VII International Contemporary
Music Festival
"Another Space"

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.

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow in 1972, and completed the first part of his musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family to Germany, continuing his studies at the Musikhochschule of Dresden and Berlin, studying conducting with Rolf Reuter and vocal coaching with Semion Skigin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Nabucco.

Jurowski is Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. He takes up the position of General Music Director of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich from the 2021/22 season, stepping down from his highly-acclaimed fifteen year tenure as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, to become their Conductor Emeritus. In addition he holds the titles of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and Artistic Director of the George Enescu International Festival, Bucharest. He has previously held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997–2000), Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000–2003), Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005–2009), Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001–2013) and Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra (2011–2021). 

Vladimir Jurowski enjoys close relationships with the world’s most distinguished artistic institutions, and has collaborated with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, New York Philharmonic, Chicago and Boston Symphonies, and the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras. He is a regular guest at the BBC Proms, Musikfest Berlin, and the Dresden, Lucerne, Schleswig Holstein, Grafenegg and Rostropovich Festivals. 

A committed operatic conductor, Jurowski’s recent highlights include Die Frau ohne Schatten in Berlin and Bucharest with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, semi-staged performances of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, Die Walkure and Siegfried with the London Philharmonic, Wozzeck, Der Rosenkavalier and Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Henze’s The Bassarids and Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron at the Komische Oper Berlin, his acclaimed debut at the Salzburg Festival with Wozzeck, and his first return to Glyndebourne as a guest conductor, in the world premiere production of Brett Dean’s Hamlet. He has conducted Parsifal at the Welsh National Opera, War and Peace at the Opera National de Paris, Eugene Onegin at Teatro alla Scala Milan, Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre, and Iolanta and Der Teufel von Loudon at the Semperoper Dresden, as well as Die Zauberflöte, La Cenerentola, Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Don Giovanni, The Rake’s Progress, The Cunning Little Vixen, Ariadne auf Naxos and Peter Eötvös’ Love and Other Demons at Glyndebourne Opera. 

In the 2021/22 season, Jurowski returns to the Staatskapelle Dresden, conducts new productions of Shostakovich’s The Nose, and Penderecki’s Die Teufel von Loudun at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and showcases a wealth of symphonic repertoire from Mozart, Liszt, Enescu and Elgar, to Suk, Britten, Nikodijevic and Firsova, with particular focuses on Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Bruckner with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, and Shostakovich and Mahler with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. 

Jurowski’s discography with the London Philharmonic Orchestra includes the complete symphonies of Brahms and Tchaikovsky, and works ranging from Haydn and Beethoven, through Mahler, Zemlinsky, Holst, Rachmaninov, and Szymanowski, to Turnage, Denisov, Martynov and Silvestrov. For Pentatone Records he has recorded Schnittke’s Third Symphony, Mahler’s Totenfeier and Das Lied von der Erde, and Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra with the Rundfunk-

Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Tchaikovsky’s ballets and an ongoing series of Prokofiev symphonies with the State Academic Symphony of Russia and a series of Russian works with the Russian National Orchestra, and for Hyperion works by Mendelssohn and Mahler with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and Shostakovich’s violin concertos with the State Academic Symphony of Russia. His tenure as Music Director at Glyndebourne has been documented in numerous CD and DVD releases including award-winning productions of Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Ariadne auf Naxos, Falstaff, La Cenerentola, Rachmaninov’s The Miserly Knight and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery. Other DVD releases include Hansel und Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera New York, his first concert as London Philharmonic Orchestra’s principal conductor featuring works by Wagner, Berg and Mahler, and DVDs with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Beethoven symphonies 4 and 7) and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Strauss and Ravel), all released by Medici Arts.

Alexander Rudin is an internationally acclaimed cellist, conductor, pianist, harpsichordist, professor at the Moscow Conservatoire, researcher of early scores, author of orchestral versions of chamber works and the mastermind behind unique themed series. The musician’s repertoire includes cello music from four centuries – both pieces that are exceedingly well-known and others that have never been performed before. Thanks to Rudin’s attention to forgotten episodes in the history of music, music-lovers throughout the world have heard many new works for the first time. These include Mikhail Vielgorsky’s Theme and Variations for cello and orchestra, cello concerti by Antonín Kraft, Jean Balthazar Trickler, Johann Heinrich Facius and Robert Volkmann, Dvořák’s First Cello Concerto and original versions of works for cello and orchestra by Tchaikovsky – Variations on a Rococo Theme and Pezzo capriccioso. Much of Rudin’s repertoire features works by contemporary composers including Valentin Silvestrov, Vyacheslav Artyomov, Edison Denisov and Andrei Golovin.

Having received a traditional academic education, Alexander Rudin became interested in the authentic performance of early music, and in time came to a natural synthesis of moth movements. He currently combines performances on a modern cello and a viola da gamba and he performs both music by the Romantic composers and works from the baroque era and early classicism. Rudin’s activities as a pianist and conductor are developing in much a similar manner.Since 1988 the musician has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Musica Viva Moscow chamber orchestra. Together with the ensemble, in Moscow he has presented unique concert programmes, many of which have been held during the subscription series Masterpieces and Premieres and Musical Gatherings at the Tretyakovs’ House, subscription series at the Moscow International House of Music and the Russian Gnessin Academy of Music and the Dedication festival. Since 2022, Alexander Rudin has been Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra.

The conductor has earned a reputation as a brilliant interpreter of opera scores and major works in the cantata and oratorio genre. In Moscow, he has conducted the Russian premieres of the oratorio Juditha triumphans by Vivaldi and an original version of Degtyarev’s oratorio Minin and Pozharsky, or the Liberation of Moscow. There have been performances of Haydn’s oratorios The Creation and The Seasons, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 (Hymn of Praise) and concert versions of the operas Idomeneo by Mozart and Oberon by Weber.As a guest conductor, Alexander Rudin appears with numerous acclaimed orchestras including Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg Philharmonic (Honoured Ensemble of Russia), Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra and symphony and chamber orchestras in Norway, Finland and Turkey.

Alexander Rudin frequently appears on tour. As a soloist and conductor he has taken part in the international festivals Les Pianos folies (France) and La Follе Journée (France, Spain, Japan) among others. Rudin performs recitals in such countries as Germany, Finland, The Netherlands, Canada, Great Britain, Hungary, Slovenia and Turkey. The musician’s activities as a teacher are linked with the Moscow Conservatoire (where he teaches a chamber ensemble class) and one of Turkey’s most prestigious higher education institutions – Yaşar University in Izmir. The performer gives master-classes around the world and collaborates with Youth Orchestras as a conductor.

Alexander Rudin’s discography includes over thirty discs released on leading Russian and international labels (Naxos, Olympia, Tudor, Melodiya, Cello Classics, Russian Season, Russian Disc, RCD). Particularly well received were his recordings of six suites by Bach (Naxos), cello concerti by Trickler, Myaskovsky’s Cello Concerto, a Grieg Album, works by Alexander Alyabiev and Alexander Cherepnin as well as a live recording of a concert from the Great Hall of the Conservatoire (Beethoven’s Third Symphony and Kraft’s (Cello Concerto).In 1983 Alexander Rudin graduated from the State Gnessin Musical Education Institute (cello class of Lev Yevgrafov and piano class of Yuri Ponizovkin). In 1989 he completed his studies at the Moscow State Conservatoire (conducting class of Dmitri Kitaenko). While still a student he was a prize-winner at the prestigious Bach Competition in Leipzig (1976), the Cassado Competition in Florence (1979) and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1978, 1982).

Alexander Rudin is a People’s Artist of Russia, a recipient of the State Prize of Russia and a recipient of the City of Moscow Government Prize.

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).