Eduard Davidovich Grach |

Eduard Grach

For more than 60 years, since his first victory at the international competition in Budapest at the II Festival of Youth and Students in August 1949, Eduard Davidovich Grach, an outstanding musician – violinist, violist, conductor, teacher, soloist of the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic, professor of the Moscow conservatory – pleases music lovers in our country and around the world with its creativity. The artist devoted the last season to his 80th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of the Muscovy Chamber Orchestra he created, as well as the 120th anniversary of the birth of his teacher A. I. Yampolsky.

E. Grach was born in 1930 in Odessa. He began teaching music at the famous school of P.S. Stolyarsky, in 1944–48 he studied at the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory with A.I. Yampolsky, with him at the conservatory (1948-1953) and graduate school (1953-1956; after the death of Yampolsky, he completed postgraduate studies with D.F. Oistrakh). E. Grach is a laureate of three prestigious violin competitions: in addition to Budapest, these are the M. Long and J. Thibault competitions in Paris (1955) and the P.I. Tchaikovsky in Moscow (1962). “I will remember your sound for the rest of my life,” celebrated violinist Henrik Schering told the young performer after his performance at the Paris competition. Such luminaries of musical performance as F. Kreisler, J. Szigeti, E. Zimbalist, I. Stern, E. Gilels spoke highly of the game of E. Grach.

E. Grach since 1953 – soloist of the Mosconcert, since 1975 – the Moscow Philharmonic.

The repertoire of E. Grach includes more than 700 works – from virtuoso miniatures to large-scale paintings, from baroque masterpieces to the latest opuses. He became the first interpreter of many works by contemporary authors. All the violin works of A. Eshpay, as well as concerts and plays by I. Akbarov, L. Afanasyev, A. Babadzhanyan, Y. Krein, N. Rakov, I. Frolov, K. Khachaturian, R. Shchedrin and others are dedicated to him.

E. Grach is also well known as a chamber performer. Over the years, his partners were pianists G. Ginzburg, V. Gornostaeva, B. Davidovich, S. Neuhaus, E. Svetlanov, N. Shtarkman, cellist S. Knushevitsky, harpsichordist A. Volkonsky, organists A. Gedike, G. Grodberg and O. Yanchenko, guitarist A. Ivanov-Kramskoy, oboist A. Lyubimov, singer Z. Dolukhanova.

In the 1960s – 1980s, the trio consisting of E. Grach, pianist E. Malinin and cellist N. Shakhovskaya performed with great success. Since 1990, the pianist, Honored Artist of Russia V. Vasilenko has been E. Grach’s constant partner.

E. Grach repeatedly played with the best domestic and foreign orchestras conducted by world-famous conductors: K. Z Anderling, K. Ivanov, D. Kakhidze, D. Kitayenko, F. Konvichny, K. Kondrashin, K. Mazur, N. Rakhlin, G. Rozhdestvensky, S. Samosud, E. Svetlanov, Yu. Temirkanov, T. Khannikainen, K. Zecca, M. Shostakovich, N. Yarvi and others.

Since the late 1970s he also performs as a violist and conductor of symphony and chamber orchestras.

E. Grach recorded over 100 records. Many recordings have also been released on CD. Since 1989, E. Grach has been teaching at the Moscow Conservatory, since 1990 he has been a professor, and for many years he has been head of the violin department. Developing the traditions of his great mentors, he created his own violin school and brought up a brilliant galaxy of students – winners of numerous international competitions, including A. Baeva, N. Borisoglebsky, E. Gelen, E. Grechishnikov, Y. Igonina, G. Kazazyan, Kwun Hyuk Zhu, Pan Yichun, S. Pospelov, A. Pritchin, E. Rakhimova, L. Solodovnikov, N. Tokareva.

In 1995, 2002 and 2003 E. Grach was recognized as the “Teacher of the Year” in Russia by the expert commission of the Musical Review newspaper, and in 2005 he was named the best teacher in South Korea. Honorary Professor of the Yakut Higher School of Music, Shanghai and Sichuan Conservatories in China, Indianapolis University in Athens (Greece), Keshet Eilon master classes (Israel), academician of the Italian Academy of Music Monti Azzuri.

Conducts master classes in Moscow and Russian cities, England, Hungary, Germany, Holland, Egypt, Italy, Israel, China, Korea, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, USA, France, Czech Republic, Yugoslavia, Japan, Cyprus, Taiwan.

In 1990, on the basis of his conservatory class, E. Grach created the Muscovy Chamber Orchestra, with which his creative activity has been closely connected for the past 20 years. Under the direction of E. Grach, the orchestra has gained a reputation as one of the best chamber ensembles in Russia and truly world fame.

E. Grach – President and Chairman of the Jury of the International Competition. A.I. Yampolsky, Vice-President of the International Competition. Curchi in Naples, chairman of the jury of the competitions “New Names”, “Youth Assemblies”, “Violin of the North”, the International Václav Huml Competition in Zagreb (Croatia), the L. van Beethoven Competition in the Czech Republic. Member of the jury of international competitions. P.I. Tchaikovsky, im. G. Wieniawski in Poznan, im. N. Paganini in Genoa and Moscow, them. Joachim in Hannover (Germany), im. P. Vladigerov in Bulgaria, them. Szigeti and Hubai in Budapest, them. K. Nielsen in Odense (Denmark), violin competitions in Seoul (South Korea), Kloster-Schontale (Germany) and a number of others. In 2009, Professor E. Grach was a member of the jury of 11 international competitions (of which five were the chairman of the jury), and 15 of his students during the year (from September 2008 to September 2009) won 23 prizes at prestigious competitions for young violinists, including 10 first prizes. In 2010, E. Grach served on the jury of the I International Violin Competition in Buenos Aires (Argentina), IV Moscow International Violin Competition named after D.F. Oistrakh, III International Violin Competition in Astana (Kazakhstan). Many students of E.D. Rooks – both current and previous years: N. Borisoglebsky, A. Pritchin, L. Solodovnikov, D. Kuchenova, A. Koryatskaya, Sepel Tsoy, A. Kolbin.

In 2002, Eduard Grach received gratitude from the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin “For a great contribution to the development of musical art.” In 2004, he became a laureate of the Moscow Government Prize in the field of literature and art. In 2009 he was awarded the State Prize of the Republic of Sakha Yakutia. He was awarded the medal of the Eugene Ysaye International Foundation.

People’s Artist of the USSR (1991), holder of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” IV (1999) and III (2005) degrees. In 2000, named after E.D. A star in the constellation Sagittarius is named Rook (Certificate 11 No. 00575).

Source: Moscow Philharmonic website