The Academy of Old Music

The ensemble was established in 1982 by Tatiana Grindenko, famous violinist, winner of international competitions. From their first performances, the musicians proved to be a team of unlimited potential, capable of meeting most daunting artistic challenges. Since 1987 the ensemble has been part of the Moscow Philharmonic. 

The Academy established the tradition of authentic early music performing in Russia. 30 years later, the musicians still adhere to this style, playing authentic old instruments, using baroque bows and conveying the spirit and meaning of the music of bygone age: Monteverdi, Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Geminiani, Corelli, Galuppi, Purcell, Buxtehude, Bach, Handel, Telemann, Mozart father and son, Boamortier, Fomin, Bortnyansky, Pashkevich and many other period composers. Since the 1990s, the Ensemble’s repertoire has been complemented with specially commissioned pieces by Vladimir Martynov, Ivan Sokolov, Alexander Bakshi and other contemporary composers.

The Ensemble gained worldwide reputation appearing at prestigious international festivals (in Russia, Austria, Belgium, USA, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and many other countries), collaborating with such outstanding musicians as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Martin Bornus-Szczyciński, Irena Grafenauer, Gidon Kremer, Mark Tucker, Robert Hall, Thomas Zehetmair, Andreas Staier and others. The Academy of Early Music has participated in the world premieres of The Exercises and Dances of Guido by Martynov at Sacro Art festival (Lockum, Germany, 1997); Il re pastore composed by Galuppi for the coronation of Catherine the Great and considered as lost for over 200 years (Udine, Italy, 1998), and Mozart and Salieri at the Dramatic Art School (director Anatoly Vasiliev, composer Vladimir Martynov, Moscow, 1999, for the 200th anniversary of Alexander Pushkin). Tatiana Grindenko was the musical direction of all the productions. 

In 1999, specially for New Sacred Space project, Tatiana Grindenko created the Opus Posth. Ensemble within the Academy of Early Music. The whole concept relies on the idea of the composer Vladimir Martynov, which determines both the name of the ensemble and the musicians’ vision of contemporary cultural situation. The potential of composer music (opus music) has been exhausted, so opus-posth.-music is something what follows and replaces this opus music. The ensemble creates a new space, adding the ritual of sacred music to their performances, handling archaic traditions while using the latest composing methods. Their repertoire includes pieces by John Adams, Charles Ives, Anton Batagov, Steven Gerber, Philip Glass, Leonid Desyatnikov, Paul Drescher, Sergey Zagny, Hermes Zaigott, Giya Kancheli, Pavel Karmanov, John Cage, Alexander Knaifel, Iannis Xenakis, Vladimir Martynov, Michael Nyman, Georgs Pelēcis, Arvo Pärt, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Valentin Silvestrov. 

The Ensemble has presented a number of multimedia projects including Night in Galicia, Games of Angels and People, The Song of Songs, Bach 2000, German Requiem, Death of a Wild Warrior and others. In 2004 Opus Posth. participated in Go and Stop the Progress, a play based on the verses of the Oberiuts, staged by Yuri Lyubimov for the 40th anniversary of the Taganka Theater (music by Martynov) and in the experimental production of Die Zauberflöte (directed by Ekaterina Pospelova and conducted by Tatiana Grindenko). In 2006 Opus Posth. participated in Orpheus and Eurydice, a melodrama by Evstigney Fomin (directed by Ilya Epelbaum, Moscow). 2012 saw the premiere of Children of the Otter, ethnomythological performance by Vladimir Martynov, jointly created with the Tuvan ensemble Huun-Huur-Tu. 

Academy of Early Music and Opus Posth. have made numerous radio and television records for Melodiya, Eurodisc, Ondine, RCA, ECM, Erdenklang Musikverlag, CCn'C Records, Wergo, Deutsche Grammophon, Opus 111 and other labels.