"The Pilgrims. Journey with Orchestra"

Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra – Symphony Academy is a unique musical collective and the largest youth project in the orchestral field. It was created in September 2018 with the support of the Presidential Grants Foundation and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and is being developed as part of the national project Culture. The Moscow Philharmonic Society is the curator of the project. In its creative work, the orchestra combines Russian musical traditions and international experience, solving three fundamental questions – art, educational and enlightenment. Such combination of functions, none of which is auxiliary, has no analogues.

Today the orchestra consists of 128 musicians from 35 regions of Russia. The project makes high demands on the participants: a large amount of educational, rehearsal and concert work, the need for personal and professional dedication, discipline, and passion. For the development of young musicians, unprecedented conditions have been created: excellent rehearsal base, intensive concert life, cooperation with the best conductors and soloists of the world, classes with concertmasters of major orchestras and professors of famous music high schools.

An important role in the development of the project participants is played by the work with outstanding conductors. The orchestra performed under the direction of outstanding conductors: Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseev, Mikhail Jurowski, Alexander Lazarev, Alexander Sladkovsky, Charles Dutoit, Pinchas Zukerman, Thomas Zehetmair, Vasily Petrenko, Julian Rachlin, Vassily Sinaisky, Philippe Herreweghe, Tugan Sokhiev, Marc Minkowski, Paavo Järvi, Lionel Bringuier and Jean-Christophe Spinosi. The soloists performing with the orchestra were Denis Matsuev, Alexandre Kantorow, Nikolay Lugansky, Alexander Romanovsky, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin, Piotr Beczała, Julia Lezhneva, Miklós Sebestyén, Sabine Devieilhe, Khibla Gerzmava, Maxim Vengerov, Carolin Widmann, Erwin Schrott, Thomas Hampson, Sonya Yoncheva, to name a few.

Today RNYSO is an integral part of the concert life of the country: during six seasons it held more than 280 concerts, having performed in 43 Russian cities. The RNYSO concerts took place on two main stages of the Moscow Philharmonic, Mariinsky-2 Concert Hall, on the Red Square in Moscow and have being broadcast by Medici.tv. In the first years of its life, the RNYSO presented a number of major symphonic programs, took part in the international festivals, as well as in major cultural and public events.

The RNYSO repertoire is being constantly replenished with symphonies of Beethoven, Berlioz, Weber, Brahms, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Mahler, Shostakovich, Lokshin, Schnittke, works by Mozart, Glinka, Schumann, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Ives, Respighi, Pärt, Tarnopolsky, Reich, Zimmermann, Staud, Widmann, Ligeti, Sysoev, Boulez, Xenakis, Berg, Varese, Romitelli and Adams, along with the greatest composers of the Baroque era. In November 2020, the collective was honored to open the 7th International Contemporary Music Festival Another Space. In summer 2021, the orchestra has performed in the largest European halls, such as KKL Luzern Concert Hall and Wiener Musikverein.

In the season 2024/25 the orchestra takes part in the Another Space. Continuo, All of Stravinsky, The Language of Music, Musica sacra nova subscription concerts performing under the baton of Yuri Bashmet, Dmitry Jurowski, Philipp Chizhevsky, Dmitry Sinkovsky, Alexander Sladkovsky, Fyodor Lednev with such soloists as Denis Matsuev, Boris Berezovsky, Dmitry Shishkin, Angel Wong, Vadim Repin, Daniil Kogan, Boris Andrianov, Alexander Ramm.

Born in Leningrad in 1987, Alexey Rubin studied at the Glinka Choral College and then at the St. Petersburg Conservatory majoring in choral conducting with Prof. Valentin Nesterov (graduated in 2010) and in opera and symphonic conducting with Prof. Yuri Simonov (graduated in 2015). He has attended master classes by Yuri Simonov, Riccardo Muti, Vassily Sinaisky, Yuri Temirkanov, Victor Yampolsky and Bruno Weil. The musician has won prizes at the 3rdIlya Musin National Open Competition for Young Symphony Conductors in Kostroma (2013) and at the 2ndAll-Russian Music Competition in Moscow (2015). He has conducted Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart, Eugene Onegin and Iolanta by Tchaikovsky at the St. Petersburg Conservatory Opera and Ballet Theater.

Since 2015, Alexey Rubin has been Assistant Conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra regularly appearing with them at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Rachmaninoff Concert Hall (Philharmonia 2). Since 2018, he has collaborated with the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra that he conducted at the Denis Matsuev Festival in Perm in March 2019. Since 2022, Alexey Rubin has been conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra Novaya Rossiya.

The conductor regularly appears with the Rostov Academic Symphony Orchestra, Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra, Youth Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Surgut Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Krasnoyarsk Academic Symphony Orchestra, Iași Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), also conducting performances at the Saratov Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. He has collaborated with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Yaroslavl Academic Governor’s Symphony Orchestra, Ulyanovsk Governor’s Orchestra and Far Eastern Academic Symphony Orchestra.

Alexey Rubin has performed with famous Russian soloists including Boris Berezovsky, Denis Matsuev, Sergey Tarasov, Andrey Gugnin, Vyacheslav Gryaznov, Aylen Pritchin, Sergey Antonov, Alexander Ramm, and Sofia Kiprskaya. He has assisted Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov and Mikhail Jurowski. Since 2017, he has been taking part in the Green Noise youth art festival in Surgut headed by Ekaterina Mechetina.

The conductor has performed with young laureates of the International Grand Piano Competition and the Nutcracker International Television Contest. In cooperation with Ekaterina Mechetina and Dmitry Antipov (ballet dancer, choreographer, artistic director of Rudi Dance Lab group), he staged one-act ballets to the music of Ravel and Rachmaninoff.

Мария Литвинова и Вячеслав Игнатов (режиссеры)

Мария Литвинова и Вячеслав Игнатов – выпускники Санкт-Петербургской академии театрального искусства (ныне Российский государственный институт сценических искусств). Дважды лауреаты премии «Золотая маска». 

В 2000–2011 гг. – актеры и режиссеры в московском театре «Тень», в 2005–2016 гг. – в театре «Практика». В 2003 году создали театр «Трикстер». Спектакли театра принимали участие в международных театральных фестивалях в России, Германии, Франции и Пакистане. 

Поставили 26 спектаклей в России, Германии и Великобритании – от камерных постановок в театре кукол до уличных шоу и опер на большой сцене. Участвовали в театральных проектах, организованных Центром Вс. Мейерхольда, Театром Наций. 

Музыкальные постановки: «Петя и Волк и не только...» на музыку Сергея Прокофьева и Петра Поспелова (2013, Московский театр кукол); опера «Путешествие в страну джамблей» Петра Поспелова (2014, Пермский театр оперы и балета, спектакль получил спецприз жюри премии «Золотая маска»); опера «Ноев ковчег» Бриттена (2016, Детский музыкальный театр имени Н. И. Сац); «Сад осьминога» (2017, Пермский театр оперы и балета); «Творения Прометея» Бетховена и «Орфей» Стравинского (2018, Королевский Фестивал-холл, театр «Трикстер» совместно с Лондонским филармоническим оркестром под управлением Владимира Юровского); опера «Дидона и Эней» Пёрселла (2019, театр «Трикстер» совместно с фестивалем «Территория»); опера «Орфей и Эвридика» Глюка (2022, Нижегородский театр оперы и балета).