Gnesin Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra |

Gnesin Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra

The Gnessin Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra was created by Mikhail Khokhlov, director of the Moscow Gnessin Secondary Special Music School (College), in 1990. The orchestra consists of high school students. The main age of the team members is 14-17 years old.

The composition of the orchestra is constantly updated, graduates of the School enter universities, and a new generation comes to replace them. Often, under their own name “Gnessin virtuosos” gather former graduates of different years. Since its founding, about 400 young musicians have played in the orchestra, many of whom today are artists of the best Russian and European orchestras, laureates of prestigious international music competitions, and concert performers. Among them: soloist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), oboist Alexei Ogrinchuk, professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, cellist Boris Andrianov, laureate of the international competitions named after P. I. Tchaikovsky in Moscow and M. Rostropovich in Paris, founders and directors of the Chamber Music Festival ” Return”, violinist Roman Mints and oboist Dmitry Bulgakov, winner of the Youth Prize “Triumph” percussionist Andrey Doinikov, clarinetist Igor Fedorov and many others.

Over the years of its existence, the Gnessin Virtuosos have given more than 700 concerts, playing in the best halls of Moscow, touring in Russia, Europe, America, and Japan. As soloists with Virtuosi performed: Natalia Shakhovskaya, Tatyana Grindenko, Yuri Bashmet, Viktor Tretyakov, Alexander Rudin, Naum Shtarkman, Vladimir Tonkha, Sergei Kravchenko, Friedrich Lips, Alexei Utkin, Boris Berezovsky, Konstantin Lifshits, Denis Shapovalov, Alexander Kobrin , Nikolay Tokarev.

The team led by M. Khokhlov is a regular participant in the most prestigious international musical events. Russian and foreign critics note the consistently high professional level of the orchestra and the unique repertory range for a children’s group – from baroque music to ultra-modern compositions. M. Khokhlov arranged more than thirty works specially for the Gnessin Virtuosos.

The creative baggage of the Gnessin Virtuosos includes participation in music festivals, long tours, joint international creative projects: with the Oberpleis chamber choir (Germany), the large choir of the city of Kannonji (Japan), the eurythmy troupes Goetheanum / Dornach (Switzerland) and Eurythmeum / Stuttgart (Germany), youth orchestra Jeunesses Musicales (Croatia) and others.

In 1999, the team became the winner of the International Competition for Youth Orchestras “Murcia – 99” in Spain.

Many performances of the Gnessin Virtuosos were recorded and broadcast by the Russian Television and Radio Company, the ORT television company, the Russian State Musical Television and Radio Center (radio Orpheus), the Japanese company NHK and others. 15 CDs and 8 DVD-Videos of the orchestra have been published.

Source: Moscow Philharmonic website