World Opera Stars in Moscow.
Iestyn Davies

Iestyn Davies is a British countertenor widely recognised as one of the world’s finest singers celebrated for the beauty and technical dexterity of his voice and intelligent musicianship. Critical recognition of Iestyn’s work can be seen in two Gramophone Awards, a Grammy Award, a RPS Award for Young Singer of the Year, the Critics’ Circle Award and recently an Olivier Award Nomination. He was awarded the MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List 2017 for services to music.

Although blessed with a Welsh name, Iestyn hails from York, born into a musical household, his father being the founding cellist of the Fitzwilliam String Quartet. He began his singing life as a chorister at St John’s College, Cambridge under the direction of Dr.George Guest and later Christopher Robinson. Later, after graduating in Archaeology and Anthropology from St John’s College, Cambridge Iestyn studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London of which he is now a Fellow. In 2015 he delighted London theatre audiences singing the role of Farinelli in the play, Farinelli and the King with Mark Rylance at the Globe Theatre. The hugely successful project transferred to the West End this season and was nominated for a number of Olivier Awards.

Recent highlights have included two Bach recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Aldeburgh Festival and in Santa Fe, Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin with Julius Drake at Middle Temple Hall, London, Thomas Adès's The Exterminating Angel at the Metropolitan Opera New York and Farinelli & the King with Mark Rylance on Broadway, New York. Future plans include Handel Oratorio Duets & Arias tour with Lea Desandre/Jupiter, Handel’s Partenope in Madrid, Handel’s Agrippina in Hamburg and Munich, Bach’s B Minor Mass tour in the USA, to name a few.

His operatic engagements have included Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea/Monteverdi) for Zürich Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Arsace (Partenope/Handel) for New York City Opera; Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream/Britten) for Houston Grand Opera, English National Opera and The Metropolitan Opera; Apollo (Death in Venice/Britten) for English National Opera and in his house debut at La Scala, Milan; Hamor (Jephtha/Handel) for Welsh National Opera and Opera National de Bordeaux; Steffani’s Niobe at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; his debut at The Metropolitan Opera Unulfo (Rodelinda/Handel) where he has also appeared as Trinculo (The Tempest); the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Rinaldo; Bertarido Rodelinda for English National Opera; his debuts at the Opéra Comique and the Munich and Vienna Festivals in George Benjamin's Written on Skin and the title role Rinaldo for Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He returned to Glyndebourne in 2015 for David in Handel’s Saul.

His concert engagements have included performances at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan with Dudamel, the Concertgebouw and Tonhalle with Koopman and at the Barbican, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Lincoln Centre and at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall with orchestras that include the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia, Concerto Köln, Concerto Copenhagen, Ensemble Matheus, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He recently made his debut, in recital, at Carnegie Hall, New York. He enjoys a successful relationship with the Wigmore Hall, where, in the 2012/13 season, he curated his own residency.

His recordings include two versions of Handel’s Messiah, Handel’s Chandos Anthems , Handel’s Flavio with The Early Opera Company and Christian Curnyn, Bach’s Easter Oratorio with Retrospect Ensemble, his debut solo recording Live at the Wigmore Hall with his own Ensemble Guadagni, a disc of Porpora Cantatas with Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo, an award winning disc of works for Guadagni for Hyperion and a disc of Handel arias with The King’s Consort for Vivat. 2014/15 saw the release of The Art of Melancholy, a recital of Dowland songs for Hyperion, Flow my tears, songs for lute, viol and voice on the Wigmore Live label and Arise my muse for which he received the Gramophone Recital Award.

He is the recipient of the 2010 Royal Philharmonic Young Artist of the Year Award, the 2012 & 2014 Gramophone Recital Award, the 2013 Critics’ Circle Awards for Exceptional Young Talent (Singer).

The orchestra was founded by Rudolf Barshai, a world-class violist and founding member of Borodin Quartet. Barshai engaged young music talents from Moscow and formed the first chamber orchestra in the USSR that fashioned the European tradition (specifically, Wilhelm Stross Chamber Orchestra from West Germany that had performed in Moscow in September 1955). Moscow Chamber Orchestra made its orchestral debut on 5 March, 1956 at Small Hall of Moscow Conservatory. The orchestra immediately won recognition from the public in Russia and abroad. Soon after this the Orchestra becomes integrated as part of Moscow Philharmonic Society.

“The chamber orchestra presents an amazing perfection of music and performance. Unity of history and contemporaneity is distinctive for musicians of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra: without distorting the text and spirit of early music, musicians make it modern and full of youth for our patrons,” – wrote Dmitri Shostakovich, who called the orchestra “the best chamber orchestra in the world.”

In 1950–1960 the Orchestra featured such famous violin players as Boris Shulgin (MCO first violinist ), Lev Markiz, Vladimir Rabei, Andrei Abramenkov (violin), Heinrich Talalyan (viola), Alla Vasilieva and Boris Dobrohotov (cello), Leopold Andreyev (bass), Alexandr Korneyev and Naum Zaidel (flute), Albert Zajonc (oboe), Boris Afanasiev (French horn), Sergei Dijur (organ and harpsichord) who performed in the orchestra under the baton of Rudolf Barshai.

Aside from performing and recording numerous pieces of European Baroque music, Russian and Western classical music, works by international composers of the 20th century (some of compositions were first performed in the USSR), the Orchestra actively promoted music of contemporary Soviet composers: Nikolai Rakov, Yuri Levitin, Georgi Sviridov, Kara Karaev, Mieczysław Weinberg, Alexandr Lokshin, German Galynin, Revol Bunin, Boris Tchaikovsky, Edison Denisov, Vytautas Barkauskas, Jaan Rääts, Alfred Schnittke and others. Many of them composed music specifically for Moscow Chamber Orchestra. For example, Dmitri Shostakovich dedicated his 14th Symphony to MCO, its kickoff performed by the Orchestra lead by Rudolf Barshai on 29 September, 1969 in Leningrad.

Following Barshai's emigration in 1976 the Orchestra was successively lead and conducted by Igor Bezrodny (1977–1981), Eugeny Nepalo (1981–1983), Viktor Tretyakov (1983–1990), Andrey Korsakov (1990–1991) and Konstantin Orbelyan (1991– 2009). In 1983 MCO was rebranded as State Chamber Orchestra of the USSR; and since 1994 the ensemble has boasted the title of an “academic orchestra”.

Today SCO is one of the top chamber orchestras in Russia. Its extensive repertoire features pieces from all music periods and styles. The orchestra has performed in Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Japan, Republic of South Africa, Scandinavia and Southeast Asia. MCO performed on prestigious stages such as Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Schauspielhaus in Berlin, Queen Elisabeth Hall in London, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Carnegie Hall in NYC, Davis Hall in San Francisco, and Suntori Hall in Tokyo. Musicians represented Russia at the landmark United Nations 50th Anniversary Celebration Concert in 1995 and at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1998.

For over 60 years the Orchestra has performed with spectacular guest artists such as: Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Lev Oborin, Maria Grinberg, Nikolai Petrov, Vladimir Krainev, Vladimir Viardo, Eliso Virsaladze, Mikhail Pletnev, Boris Berezovsky, Freddy Kempf, John Lill, Stefan Vladar, Christian Zacharias, Igor Chetuev, Lucas Debargue (piano); David Oistrakh, Igor Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin, Leonid Kogan, Oleg Kagan, Vladimir Spivakov, Viktor Tretyakov, Igor Gringoltz, Boris Garlitsky, Andres Mustonen and Jean-Christophe Spinosi (violin); Yuri Bashmet (viola); Mstislav Rostropovitch, Natalia Gutman, Boris Pergamenschikow, Gaspar Cassado, Antonio Meneses and Alexandr Kniazev (cello); Weites Land Olga Erdeli (harp); Nina Dorliak, Zara Dolukhanova, Irina Arkhipova, Eugeny Nesterenko, Galina Pisarenko, Alexandr Vedernikov, Makvala Kasrashvili, Nikolai Gedda, Renee Fleming, Inga Kalna, Sandrin Piau, Vivica Genaux, Roberto Alagna and Dmitri Hvorostovski (vocals); Jean-Pierre Rampal, Patrick Gallois and Sir James Galway (flute); Federico Mondelci (saxophone); Timofei Dokschitzer (trumpet) and numerous other top-notch soloists and conductors.

The Orchestra has released an impressive collection of radio and CD recordings covering a wide repertoire ranging from early music arias and Baroque music to works by Russian and international composers of the 20th century. The recordings were released under Melodia, Chandos, Philips, Delos and other leading world music labels.

In January 2010 Alexey Utkin, a world's renowned oboist and conductor, was appointed as SCO Art Director and Chief Conductor. Under his guidance and leadership the Orchestra has been significantly revamped and revitalized. Its style and genre range got drastically expanded. SCO poster billboards show a marriage of Bach's St Matthew Passion, masses by Haydn and Vivaldi, symphonies and concertos by Mozart and Boccherini, Led Zeppelin covers, world music hits and movie soundtracks. Orchestra and its leader's insights and creative exploits have metamorphosed into series of music projects in the recent years, which boldly mingle diverse music art periods, styles and trends. In 2011 and 2015 SCO lead by Mr. Utkin backed up the participants of the 2nd round of the International Tchaikovsky Competitions (piano category). In 2021 State Chamber Orchestra, in addition to customary performances and subscription concerts, took part in “George Frederic Handel: Earthly World & Heavenly World” festival with the concert performances of Handel’s Rodelinda, Tamerlano and Giulio Cesare under Christopher Moulds’ baton.

SCO's season performances feature Alexey Utkin, Philipp Chizhevsky, Yekaterina Antonenko, Konstantin Emelyanov, Philipp Kopachevsky, Fyodor Beznosikov, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Alexander Fiseisky, Daniel Kogan, Alexander Ramm, to name a few.

Laurence Cummings is one of Britain's most exciting and versatile exponents of historical performance both as a conductor and a harpsichord player. He was an organ scholar at Christ Church Oxford where he graduated with first class honours. Until 2012 he was Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Academy of Music which led to both baroque and classical orchestras forming part of the established curriculum. He is now the William Crotch Professor of Historical Performance. He was Musical Director of the Tilford Bach Society. Since 1999 he has been Artistic Director of the London Handel Festival where performances have included productions of Deborah, Athalia, Esther, Agrippina, Sorsame, Alexander Balus, Hercules, Samson, Ezio, Riccardo Primo and Tolomeo. In 2012 he became Artistic Director of the Internationale Händel-Festpiele Göttingen. He is also a regular guest at Casa da Musica in Porto where he is Music Director of the Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música.

Other opera productions he has conducted include Radamisto, L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Semele, Messiah, Orfeo and Indian Queen for English National Opera, L’Incoronazione di Poppea for Opera North, Giulio Cesare, Fairy Queen for Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Saul for Glyndebourne on Tour, Gluck’s Orpheus & Eurydike, Giulio Cesare and Alcina at Gothenburg Opera, King Arthur and SALE for Opernhaus Zurich, Messiah at the Opera de Lyon, Vivaldi’s L’Incoronazione di Dario, L’Olympiade and La Verita in Cimento for Garsington Opera, Ariodante and Tolomeo for English Touring Opera, Rodelinda for Opera Theatre Company in the UK, Ireland and New York, Alceste at the Linbury Theatre Covent Garden as part of the London Bach Festival, Francisco António de Almeida’s La Spinalba and La Giuditta in Porto, L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Dardanus at the Royal Academy of Music. He made his US debut conducting Orfeo with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston. 

He regularly conducts the English Concert and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, both in the UK and on tour. 

He also works with the Hallé, Bournemouth Symphony, Britten Sinfonia, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Academy of Music Baroque Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society (Boston), St Paul Chamber Orchestra (Minnesota), Wiener Akademie, Musikcollegium Winterthur, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony and Basel Chamber Orchestra.

His numerous recordings include the first recording of Handel’s newly discovered Gloria with Emma Kirkby and the Royal Academy of Music on BIS and recital discs of solo harpsichord music (including music by Louis and Francois Couperin) for Naxos. A solo disc of Handel arias with Angelika Kirschlager and the Basel Chamber Orchestra on Sony BMG was followed up by a recording of duets with Lawrence Zazzo and Nuria Rial, also with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. He conducts the English Concert and recorder player Maurice Steger in a disc of Corelli concertos for Harmonia Mundi. 

Current engagements include Idomeneo for Göteborg Opera as well as collaborations with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Musikcollegium Winterthur, Ulster Symphony, RSNO and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony and National Symphony orchestras in the US together with his commitments at Casa da Musica in Porto and the London and Göttingen Handel Festivals.