State Symphonу Capella of Russia,
Valery Polyansky, Ekaterina Mechetina

The State Symphony Capella of Russia brings together over 200 musicians including the choir, the orchestra, and vocal soloists. The State Capella was created in 1991 by merging the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra led by Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and the USSR State Chamber Choir led by Valery Polyansky. 

Founded in 1957, the orchestra was a subordinate division of the Soviet Radio and Television until 1982, when it came to be known as the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra led by Samuil Samosud, Yuri Aranovich and Maxim Shostakovich. Outstanding conductors including Evgeny Svetlanov, Natan Rakhlin, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Fedoseev etc. appeared with the musicians. The orchestra has performed at the world’s most prestigious stages such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Musikverein in Vienna, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Barbican Center in London, Karajan Hall at the Berlin Philharmonie as well as the best venues of Tokyo, Taipei, Helsinki, Barcelona, Prague, and other musical centers of the world. The orchestra has recorded numerous LPs and CDs, mostly released by Melodiya and Chandos.

The chamber choir was established by Valery Polyansky in 1971. In 1975, the ensemble triumphed at the Guido d'Arezzo International Competition in Italy, winning the Gold Medal in Academic Singing category and the Golden Bell, the emblem of the best choir of the contest. In 1980, the company changed its status to become the USSR Ministry of Culture State Chamber Choir. Touring across all Soviet republics, it initiated a festival in Polotsk. In 1986, invited by Sviatoslav Richter, the choir presented a Tchaikovsky program at the December Nights festival, and in 1994 it performed All-Night Vigil by Rachmaninoff. The State Chamber Choir and its leader have acquired great international reputation with their successful performances at the Singing Wrocław (Poland), Merano and Spoleto (Italy), İzmir (Turkey), Naarden (Netherlands) festivals; BBC Proms in London's Albert Hall (UK), as well as in the historic cathedrals of France in Bordeaux, Amiens and Albi. 

December 27, 1991, when the ensemble conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky performed Wedding Shirts by Dvořák at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, is considered the birthday of the State Capella. In 1992, Valery Polyansky became the artistic director and chief conductor of company. 

The choir and the orchestra of the Capella perform both jointly and separately. The company and its chief conductor are welcome guests at the best Moscow venues, regularly appearing at subscriptions concerts of the Moscow Philharmonic, the Moscow Conservatory and the Moscow International House of Music. The team has toured in the USA, Europe and Southeast Asia. In Japan, the Capella orchestra recorded Tchaikovsky symphonies and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. 

The company’s repertoire mainly includes large-scale vocal works: cantatas, masses, oratorios, requiems of all times and styles composed by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz, Liszt, Verdi, Dvořák, Rachmaninoff, Reger, Stravinsky, Britten, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Eshpai. Valery Polyansky regularly runs monographic symphonic concert cycles featuring works of Beethoven, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Mahler and other great composers. 

The Capella partners with many prominent Russian and international performers. A bond of lasting friendship was formed between the company and Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who for many years presented his personal philharmonic subscription series with the State Capella of Russia. 

Since 2009, the Capella has been organising the September Nights festival in Tarusa jointly with the Svyatoslav Richter Foundation, presenting symphonic and choral masterpieces to the audiences of Torzhok, Tver and Kaluga. In 2011, in Yelets, the company participated in the world premiere of The Legend of the City of Yelets, the Virgin Mary and Tamerlane, an opera by Alexander Tchaikovsky directed by Georgy Isahakyan. 

The State Capella’s repertoire policy reflects important historical dates. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the victory in the 1812 Patriotic War, they run a concert performance of the War and Peace by Prokofiev in Torzhok and Kaluga. The 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty translated into the world premiere of the The Sovereign's Affair, an oratorio by Alexander Tchaikovsky (2013, Lipetsk, Moscow) and A Life for the Tsar by Glinka performed on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia. Concert performances of the opera Semyon Kotko by Prokofiev by the State Capella in 2014 at the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater and at the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army were timed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. At the same venues, the company celebrated the 70th anniversary of the WWII Victory, performing Kirill Molchanov’s opera The Dawns Here Are Quiet. The 2019/20 season was opened with a concert version of Verdi's Othello. 

In October 2016, the orchestra and the choir took part in the 4th Symphony Forum of Russia in Yekaterinburg, performing Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad from The Fair at Sorochyntsi by Mussorgsky and his Pictures at an Exhibition orchestrated by Ravel, as well as an orchestra version of Les Noces and Symphony of Psalms by Stravinsky. As part of Russian Philharmonic Seasons program, the State Capella has repeatedly appeared in Kaliningrad, a special tour destination for the company: in 2018 the choir conducted by Valery Polyansky performed All-Night Vigil by Rachmaninoff, and two years later presented the concert version of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Kaliningrad Regional Drama Theater. In the first half of 2020, the State Capella chose to stream its most significant projects of past years online. In particular, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War, a recording of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony was streamed from the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

Valeri Polyansky was born in 1949 in Moscow. After completing the musical college Polyansky enters the Moscow Conservatoire, starting his studies with professor B.I.Kulikov (choral conducting). At this time Polyanky’s interests went far beyond his basic specialty: he was attracted first of all by that special powerful musical synthesis, which appears while merging choir with orchestra. Polyansky attends simultaneously two different faculties: besides taking choral conducting he attends symphonic conducting (his teacher here was the well-known musician O.Dimitriadi). During his post-graduate course the fate brings him together with Gennady Rozhdestvensky. While being a student, Valeri Polyansky works in the Operetta Theatre, where he conducts the main repertoire.

In 1977 he was invited as a conductor to the Bolshoi Theatre where together with Gennady Rozhdestvensky took part in the production of Shostakovich’s opera “Katerina Izmailova”. While being at the head of the State Chamber Choir, Polyansky productively worked with the leading symphonic collectives both in Russia and abroad. He repeatedly performed with orchestras of Belarus, Iceland, Finland, Taiwan, Turkey, Germany and Holland. He also conducted the Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin” at the Goteborg Musical Theatre in Sweden. For many years he is Chief Conductor of the Opera Nights Festival in Goteborg.

Since 1992 he is Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the State Symphony Capella of Russia both symphonic orchestra and choir, numbering more than 200 artists. According to specialists marks, Polyansky’s creative practice is a rare example of a musician who combines skillful technique of choral and symphonic conducting.

In the repertoire of the State Symphony Capella there are works of different stylistic trends and currents: baroque, classics, romanticism, impressionism and contemporary works. And in all cases, as music critics emphasize, musicians led by Polyansky succeed in achieving accuracy and clearness of style, while remaining faithful to the spirit of the composition they perform.

Polyansky boasts a great number of musical recordings with the leading international recording labels. Among them are compositions by Tchaikovsky, Taneev, Glazunov, Skryabin, Bruckner, Dvorak, Reger, Prokofiev, Schostakovich and many others. Polyansky has also recorded all symphonic and choral compositions by S.Rachmaninov, and the 8th Symphony by A.Schnittke, issued by English firm Chandos in 2001, which was awarded “Best Recording of the Year”.

Ekaterina Mechetina was born in Moscow into a family of musicians. She began to study music at the age of four then studied at the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory (class of Professor Tatyana Koloss) before enrolling at the Conservatory’s undergraduate programme (class of Professor Vladimir Ovchinnikov) and continuing her education at its postgraduate assistantship programme (class of Professor Sergei Dorensky). During her studies, she was a fellow of the Vladimir Spivakov and Mstislav Rostropovich foundations and undertook an internship in Paris in 2004 at the invitation of the latter. 

Ekaterina has been a prize-winner of 7 international piano competitions, including Ferruccio Busoni Competition in Bolzano (Italy) and the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, U.S. (1st Prize and Gold Medal).

The pianist has appeared at world-renowned venues including Consertgebouw (Amsterdam), Yamaha Hall and Casals Hall (Tokyo), Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Salle Gaveau (Paris), Great Hall of the Milan Conservatory, Milan Auditorium, Cecília Meireles Hall (Rio de Janeiro), Alice Tully Hall (New York), and others. Her performances can also be heard in Moscow and other Russian cities. 

Ekaterina Mechetina's broad repertoire includes over 50 piano concertos and numerous recital programs. She has appeared under the baton of Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Spivakov, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Saulus Sondeckis, Yuri Simonov, Pavel Kogan, Vladimir Ponkin, Dmitry Liss, Maxim Vengerov, Konstantin Orbelian, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Alexander Sladkovsky, Gintaras Rinkevicius, Alexander Skulsky, Fedor Glushchenko, Lawrence Foster, Christian Badea, Barry Douglas, Fabio Mastrangelo, and Maria Eklund. 

In chamber programmes, she has appeared with Rodion Shchedrin, Vladimir Spivakov, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Alexei Utkin, Alexander Knyazev, Alexander Ghindin, Boris Andrianov, Daniil Kogan, Graf Murzha, and other famous performers. In 2007, Ekaterina Mechetina, Nikita Borisoglebsky, and Sergei Antonov formed a trio that frequently appears in public and explores an extensive repertoire. 

Ekaterina has taken part in major international festivals, including December Nights of Svyatoslav Richter, Moscow autumn, Crescendo, Rodion Shchedrin Music festival, Russian Winter; and Benois de la danse in Moscow, Stars on Baikal in Irkutsk, Dubrovnik Festival, Consonances, Lille Piano(s) Festival, and Europalia (Belgium). 

She actively collaborates with contemporary composers such as Rodion Shchedrin (who entrusted her with the world premiere of his 6th Piano Concerto), Alexei Rybnikov, Tolib Shakhidi, Kuzma Bodrov, and many others. 

Ekaterina Mechetina has been teaching at the Moscow Conservatory since 2009 (being Associate Professor since 2020), and at the Conservatory’s Central Music School since 2016. Every year she gives master classes at the UNESCO Summer Creative School New Names in Suzdal. She has been member of the jury of Russian and international competitions (including the Nutcracker Television Competition for Young Musicians, the International Delphic Games, Astana and Seoul competitions) and hosts Diary of a Pianist and Musical Alphabet with Ekaterina Mechetina programmes on Radio Orpheus. 

The pianist's recordings have been released by Fuga Libera (solo album with Rachmaninoff works, 2005), Empire of Music (compositions by Shchedrin and Tolib Shakhidi, 2008), and Melodiya (music by Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky and Rachmaninoff, 2013). In 2019, the Moscow Conservatory label recorded and released her album Author's Suite with Tchaikovsky's pieces. 

Ekaterina Mechetina has received the Triumph youth award, Parabola independent award by Andrei Voznesensky foundation, 3rd degree Order of Catherine the Great from the National Committee of Public Awards, Prize of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Muses for the World Foundation, and Presidential Prize for Young Culture Professionals. In 2011, she became a member of the Culture and Art Council under the Russian President. 

Since 2013, Ekaterina Mechetina has been heading the Green Noise International Youth Art Festival (Surgut). In 2015, she was awarded the Honorary Badge of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for Strengthening Peace and Friendship of Peoples. In November 2017, she became a laureate of Russian Rome International Cultural Festival in the category Worldwide Promotion of Musical Culture. She was awarded the honorary title of Merited Musician in 2016 and Honoured Artist of Russia in 2018.

Radio and TV journalist Artyom Vargaftik was born in 1971 in Moscow. He studied at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory’s Academic School of Music and the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, then completed a postgraduate course at the Moscow Conservatory. He taught cello history at the Gnessin Academy of Music in 1997–2000 and was a trainer of music journalism in 2003–2006. 

While still a student, he began working on the radio as a correspondent, presenter, and creator of musical programs. His programs Orchestra Pit and Music Scores Never Burn on the Kultura TV channel brought him a wide recognition. Both projects were awarded with TEFI national television awards in 2003 and 2004, respectively.

From 1994 to 2003, Artyom Vargaftik worked as a music journalist on the Echo of Moscow radio, and since 2003 he has been a columnist for Kultura Radio and Radio of Russia. He has taken part in numerous festivals and concerts in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Samara, Saratov, Kazan, and other Russian cities. He has been a regular concert presenter at festivals led by Boris Andrianov, such as Vivacello and Musical Expedition. 

In 2007, he began to collaborate with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, and their active collaboration is still ongoing (in the 2021/22 season, Artyom is creating and hosting The Story of a Masterpiece series). Artyom Vargaftik is also a regular host of concert programs at the Moscow International House of Music.