Chamber Orchestra “Moskovia” (Moskovia Chamber Orchestra) |

Moskovia Chamber Orchestra

The Muscovy Chamber Orchestra was created in 1990 by the outstanding violinist, professor of the Moscow Conservatory Eduard Grach on the basis of his class. “Once I“ saw ”my class as a single team, like a chamber orchestra,” the musician admitted in an interview.

The debut of the orchestra took place on December 27, 1990 in the Small Hall of the Conservatory at a concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of A. I. Yampolsky (1890–1956), teacher E. Grach.

The uniqueness of Muscovy is that all the violinists are representatives of the same school, while all of them are bright, original soloists. The participation in each concert program of several soloists from the orchestra, replacing each other and accompanying colleagues, is an extremely rare phenomenon in performance.

Despite the fact that the basis of the team is made up of students of the Moscow Conservatory, and its composition is constantly changing for objective reasons, from the very first performances, “Moskovia” captivated the audience with its “uncommon expression” and gained fame as a highly professional team of like-minded people. The highest skill of the soloists and the unsurpassed level of the ensemble, the absolute mutual understanding of the conductor and the orchestra, the unity of the performing manner, the full-blooded perception of life and the romantic impulse, the virtuosic coherence and beauty of sound, improvisational freedom and the constant search for something new – these are the main features of the creative style and style of Eduard Grach and his students. – musicians of the Muscovy Chamber Orchestra, whose permanent partner is the talented pianist, Honored Artist of Russia Valentina Vasilenko.

Over the years, in the Muscovy Orchestra, young musicians, pupils of E. Grach, winners of prestigious international competitions: K. Akeinikova, A. Baeva, N. Borisoglebsky, E. Gelen, E. Grechishnikov gained invaluable experience in both solo and ensemble music-making , Yu. Igonina, G. Kazazyan, E. Kuperman, A. Pritchin, S. Pospelov, E. Rakhimova, O. Sidarovich, L. Solodovnikov, M. Terteryan, N. Tokareva, M. Khokholkov and many others.

Eduard Grach and artists of the Muscovy chamber orchestra from year to year delight music lovers with new bright creative and performing achievements. The orchestra’s annual philharmonic subscriptions are traditionally one of the most popular among music lovers. And the orchestra generously thanks its many fans, at each concert giving the listeners the joy of communicating with Great Music.

The diverse repertoire of Muscovy includes works by Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Paganini, Brahms, I. Strauss, Grieg, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Kreisler, Sarasate, Venyavsky, Mahler, Schoenberg , Shostakovich, Bizet-Shchedrin, Eshpay, Schnittke; concert miniatures by Gade and Anderson, Chaplin and Piazzolla, Kern and Joplin; numerous adaptations and arrangements of popular music.

The talented team is well known both in our country and abroad. The orchestra has repeatedly performed in St. Petersburg, Tula, Penza, Orel, Petrozavodsk, Murmansk and other Russian cities; toured in the CIS countries, Belgium, Vietnam, Germany, Greece, Egypt, Israel, Italy, China, Korea, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, France, Croatia, Estonia, Cyprus. The Muscovy Orchestra is a participant in the festivals Russian Winter in Moscow, White Nights in Arkhangelsk, the Gavrilinsky Festival in Vologda, the M. I. Glinka Festival in Smolensk, and The Magic of the Young in Portogruaro (Italy).

The outstanding violinists Shlomo Mintz and Maxim Vengerov acted as conductors with the Muscovy Orchestra.

The orchestra has recorded many CDs. Russian television recorded a number of the orchestra’s concert programs in the Great Hall of the Conservatory and the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.

In 2015, the Muscovy Chamber Orchestra celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Source: Moscow Philharmonic website