S. Marshak. "The Twelve Months"

Throughout its history, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra has ranked among the best national orchestras and has been a worthy representative of Russian musical culture abroad. 

The orchestra was founded in September 1951 under the Soviet Radio Committee and joined the Moscow Philharmonic Society in 1953. Its artistic image and performing style were built under the guidance of renowned Russian conductors. The ensemble's first Artistic Director and Principal Conductor was Samuil Samosud (1951–1957). In 1957–1959, the orchestra, led by Nathan Rachlin, was considered as one of the best in the USSR. In 1958, at the 1st International Tchaikovsky Competition, the orchestra, conducted by Kirill Kondrashin, accompanied a triumphant performance by Van Cliburn, and in 1960 it was the first Russian symphony orchestra to tour the USA.

Kirill Kondrashin led the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra for 16 years (1960–1976). Those years were important milestones in the ensemble's history: the maestro conducted the premieres of Shostakovich's 4th and 13th Symphonies, his poem The Execution of Stepan Razin, Prokofiev's Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, performed and recorded many Mahler symphonies. In 1973 the orchestra was awarded the title of Academic. Under Dmitry Kitaenko (1976–1990) the orchestra extended its 20th century repertoire, premiering works by Khrennikov, Denisov, Schnittke, Butsko, and Tishchenko. Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie, Stravinsky's King of the Stars (Zvezdoliki) and Requiem Canticles were performed for the first time in the USSR. The ensemble was subsequently led by Vasily Sinaisky (1991–1996) and Mark Ermler (1996–1998). 

The orchestra has collaborated with leading Russian and international conductors including André Cluytens, Igor Markevitch, Charles Munch, Zubin Mehta, George Enescu, Neeme Järvi, Mariss Jansons, Dzhansug Kakhidze, Kurt Mazur, Evgeny Svetlanov and composers Benjamin Britten, Igor Stravinsky, and Krzysztof Penderecki. It is with this orchestra that Sviatoslav Richter made his sole appearance as a conductor. Virtually all major soloists of the second half of the 20th century have appeared with the orchestra, including Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, Glenn Gould, Emil Gilels, David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Daniil Shafran, Yakov Flier, Nikolai Petrov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Krainev, Maurizio Pollini, Eliso Virsaladze, and Natalia Gutman. The orchestra has recorded over 350 LPs and CDs, many of which have received the highest international recording awards and are still in demand today. 

A new stage in the history of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra began in 1998, when it was taken over by People's Artist of the USSR Yuri Simonov. Under his leadership, the ensemble has achieved tremendous success. Today the orchestra is one of the mainstays of Russian philharmonic life, frequently performing in cities across Russia (over the last ten years they have appeared in more than 40 cities) and successfully touring Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, China, and Korea. 

In recent decades, the orchestra has played with such outstanding musicians as: Marc-André Hamelin, Valery Afanassiev, Yuri Bashmet, Boris Berezovsky, Yuja Wang, Maxim Vengerov, Stefan Vladar, Hibla Gerzmava, David Geringas, Barry Douglas, Lilya Zilberstein, Sumi Jo, Laura Kleikomb, Alexander Kniazev, Sergey Krylov, John Lill, Nikolai Lugansky, Konstantin Lifshitz, Oleg Maisenberg, Denis Matsuev, Ekaterina Mechetina, Viktoria Mullova, Daniel Pollak, Vadim Repin, Sergey Roldugin, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Viktor Tretyakov; Conductors Luciano Acocella, Semyon Bychkov, Alexander Vedernikov, Michael Güttler, Alexander Dmitriev, Marco Zambelli, Thomas Sanderling, Alexander Lazarev, Andres Mustonen, Vasily Petrenko, Benjamin Pionnier, 

Gintaras Rinkevičius, Alexander Sladkovsky, Leonard Slatkin, Saulius Sondeckis, Antonino Fogliani, Mariss Jansons and many others. 

One of the orchestra's priorities is working with the new generation of musicians: as part of the Stars of the 21st Century series, the orchestra plays with gifted soloists entering the big stage and invites young performers to join its philharmonic subscription programmes. The orchestra is a regular participant of international and Russian master courses for young conductors by Yuri Simonov, organized by the Moscow Philharmonic society. 

The activities of Maestro Simonov and the orchestra also aim at educating young listeners. The subscription series Tales with an Orchestra, taking place in Moscow and many Russian cities and featuring theatre and film stars, has become hugely popular. Guest stars have included Marina Alexandrova, Maria Aronova, Alyona Babenko, Valery Barinov, Sergei Bezrukov, Anna Bolshova, Olga Budina, Valery Garkalin, Sergei Garmash, Nonna Grishaeva, Ekaterina Guseva, Evgenia Dobrovolskaya, Mikhail Yefremov, Evgeny Knyazev, Avangard Leontiev, Pavel Lyubimtsev, Dmitry Nazarov, Alexander Oleshko, Irina Pegova, Yulia Peresild, Mikhail Porechenkov, Evgeniya Simonova, Grigory Siyatvinda, Daniil Spivakovsky, Yuri Stoyanov, Evgeny Stychkin, Victoria Tolstoganova, Mikhail Trukhin, Gennady Khazanov, Chulpan Khamatova, Sergey Shakurov. This project brought Maestro Simonov the Moscow Mayor's Arts Award in 2008, while in 2010, Yuri Simonov and the orchestra received the National Newspaper Musical Review Award in the Conductor and Orchestra category. 

In recent years, the ensemble has presented several Moscow, Russian and world premieres of works by Andrei Eshpai, Boris Tishchenko, Krzysztof Penderecki, Philip Glass, Alexander Tchaikovsky, Sergei Slonimsky, Valentin Silvestrov, Eduard Artemyev, Gennady Gladkov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Alexei Rybnikov, Efrem Podgaits, Kuzma Bodrov and other composers.

Vladimir Ponkin is one of Russia's leading contemporary conductors. He was awarded the title of People's Artist of Russia (2002) and two Golden Mask National Theatre Awards (2001, 2003). By the decision of the Ministry of Culture and Arts of the Republic of Poland, maestro was awarded a Medal for Merits to Polish Culture (1997). In 2001, he received a 2nd Class Medal for Merits to Kuban Development. In 2005, the Council for Public Awards in Russia of the Russian Heraldic Chamber awarded Vladimir Ponkin a 1st Class Cross to a Defender of the Fatherland for merits to the Fatherland in the field of cultural development in Russia and abroad. Maestro was also awarded an Order for Service to Russia (2006) by the National Committee of Public Awards of the Russian Federation, a 1st Class Cossack Order for the Love and Loyalty to the Fatherland (2006), and an Order of Friendship (2012).

Born in Irkutsk in 1951, Vladimir Ponkin graduated from the Gorky Conservatory. He also graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire and completed a postgraduate course in opera and symphonic conducting by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. In 1980, he became the USSR's first young conductor to win the 5th Rupert Foundation Conducting Competition held in London. Over the years, maestro led the Yaroslavl Symphony Orchestra, the State Symphony Orchestra of Cinematography, the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland), and the State Symphony Orchestra. Currently, he's the art director and chief conductor of the Kuban Symphony Orchestra.

In 1990-2004, Vladimir Ponkin led the State Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic Society. During the years of cooperation with Vladimir Ponkin, the State Symphony Orchestra became one of country's most popular, both in Russia and abroad. This orchestra performed on the stages of the world's best concert halls, participated in Russia's and Europe's largest international festivals. Ponkin's versatility manifested itself in performing various pieces by different composers with an extraordinary grace, in a filigree conductor's technique, in the delicate elaboration on the details, as well as in a concept's reasonableness and consistency. His repertoire includes almost all the classical music pieces of three centuries. In the summer of 1996, Vladimir Ponkin and the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic Society's orchestra participated in 42nd Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago. During the opera festival, Vladimir Ponkin gave two symphony concerts of Russian and French music. The Italian press wrote: «They have significantly raised the festival's emotional temperature. Ponkin boast of a huge repertoire. He created some extremely diverse interpretations of composers belonging to different historical eras and styles». (Viareggio, La Nazione).

A special place in this conductor's creative work belongs to opera. In 1995, Vladimir Ponkin was invited to become the chief conductor of The Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danch

Since 1999, he has been actively cooperating with the Helikon Opera Theater, eventually becoming this theater's chief conductor (in 2002). A number of productions were staged there under his lead, including the following: Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (by Shostakovich), Lulu (by Berg), Kashchey the Immortal (by Rimsky-Korsakov)

Vladimir Ponkin worked as a guest conductor with such renowned ensembles as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Leningrad Academic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (an Honoured Ensemble of Russia), the National Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestras of All-Soviet Union Radio, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra (Germany), Italian orchestras (the Guido Cantelli Symphony Orchestra of Milan and the Bergamo Festival Orchestra), some of the leading ensembles of Australia (the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane, and the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra), the US's Palm Beach Orchestra and many others. He performs regularly with the Moscow Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra (with Yuri Simonov as an Art Director).

Vladimir Ponkin is well-known thanks to his accompaniment skills, as well. He participated many times in the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Moscow and in International Music Festivals of Pärt and Penderecki in Stockholm. Ponkin's repertoire is huge. It includes both well-known pieces by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and exotic (for the Moscow audience) pieces of music by Stravinsky, Elgar, and a number of contemporary composers.

Various concert tours by Vladimir Ponkin were successfully held in Australia, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Israel, Sweden, South Korea, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Argentina, Chile, and the United States. Maestro has performed with many famous artists, including singers Angela Gheorghiu, José Cura, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Yevgeny Nesterenko, Paata Burchuladze, Zurab Sotkilava, Maria Bieșu, Yuri Mazurok, Lucia Alberti, and Virgilius Noreika, pianists Ivo Pogorelić, Evgeny Kissin, Grigory Sokolov, Daniel Pollack, Denis Matsuev, Vladimir Krainev, Victor Yampolsky, Eliso Virsaladze, Edith Chen and Nikolay Petrov, Alexander Gindin, violinists Andrei Korsakov, Sergei Stadler, Oleg Krysa, and a cellist Natalia Gutman.

Vladimir Ponkin has a huge repertoire covering both classical pieces of music and pieces by contemporary composers. He introduced the Russian public to a number of pieces by Penderecki and Lutoslawski. One of the most outstanding creative works by Ponkin involved conducting a monumental and extremely difficult musical composition Matins (by Penderecki) for soloists, chorus and orchestra. It was performed during the concert in Stockholm as part of festival dedicated to the composer. Penderecki highly appreciated Ponkin's skills by saying: «I have no more desire to conduct this music piece in person after this concert».

The concert held in residence of Pope John Paul II by Vladimir Ponkin and the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra was undoubtedly an outstanding event. It was so successful that John Paul II wanted an encore and awarded the conductor a Guest of Honor Medal.

«Vladimir Ponkin, as the new conductor, brings in to the performance the talent of a true musician and the skill of an experienced conductor – it has been a while since this orchestra sounded so fully and perfectly» («Nezavisimaya Gazeta», Moscow).

Visiting Taiwan on invitation of Dalai Lama with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra was a truly special episode in Vladimir Ponkin's life. The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism awarded him a certificate of Guest of Honour of the World Buddhist Center and expressed his special respect by giving his own rosary to maestro at parting.

Vladimir Ponkin treats his young audience with a great sensitivity. Various concerts for children are very popular. During those concerts, he acts as a master of ceremonies and invites young viewers to talk about music.

Vladimir Ponkin has served as a professor at the Moscow Conservatory since 2004. He's also a Chairman of the Opera and Symphony Conducting Department at the State Musical Pedagogical Institute named after M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov