Philhpp Kopachevsky (piano),
Sergey Antonov (cello)

A soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic and a prize-winner at international competitions, the young pianist Philipp Kopachevsky had won tremendous audience admiration and acclaim by the age of twenty-three. He regularly appears in recital in Great Britain, Germany, the USA, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Greece, Poland and Spain as well as throughout Russia. Kopachevsky has won particular popularity in Japan, where especially for NHK TV he recorded a disc of piano music by Chopin. 

Philipp Kopachevsky was born in Moscow in 1990. He graduated from the Central School of Music of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. He is currently a student at the Moscow Conservatoire (class of Professor Sergei Dorensky). He has been a prize-winner at eight prestigious international competitions, among them the Х International Franz Schubert Piano Competition (Germany).

The musician has performed with the world’s great orchestras, among them English Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre in Moscow, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Moscow State Academic Symphony Orchestra, Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra, Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra and the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg Philharmonic. He has collaborated with such illustrious conductors as Mstislav Rostropovich, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov, Mikhail Pletnev, Yevgeny Kolobov, Yuri Simonov, Alexander Dmitriev, Andrew Gourlay, William Noll, Bjarte Engeset, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Yevgeny Bushkov, Maxim Vengerov, Paul Watkins, Jan Latham-Koenig, Dorian Wilson and Dmitry Liss among others. 

Philipp Kopachevsky has appeared at numerous international festivals, such as the Andrei Sakharov Festival (Nizhny Novgorod), the Vera Lotar-Shevchenko Memorial Competition (Novosibirsk), the Steinway Festival, the Miami Piano Festival, the Arts Naples World Festival (USA), the Colmar International Festival (France), the Mstislav Rostropovich Memorial Festival (Baku), the Baltic Seasons festival (Kaliningrad), Vladimir Spivakov Invites, Stars on Baikal, Crescendo and Denis Matsuev Invites among numerous others. 

Philipp Kopachevsky performed at the world premiere of choreographer Benjamin Millepied’s ballet Without at the Mariinsky Theatre. He is involved in the Moscow State Philharmonic’s project Stars of the 21st Century. Previous engagements include concerts at the Moscow Conservatoire and the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and appearances with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia under Jan Latham-Koenig, the State Academic Symphony Cappella of Russia under Philipp Chizhevsky and the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra under Terje Mikkelsen.

One of the greatest artists of his generation, Sergey Antonov was born in 1983 into a family of cellists. His parents guided his first years, especially his mother, Maria Zhuravleva, a leading cello pedagogue at the prestigious Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory. His father, Boris, was a gifted cellist and a member of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Fedoseyev.

Sergey graduated from the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with Natalia Schakhovskaya and chamber music with Alexander Bonduryansky. Since 2006, Antonov has been studying with Terry King and is currently enrolled at the Longy School of Music in Boston.

A great influence on the cellist was his work with the late Mstislav Rostropovich. Sergey was a frequent participant in his master classes at the Moscow Conservatory, which led to the maestro's invitation to join him on tours of Europe and Russia.

In June 2007, Sergey Antonov won the prestigious Gold Medal at the XIII International Tchaikovsky Competition, one of the youngest cellists to win the prize ever. In addition, the Toyota Corporation awarded Antonov promotional sponsorship and a Special Prize: Favorite Artist in the Cello Division. Another award to the cellist was an offer from the Moscow Philharmonic: a five-year soloist contract over Russia with Moscow State Philharmonic Society Artists management.

Sergey has triumphed in many competitions including first prizes at the Swedish Duo Competition, the International Chamber Music Competition of the Chamber Music Foundation of New England the National ASTA Competition in Detroit (2007). He also has won top prizes in the Dotzauer and David Popper Competitions.

Sergey was embark upon a 15-concert tour of Japan, China and Korea in January/February 2008, culminating with performances of the Brahms Double Concerto in Moscow's Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. Other performances include appearances with the Petrozavodsk Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Russian National orchestra under Maestro Pletnev, Symphony Orchestra of Rome as well as chamber music collaborations with the Lyrica Chamber Music Series as their "Young Artist of the Year", and the Chamber Music Foundation of New England. Other engagements include solo recitals in Italy, Bordeaux Music Festival in France and Newport Music Festival in Rhode Island.

Antonov has appeared with the Moscow, St Petersburg, and Budapest Philharmonic Orchestras, the Philharmonia Di Nation (Italy and Spain) as well as numerous other orchestras in the Russian Federation. He has performed solo and chamber music recitals in Moscow, Boston, New York, Paris, Stockholm, Budapest, Gdansk and many other cities in Russia, Europe and the United States.

State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia (Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra) is one of the oldest symphony ensembles in the country: in 2021 it has celebrated its 85th anniversary. The first performance of the orchestra conducted by Alexander Gauk and Erich Kleiber, took place on October 5th, 1936 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

Over the years, the State Orchestra was directed by outstanding musicians: Alexander Gauk (1936–1941), Natan Rakhlin (1941–1945), Konstantin Ivanov (1946–1965) and Yevgeny Svetlanov (1965–2000). In 2005, the ensemble was named after Yevgeny Svetlanov. In 2000–2002, the orchestra was headed by Vasily Sinaisky, in 2002–2011 – by Mark Gorenstein, in 2011–2021 – by Vladimir Jurowski, in 2021–2022  by Vasily Petrenko. Since 2024, Philipp Chizhevsky has been Artistic Director of the orchestra.

The orchestra’s concerts were held at the most famous concert venues in the world including the Great Hall of the Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the Column Hall of the House of Unions, the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Pleyel in Paris, the Colon National Opera in Buenos Aires, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. In 2013, the orchestra for the first time performed in the Red Square in Moscow.

Herman Abendroth, Ernest Ansermet, Leo Blech, Nikolai Golovanov, Kurt Sanderling, Otto Klemperer, Kirill Kondrashin, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Mazur, Nikolai Malko, Igor Markevich, Yevgeny Mravinsky, Charles Munch, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Mstislav Rostropovich, Saulus Sondeckis, Igor Stravinsky, Mariss Jansons, Andrey Boreyko, Alexander Vedernikov, Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, Alexander Lazarev, Alexander Sladkovsky, Leonard Slatkin, Yuri Temirkanov, Thomas Zehetmair, Mikhail Jurowski, Neeme Jarvi and other outstanding conductors directed at the conductor's desk of the orchestra.

Famous musicians and ensembles performed with the orchestra including singers Irina Arkhipova, Galina Vishnevskaya, Montserrat Caballé, Sergei Lemeshev, Elena Obraztsova, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Maria Guleghina, Placido Domingo, Jonas Kaufmann, Sergei Leiferkus, pianists Emil Gilels, Van Cliburn, Heinrich Neuhaus, Nikolai Petrov, Sviatoslav Richter, Maria Yudina, Valery Afanassiev, Boris Berezovsky, Elisso Virsaladze, Yevgeny Kissin, Nikolai Lugansky, Denis Matsuev and Grigory Sokolov, violinists LeonidKogan, Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Boris Belkin, Maxim Vengerov, Gidon Kremer, Victor Pikaysen, Vadim Repin, Vladimir Spivakov and Victor Tretyakov, violist Yuri Bashmet , cellists Mstislav Rostropovich, Natalia Gutman, Alexander Knyazev and Alexander Rudin, as well as Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Choir and Yurlov State Academic Choir Capella of Russia.

In recent years, the list of soloists collaborating with the ensemble has been recruited with the names of such singers as Ildar Abdrazakov, Dinara Alieva, Aida Garifullina, Khibla Gerzmava, Dmitry Korchak, Elisabeth Kulman, Jose Kura, Vasily Ladyuk, Julia Lezhneva, Waltraud Meier, Anna Netrebko and Rene Pape, pianists Marc-Andre Hamelin, Leif Ove Andsnes, Rudolf Buchbinder, Simon Trpceski, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Mitsuko Uchida, violinists Kristof Barati, Ilya Gringolts, Alina Ibragimova, Leonidas Kavakos, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Sergei Krylov, Julian Rakhlin, Julia Fischer, Thomas Zehetmair, Nikolai Znaider and Pinchas Zuckerman, violist Maxim Rysanov. Considerable attention is also paid to joint work with young musicians, including conductors Maxim Emelyanychev, Dmitry Matvienko, Marius Stravinsky, Valentin Uryupin and Philipp Chizhevsky, pianists Andrei Gugnin, Lucas Debargue, Philipp Kopachevsky and Dmitry Masleyev, violinists Alena Baeva, Pavel Milyukov and Aylen Pritchin, cellist Alexander Ramm.

Having visited abroad for the first time in 1956, the orchestra has since represented Russian art in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Denmark, Italy, Canada, China, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, USA, Thailand, France, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan and many other countries.

The discography of the ensemble includes hundreds of LP records and CDs released by leading recording companies in Russia and abroad (Melodiya, Bomba-Peter, Delos, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, BMG, Naxos, Chandos, Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm, BelAir, ICA Classics, Pentatone, Toccata Classics, Fancymusic and others). A special place in this collection belongs to the Anthology of Russian Symphonic Music, which includes audio recordings of works by Russian composers from Glinka to Stravinsky (conducted by Yevgeny Svetlanov). The TV channels such as Mezzo, medici.tv, Russia-1 and Kultura, radio Orpheus made recordings of the orchestra’s concerts.

Recently, the State Orchestra performed at the G. Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Another Space, Universe is Svetlanov! festivals and the XIV Guitar Virtuosos Moscow International Festival, Summer. Music. Museum  Festival in Istra; performed world premieres of works by Alexander Vustin, Victor Yekimovsky, Efrem Podgaits, Sergei Slonimsky, Vladimir Nikolaev, Alexei Retinsky, as well as Russian premieres of works by John Adams, Brett Dean, Gerard Grisey, Victor Kissin, Gyorgy Kurtag, Valentin Silvestrov, Olivier Messiaen, Rodion Shchedrin, Carl Orff, Vladimir Tarnopolsky and Karlheinz Stockhausen; took part in the  International Tchaikovsky Competition, the Grand Piano Competition for young pianists; presented the annual cycle of Stories with Orchestra educational concerts eight times; visited the cities of Russia, Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Germany, Spain, Romania, Turkey, China, Japan. Chamber evenings with the participation of soloists of the orchestra are also regularly held.

Since 2016, the State Orchestra has been implementing a special project to support professional composer creativity involving close cooperation of the ensemble with contemporary Russian authors. The first in the history composer in residence was Alexander Vustin. For outstanding creative achievements, the collective has been bearing the honorary title of “academic” since 1972; in 1986 it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, in 2006, 2011 and 2017 it dignified the gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation.