Armchair Concerts.
Verdi − Messa da Requiem

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.

Conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev was born in Leningrad on August 5, 1932. He received his musical education at the State Gnessins Music Teachers Institute (now the Russian Gnessins Music Academy) and attended a graduate course at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Professor Leo Ginsburg. He started his conducting career in the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra after he was invited by Evgeny Mravinsky. Vladimir Fedoseyev’s theatrical conducting debut also took place in Leningrad, at the State Kirov (Mariinsky) Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre where he staged The Tsar’s Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov. In the 1980s and 1990s, Vladimir Fedoseyev presented concert versions of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden and Rachmaninoff’s Aleko at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. He conducted Verdi’s Requiem performed by the World Festival Choir and the outstanding soloists Carol Vaness, Florence Ouivar, Luciano Pavarotti and Roberto Scanduizzi in Oslo, Stockholm and Munich.

In the same period of time, the conductor was involved in opera and ballet productions at some of Europe’s best venues, including Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1988) and Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades and The Sleeping Beauty (1989) at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Bizet’s Carmen (1993), Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (1994) and Bartok’s The Miraculous Mandarin (1995) at the Vienna State Opera, Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar (1996), Rubinstein’s The Demon and Verdi’s Attila (1998) at the Opernhaus in Zurich. Today, Fedoseyev continues to collaborate with the best theatres. So, in 2015 and 2016, he conducted the new La Scala productions of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (choreographed by Nacho Duato) and The Sleeping Beauty (choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky). In January 2017, he conducted the premiere nights of Puccini’s Turandot at the Helicon-Opera in Moscow and then was invited to be the theatre’s musical director. 

The name of Vladimir Fedoseyev is associated with many orchestras across the world. He was the first guest conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra since 2000, a guest conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra of Munich, the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra of Paris, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestras of Stuttgart, Essen, Cleveland and Pittsburg. Between 1997 and 2006, Vladimir Fedoseyev was the chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and that decade was marked with the orchestra’s triumphal tours in the countries of Central Europe, Japan, China and the Philippines, as well as the cycle “Beethoven’s Complete Symphonic Works” which was concluded on the 1st of January 2000 with the performance of the Missa solemnis. 

No matter how diverse the conductor’s artistic activities are, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra holds the central place in the life of Vladimir Fedoseyev who has been its artistic director and chief conductor for more than four decades. During these years the conductor formed a special, recognizable style that brought TSO international fame, performed numerous premieres of contemporary composers’ works constantly extending artistic contacts with Russian and foreign composers, as he did in the beginning of his career with Shostakovich and Sviridov and later on with Krzysztof Penderecki (Poland), Ragnar Soderlind (Norway), Vladimir Rubin and Roman Ledenyov (Russia). Among the first large-scale projects of the conductor and TSO were concert productions and performances of the operas Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni, Cherevichki by Tchaikovsky, and The Snow Maiden and May Night by Rimsky-Korsakov realized for the radio and sound recording. 

Many of Vladimir Fedoseyev’s recordings, including all symphonies by Beethoven, symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Taneyev, were bestsellers. The conductor’s discography also features all symphonies by Brahms released by Warner Classics & Jazz, and symphonies by Shostakovich published by Pony Canyon in Japan. Vladimir Fedoseyev is an owner of numerous prizes and awards, including the Silver Award from Japan’s Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (for the programmes with works by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich), the order “For Services to the Fatherland” of all four degrees, the Order of St Vladimir, the Order of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh of the First Degree, the Silver Cross of Merit of the Republic of Austria, the Order of the Cross of Honour of the First Degree for services to the Republic of Austria Culture, and the Gold Medal of the International Gustav Mahler Society. 

In March 2013, in Prague, the conductor received the Trebbia European Award for creative activities. In 2016, the conductor became an owner of the honorable title “Honoured Music Art Worker” and the prize of the Union State in the field of literature and arts. In 2017, the Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, awarded the maestro with the mark of distinction “For Services to Moscow” for his outstanding contribution to the development of Russian culture and music. In January 2018, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia presented to Vladimir Fedoseyev the order of Daniel of Moscow first degree.

The Yurlov Russian State Academic Choir is a world-famous Russian choir, and one of the oldest music ensembles in Moscow. 

Although the Choir celebrated the 100th anniversary of its official history in the 2018/19 season, the prehistory of the company dates back to 1900, when the church choir master Ivan Yukhov founded a family singing ensemble in the town of Shchelkovo near Moscow. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Moscow saw a lot of emerging art associations like Moscow Art Theater or Pyatnitsky Russian Folk Choir. Yukhov’s amateur choir had become widely known long before the 1917 revolution for performing sacred music, folk songs, choral, vocal, and symphonic works by Russian and Western European composers.

After the revolution, the choir was nationalized by the Soviet authorities, and in January 1919 it received the official status of the First State Choir. Apart from touring extensively, the increasingly popular ensemble was also involved in cultural projects of the young Soviet state. In particular, they recorded soundtracks for such famous films as Jolly Fellows, The Circus, We are from Kronstadt, and Volga Volga. 

Appointing Alexander Yurlov (1927–1973) to head the company in 1958 was a landmark event in its history. With this outstanding conductor, the Choir ranked among the country’s best musical groups in the 1960s. The company collaborated with the renowned Russian composers Sviridov and Shostakovich and premiered works by Rubin and Shchedrin. Alexander Yurlov deserves credit for reviving the tradition of concert performances of Russian Orthodox church music. Yurlov was succeeded by Yuri Ukhov and Stanislav Gusev, talented musicians, conductors and choirmasters who enhanced the popularity of the Choir. 

Since 2004, the Choir has been headed by Gennady Dmitryak, People’s Artist of Russia, professor, one of Russia’s top choral, opera and symphony conductors. A musician of great energy, Gennady Dmitryak meets daunting challenges confidently, while launching unique art projects. With him, the Choir ran Kremlins and Temples of Russia, and Holy Love, festivals reviving the traditions of major vocal and choral educational programs. In the spring of 2014, the company was closely involved in the 22nd Winter Olympic Games and 11th Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi. In the 2018/2019 anniversary season, the Choir held a music festival with concerts in Moscow, Sevastopol, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen, Surgut, Khanty-Mansiysk, as well as in France. 

The Choir often tours throughout Russia from Magadan to Kaliningrad. The company led by Gennady Dmitryak has appeared triumphantly in Spain, Greece, Great Britain, the Republic of Belarus, Armenia, Poland, Ukraine, North Korea and in the Baltic countries. The team is a regular guest of leading music festivals. Symphony conductors collaborating with the Choir include Yuri Bashmet, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseev, Dmitri Jurowski, Vladimir Jurowski, Mikhail Pletnev, Pavel Kogan, Teodor Currentzis, Sergey Skripka, Alexander Sladkovsky, and Yuri Simonov. The ensemble is widely known for their brilliant interpretations of music by Bortnyansky, Berezovsky, Kastalsky, Grechaninov, Chesnokov, Rachmaninoff, and Sviridov. The Choir’s repertoire includes virtually all of the Russian and Western European cantatas and oratorios, from Bach’s High Mass to works by Britten, Bernstein, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Kancheli and Tavener. 

A unique project of the Choir was recording the complete choral works by Sviridov commemorating the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth. In 2019, the project won the Pure Sound International Award for the best recording of Russian academic music in Choral category. 

On May 31, 2019, the Choir was awarded the Commendation of the President of the Russian Federation ‘for merits in developing national culture and art and years of fruitful activities.’ 

(Press Service of the Choir)

Yaroslav Timofeev is a musicologist, lecturer, music critic, presenter, and concert host. Having graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, he has been a prize-winner of international piano, composing and church bellringing competitions. In 2014, Yaroslav defended his Ph. D. thesis titled Stravinsky and “Khovanshina” in Sergei Diaghilev’s version: an attempt of historical research and source study. In 2015, he got the 1st degree Resonance award for Russian Young Musical Critics at the Diaghilev Festival. 

Since 2011, Yaroslav Timofeev has been a music reviewer authoring over 750 articles for leading Russian media, such as Izvestia, Kommersant, Russia Beyond the Headlines newspapers; The New Times, Music Academy, Musical Life magazines; Colta.ru portal; and Arzamas project, among others. He has also been a script-writer and editor of the Absolute Pitch and Artificial selection shows on the Kultura TV channel. In 2014–2015, he was an editor with the Culture Division of Izvestia newspaper. In 2009–2015, he headed the Musicology Section of MolOt (Junior Department of the Russian Composers Union). Since 2018, he has been the Chief Editor with the Musical Academy Magazine.

Yaroslav Timofeev has been a Jury member and an Expert Council member of the Golden Mask National Theatre Award. As a musical consultant, he was involved in the staging of the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. He has been working at the Moscow Philharmonic Society since 2010, presenting concerts of the project ‘Mom, I'm a Melomaniac’ since the 2017/18 season and being a permanent co-author and co-host of the ‘Music Language’ project since 2018/19. He also gives pre-concert lectures in Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov Concert Halls. In spring 2020, he hosted several online concerts of the Armchair Concerts series. 

Yaroslav has been a pianist with OQJAV indie group since 2017. As part of the group, he was awarded the Mikael Tariverdiev Prize for the Best Film Soundtrack at the Kinotavr festival (2020).