Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra,
Alexander Rudin, Vadim Kholodenko,
Lukas Geniušas, Andrey Gugnin

Musica Viva's origins go back to 1978, when violinist and conductor Viktor Kornachev founded a musical ensemble of nine players – all young and enthusiastic, and recent graduates of Moscow's musical academies. By 1988 the ensemble had grown into a full-fledged orchestra, now led Alexander Rudin who also gave the group its name, Musica Viva. Under his guidance, the orchestra achieved the pinnacles of artistic endeavour, and ranked along Russia's finest orchestras. 

Musica Viva today is an all-round musical ensemble which performs the widest possible range of compositions in all styles and genres with an assured confidence. The highlight of the orchestra's projects has been the cycle named Masterpieces & Premieres at the Moscow Philharmonic Society, featuring musical masterworks in their original splendour alongside musical rarities which are brought once more back to the concert platform. 2011 marked the creation of the Silver Classics series consisting of works that are not part of the so called ‘golden repertoire’ while deserving indeed to be there. The series includes a Young Artists Programme introducing prize-winners of European music competitions to the audience, as well as annual Cello Assemblies to which maestro Rudin invites his fellow cellists.

The performance of neglected masterworks forms a major part of the orchestra's repertoire. Musica Viva has given the first Russian performances of works by C. F. E. Bach, Cimarosa, Dittersdorf, Dussek, Pleyel, Tricklir, Volkmann, Kozlovsky, Fomin, Vielgorsky, Alyabyev, Degtyarev, and many others. The orchestra also makes the audience discover leading contemporary works, with world and Russian premieres of music by Artyomov, Pärt, A. Sallinen, Silvestrov, Manotskov, Akhunov, Andrei Golovin, and other composers. 

Over the last decade, Musica Viva has been increasingly involved in large-scale projects including concert performances of operas and oratorios. Under the baton of Alexander Rudin, the orchestra has performed Haydn’s The Creation and The Seasons; Mozart's Idomeneo, Weber's Oberon, Beethoven's Fidelio, Schumann's Requiem, Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans, and Degtyarev's Minin & Pozharsky, or Liberation of Moscow. The musicians presented the Russian premieres of Handel's cantata Apollo e Daphne and operatic serenata Aci. Galatea e Polifemo, and of Hasse's serenata Marc Antonio e Cleopatra and oratorio I Pellegrini al Sepolcro di Nostro Signore. In collaboration with the British maestro Christopher Moulds the orchestra has given the Russian premieres of Handel's operas Orlando and Ariodante, as well as his oratorio Hercules. 

Musica Viva regularly invites musicians of world status to join its performances. These have included Christopher Hogwood, Sir Roger Norrington, Vladimir Jurowsky, Andraš Adorian. Robert Levin, Andreas Staier, Eliso Virsaladze, Natalya Gutman, Ivan Monighetti, Nikolai Lugansky, Boris Berezovsky, Alexei Lubimov, Giuliano Carmingola, Isabelle Faust, Roel Dieltiens, Thomas Zettmaier, Christian Tetzlaff , Shlomo Mintz, and leading operatic prima donnas Joyce di Donato, Annick Massis, Vivica Genaux. Deborah York, Susan Graham, Malena Ernman, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Hibla Gerzmava, and Julia Lezhneva. World-famous choirs including Collegium Vocale Gent and Latvia, as well as the Russian vocal ensemble Intrada, have also appeared with the orchestra. 

Musica Viva makes continuous appearances at major international music festivals including world-renowned La folle journee taking place in France, Spain, Japan, Poland, and Russia (Yekaterinburg). The orchestra has toured to Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Czechia, Slovenia, Poland, Finland, Turkey, India, and Taiwan, while giving regular concerts in many Russian cities. 

The orchestra has recorded over 20 albums for such labels as Russky Sezon, Olympia, Hyperion, Naxos, Chandos, Тudor, Fuga Libera, and Melodiya, among others. Symphonies by Johann Stamitz were released in 2019, while Beethoven's Triple and Violin Concertos with Dmitry Sinkovsky (violin), Alexei Lyubimov (historical piano) and Alexander Rudin (cello, conductor) appeared in 2020. Recordings with maestro Rudin as a soloist are of particular interest and include cello concerts by Tricklir, Myaskovsky, Antonin Kraft, and baroque composers, such as Hasse, C. P. E. Bach, Hertel etc. The Grieg Album introduces Alexander Rudin a master of orchestration, featuring his orchestral versions of chamber works by the Norwegian composer. 

In the 2028/19 season, Musica Viva celebrated its 40th anniversary. Over many years, the orchestra’s activity has been supported by a grant of the Russian President.

Alexander Rudin is known as one of the most prominent musicians of the new generation. He is equally world famous as conductor, working with both symphony and chamber orchestras, music instructor – professor of the Moscow Conservatoire, researcher of the early music scores, and author of his own orchestra arrangements of chamber music, as well as unique thematic cycles. He belongs to the new era of Russian performers whose talent can be applied universally. Rudin stands out in a group of his truly professional colleagues for his extraordinary personality: he is talented in various aspects of musical performance, with all his talents creating a perfect balance. He strictly follows the direction he has chosen for himself, the path of creative ideas and experiments in a purely academic musical tradition. “Music cannot be brought down to simply something you create for entertainment. It does not exist solely for the audiences’ appreciation and applause,” believes Rudin.

Alexander Rudin received his degree in music (cello and piano) at the Gnesins’ Academy of Music (formerly known as the Gnesins’ State Musical and Pedagogical Institute) in Moscow in 1983. Mr. Rudin pursued his advanced conducting studies in the Moscow Conservatoire, and graduated in 1989. He studied music with Lev Evgrafov, Yuri Ponizovkin, and Dmitry Kitaenko.

When a student, he won the most prestigious European music competitions of the time: The J.S. Bach International Music Competition in Leipzig (1976), The Gaspar Cassado International Music Competition in Florence (1979), The Tchaikovsky Music Competition in Moscow (1978, 1982), giving a brilliant start to his artistic career. Today Alexander Rudin is one of the most popular musicians both in Russia and abroad. He performs with the most famous orchestras, and participates in prestigious international festivals.

Mr. Rudin has recorded over 30 CDs (both solo and with the Musica Viva Orchestra) on the leading Russian and foreign labels, such as Naxos, Olympia, Tudor, Melodia, Cello Classics, Russky Sezon, Russky Disk, RCD and others.

Alexander Rudin is the Honored Performer of Russia, Professor of the Moscow Conservatoire, the Laureate of the State Award, the Laureate of the Moscow Government Award, and Artistic Director and Conductor of the “Musica Viva” Chamber Orchestra.

Interest in less famous or even unknown music, and new interpretations of popular works, - is a combination typical for most of his concert programs. Thanks to his interest to the long-forgotten pages of the music history, the Moscow public heard some of the music pieces for the first time, such works as Overture on Russian Themes for the cello with orchestra by Davydov, Cello concertos of Kraft, Triklir, Facius, and Folkman. Together with the Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra he has been Artistic Director for since 1988, Rudin was the first who introduced the works of V.S. Bach, Salieri, Dussek, Dittersdorf, Kozlovsky and Pashkevich, Alyabyev, and others to the Moscow audience of the modern Russia.

A musician who received a very traditional education, Alexander Rudin was initially interested in authentic performances of ancient music, and gradually reached a perfect balance of different styles. In his present day performances, he combines modern instruments and viola da gamba, performs both in a traditional way, as well as uses his own, yet “historically-correct" interpretations of the classical pieces. This tradition of keeping the “authentic line” when working with the orchestra, resulted in cooperation with many world-known experts in this field. At Mr. Rudin’s invitation, the orchestra performed under the outstanding British conductors Christopher Hogwood and Roger Norrington (Sir Roger came to Musica viva twice in Russia).

Musica Viva is an orchestra with the highest level of performance, which is famous for its universal style, attracting the famous traditional musicians: Eliso Virsaladze, Nikolay Petrov, Natalia Gutman, Sergey Stadler, Alexander Melnikov have been working with conductor Rudin and his orchestra for a long time. The majority of Rudin’s repertoire is the works of modern composers Golovin, Silvestrov and Artemov. Mr. Rudin premiered several music works written for him, namely Schubert variations by Edison Denisov (he taught orchestration to Rudin) and “Eight Poems of Count Vasily Komarovsky” which he presented together with a soprano Mlada Khudoley, conducting the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra (the concert program also included rarely played Myaskovsky’s Third Symphony and Three Melodeclamations by Anton Arensky).

Alexander Rudin organized a series of chamber music performances “Musical Assemblies.” These concerts started to take place in late 80s in different halls of the State Tretyakov Gallery. This tradition developed into the international chamber music festival, which closes the Gallery’s music season.

Rudin’s career as an instructor is closely connected with the Moscow Conservatoire. A professor of the Conservatoire, he teaches the Chamber Ensemble class, as he believes that this way he will give his students more knowledge and skills, than simply instructing them in their specialization. Additionally, Mr. Rudin gives master classes all over the world, and collaborates with youth orchestras as a conductor (student orchestra of the Moscow Conservatoire, Yekaterinburg youth orchestra, etc.)

The musician has recorded over 30 CDs, among those are the recordings of Bach’s suites (Naxos label) and the cello concerto by N. Myaskovsky. His “Grieg Album” presents him to the audience not only as cellist and conductor, but as true master of orchestration. The CD includes the chamber music compositions arranged by Rudin in a very unique way. Among Rudin’s latest works are the CDs featuring the works by Alyabyev, Cherepnin, as well as a live performance – the recording of Beethoven’s Third Symphony and Kraft’s cello concerto from the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire.

Russian-Lithuanian pianist Lukas Geniušas has firmly established himself as one of the most exciting and distinctive artists of his generation. 

Praised for his ‘brilliance and maturity’ (The Guardian) he is invited to give recitals in the most prestigious venues all over the world such as the Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salle Gaveau, Louvre Auditorium, Frick Collection New York, Phillips Collection, Teatro Carlo Felice, Sala Verdi in Milan and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. He is also regularly invited to festivals including La Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins, Rheingau, the Ruhr Piano Festival, Schloss-Elmau and the Lockenhaus Music Festivals.

Lukas Geniušas performs with numerous orchestras including Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, National de Lyon Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Kremerata Baltica, Russian National Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic under the batons of conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Mikhail Pletnev, Leondard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, Andrey Boreyko, Tugan Sokhiev, Saulius Sondeckis, Antoni Wit and Rafael Payare to name but a few. Recent highlights included Lukas’ debuts at the prestigious Gilmore Keyboard Festival and recitals at the Salle Gaveau, Auditorium de Lyon, as well as concerts with the St Gallen Symphony Orchestra, Bulgarian National Symphony Orchestra and the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. 

The 2020/21 season began with performances in Paris with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Orchestre de Paris. Lukas gave many performances in Russia, notably at the Moscow, St Petersburg and Novosibirsk Philharmonies, the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw and at the Nohant Chopin Festival. Highlights of 2021/22 include performances with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Maxim Emelyanchev, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Marta Gardolinska, the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and Andris Poga, a tour with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and Kristiina Poska, recitals at the Piano à Lyon series, the Folle journée de Nantes and for the Sociedad Filarmónica de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Later in the season, he gives concerts with the soprano Asmik Grigorian in some of Europe’s most prestigious halls including the Geneva and Frankfurt Opera houses, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg and La Scala Milan. 

Known for his innate curiosity and extensive musical interests, Lukas Geniušas explores a wide range of repertoire, from the baroque to works by contemporary composers. His repertoire spans from Beethoven Piano Concerti through to Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis and John Adams, as well as a strong interest in Russian repertoire such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and, of course, Prokofiev. He is an avid chamber musician and an extremely inquisitive performer and enjoys working on new works by modern composers, as well as resurrecting rarely performed repertoire. 

These aspects of his career are reflected in Lukas Geniušas’ critically acclaimed discography, which includes works by Beethoven, Brahms, Rachmaninov (the complete Preludes); Chopin (Etudes opus 10 and 25), and recordings of chamber music (Ravel, Stravinsky, Desyatnikov, Shostakovich and Tchaïkovsky with Aylen Pritchin and Alexander Buzlov for Melodiya. His first recording on MIRARE Prokofiev Sonatas was awarded the ‘Choc’ de Classica and the Diapason ‘Recital CD of the Year’ in 2019, whilst his second CD for the same label, dedicated to Chopin (Sonata no. 3 and a selection of Mazurkas) was released digitally in May 2020. 

Born in Moscow in 1990, Lukas Geniušas graduated from the Chopin Music College Moscow, in 2008. He is the laureate of several prestigious international competitions, notably Silver Medalist at the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and at the 2010 International Chopin competition. 

Since 2015, Lukas Geniušas has been a featured artist of "Looking at the stars" a philanthropy project based in Toronto, whose purpose is to bring classical music to institutions and organizations (prisons, hospitals and shelters) where people may not have an opportunity to experience it live in a traditional setting.

Moscow-born concert pianist Andrey Gugnin is rapidly gaining international acclaim as a passionately virtuosic performer, who possesses an “extraordinarily versatile and agile technique, which serves an often inspired musical imagination” (Gramophone). In 2020, the BBC Music Magazine Awards named Gugnin the winner of the Instrumental Award for his recording Shostakovich: 24 Preludes – Piano Sonatas 1 & 2 (Hyperion). Since winning the prestigious Sydney International Piano Competition in 2016, Gugnin has gone from strength to strength in concerts and recordings which exhibit his impassioned interpretations. 

In addition to winning in Sydney, Gugnin also received prizes at this illustrious competition for Best Overall Concerto, Best 19th/20th Century Concerto, Best Violin and Piano Sonata, and Best Preliminaries for his first-round recital. His also won the Gold Medal and Audience Award at the XCI International Gina Bachauer Piano Competition in 2014, and second prize at the 2013 Beethoven International Piano Competition in Vienna.

Increasingly in demand as a concerto soloist, Gugnin has been invited to perform as a guest artist with notable orchestras worldwide, such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra, the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony, and has performed under the distinguished batons of Maestro Valery Gergiev, Jaap Van Zweden, Reinbert de Leeuw, Daniel Raiskin, Stanislav Kochanovsky and Asher Fisch. He has also collaborated in a more chamber context with the Asko Schönberg ensemble, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Jerusalem Camerata and Camerata Salzburg and on several occasions as the duo partner of violinist Tasmin Little. 

As a recording artist, Gugnin has published a broad scope of repertoire ranging from solo piano to symphonic works. His release of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes (Piano Classics, 2018) were commended as Editor’s Choice, and distinguished Gugnin as “one to watch” (Gramophone). Other notable recordings include his duo programme with violinist Ioana Cristina Goicea (Atoll Records, 2019), an inspired selection of solo piano suites entitled Pictures (Steinway & Sons, 2016), and a collection of piano duets with Vadim Kholodenko (Delos International, 2010). Andrey has also extensively recorded for TV and radio in Russia, The Netherlands, Croatia, Austria, Australia, Switzerland and the USA. 

In addition to these recordings, Gugnin’s Shostakovich Concertos (Delos International, 2007) were selected to feature on the soundtrack of Steven Speilberg’s Oscar®-winning film Bridge of Spies. 

Gugnin’s expanding list of performance venues include Vienna’s Musikverein, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Carnegie Hall in New York, Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, Sydney Opera House, the Great Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Mariinsky Concert Hall, the Louvre in Paris, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space and Asahi Hamarikyu Hall. Gugnin has also participated in a plethora of international festivals, including Verbier, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Mariinsky International Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Ohrid Summer Festival and the Duszniki Chopin International Festival. 

In 2020, as allowed by the covid pandemic, Gugnin embarked on performing numerous solo recitals at prestigious venues in Russia, as well as showcasing a new concerto by Alexey Shor in Armenia. Gugnin joined Tasmin Little in her farewell concert at the Southbank Centre as one of her four favourite pianists to collaborate with, which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and for which Andrey was praised for his “emphatic, mesmerising playing” (Bachtrack). He continued his collaboration with Hyperion, recording his next CD of solo works for release in 2022. 

Gugnin took his first lessons with Natalia Smirnova, who laid the foundations for study with Olga Mechetina, Valery Kastelsky, Lev Naumov, Stanislav Ioudenitch, William Naboré and Vera Gornostayeva.