and variety of operas prepared by GASK, many of which have not been performed in Russia for decades, is amazing: “Cherevichki”, “The Enchantress”, “Mazeppa” and “Eugene Onegin” by Tchaikovsky, “Nabucco”, “Il Trovatore” and “Louise Miller” by Verdi, “The Nightingale” and “Oedipus Rex” by Stravinsky, “Sister Beatrice” by Grechaninov, “Aleko” by Rachmaninov, “La Boheme” by Leoncavallo, “The Tales of Hoffmann” by Offenbach, “Sorochinsky Fair” by Mussorgsky, “The Night Before Christmas” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “André Chénier "Giordano, Cui's A Feast in Time of Plague, Prokofiev's War and Peace, Schnittke's Gesualdo...

One of the foundations of the Capella's repertoire is music of the 20th century and today. The group is a regular participant in the International Festival of Contemporary Music “Moscow Autumn”. In the fall of 2008, he took part in the Fifth International Gavrilin Music Festival in Vologda.

The chapel, its choir and orchestra are frequent and welcome guests in the regions of Russia and in many countries of the world. In recent years, the group has successfully toured in the UK, Hungary, Germany, Holland, Greece, Spain, Italy, Canada, China, USA, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden...

Many outstanding Russian and foreign performers collaborate with the Capella. The team has a particularly close and long-term creative friendship with G. N. Rozhdestvensky, who annually presents his personal philharmonic subscription with GASK.

Capella's discography is extremely extensive, numbering about 100 recordings (most of them for Chandos), incl. all choral concerts of D. Bortnyansky, all symphonic and choral works of S. Rachmaninov, many works of A. Grechaninov, almost unknown in Russia. A recording of Shostakovich’s 4th symphony was recently released; Myaskovsky’s 6th symphony, Prokofiev’s “War and Peace,” and Schnittke’s “Gesualdo” are being prepared for release.