Russian National Orchestra |

Russian National Orchestra

The Russian National Orchestra (RNO) was founded in 1990 by People’s Artist of Russia Mikhail Pletnev. Over its twenty-year history, the team has gained international fame and unconditional recognition of the public and critics. Summing up the results of 2008, Gramophone, the most authoritative music magazine in Europe, included RNO in the top twenty best orchestras in the world. The orchestra collaborated with the world’s leading performers: M. Caballe, L. Pavarotti, P. Domingo, J. Carreras, C. Abbado, K. Nagano, M. Rostropovich, G. Kremer, I. Perlman, P. Zukerman, V. Repin , E. Kisin, D. Hvorostovsky, M. Vengerov, B. Davidovich, J. Bell. Together with the world-famous Deutsche Grammophon, as well as other record companies, RNO has a successful recording program that has released more than sixty albums. Many works have received international awards: the London award “Best Orchestral Disc of the Year”, “Best Instrumental Disc” by the Japanese Recording Academy. In 2004, the RNO became the first orchestra in the history of Russian symphony ensembles to receive the most prestigious musical award, the Grammy Award.

The Russian National Orchestra represents Russia at famous festivals, performs on the best concert stages in the world. “The most convincing ambassador of the new Russia” was called RNO by the American press.

When, in the difficult times of the 1990s, the capital’s orchestras practically stopped traveling to the provinces and rushed to tour the West, the RNO began to conduct Volga tours. The significant contribution of the RNO and M. Pletnev to modern Russian culture is evidenced by the fact that the RNO was the first among non-state groups to receive a grant from the Government of the Russian Federation.

RNO regularly performs in the best halls of the capital within the framework of its own subscriptions, as well as at its “home” venue – in the concert hall “Orchestrion”. A kind of distinctive feature and “calling card” of the team are special thematic programs. The RNO presented to the public concerts dedicated to the work of Rimsky-Korsakov, Schubert, Schumann, Mahler, Brahms, Bruckner, works by Scandinavian authors, etc. The RNO regularly performs with guest conductors. Last season, Vasily Sinaisky, Jose Serebrier, Alexei Puzakov, Mikhail Granovsky, Alberto Zedda, Semyon Bychkov performed with the orchestra on Moscow stages.

RNO is a participant in significant cultural events. Thus, in the spring of 2009, as part of a European tour, the orchestra gave a charity concert in Belgrade, timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the start of the NATO military operation in Yugoslavia. Summing up the results of the year, the authoritative Serbian magazine NIN published a rating of the best musical events, in which the RNO concert took the second place – as “one of the most unforgettable concerts that have been performed in Belgrade over the past few seasons.” In the spring of 2010, the orchestra became the main participant in the unique international project “Three Romes”. The initiators of this major cultural and educational action were the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. It covered the three most important geographic centers for Christian culture – Moscow, Istanbul (Constantinople) and Rome. The central event of the project was a concert of Russian music, which took place on May 20 in the famous Vatican Hall of Papal Audience named after Paul VI, which seats five thousand people, in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI.

In September 2010, the RNO successfully held an unprecedented creative action for Russia. For the first time in our country, an orchestra festival was held, presenting to the public both eminent stars and its own soloists, and participating in the performance of the most diverse repertoire – from chamber ensembles and ballet to large-scale symphony and operatic paintings. The first festival was a huge success. “Seven days that shocked metropolitan music lovers…”, “There is no better orchestra than the RNO in Moscow, and it is unlikely to be…”, “RNO for Moscow is already more than an orchestra” – such were the unanimously enthusiastic reviews of the press.

The XNUMXth season of RNO opened again with the Grand Festival, which, according to leading music reviewers, was a brilliant opening of the metropolitan season.

Information from the official website of the RNO