The Stars of the XXI Century

One of the greatest artists of his generation, Sergey Antonov was born in 1983 into a family of cellists. His parents guided his first years, especially his mother, Maria Zhuravleva, a leading cello pedagogue at the prestigious Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory. His father, Boris, was a gifted cellist and a member of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Fedoseyev.

Sergey graduated from the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with Natalia Schakhovskaya and chamber music with Alexander Bonduryansky. Since 2006, Antonov has been studying with Terry King and is currently enrolled at the Longy School of Music in Boston.

A great influence on the cellist was his work with the late Mstislav Rostropovich. Sergey was a frequent participant in his master classes at the Moscow Conservatory, which led to the maestro's invitation to join him on tours of Europe and Russia.

In June 2007, Sergey Antonov won the prestigious Gold Medal at the XIII International Tchaikovsky Competition, one of the youngest cellists to win the prize ever. In addition, the Toyota Corporation awarded Antonov promotional sponsorship and a Special Prize: Favorite Artist in the Cello Division. Another award to the cellist was an offer from the Moscow Philharmonic: a five-year soloist contract over Russia with Moscow State Philharmonic Society Artists management.

Sergey has triumphed in many competitions including first prizes at the Swedish Duo Competition, the International Chamber Music Competition of the Chamber Music Foundation of New England the National ASTA Competition in Detroit (2007). He also has won top prizes in the Dotzauer and David Popper Competitions.

Sergey was embark upon a 15-concert tour of Japan, China and Korea in January/February 2008, culminating with performances of the Brahms Double Concerto in Moscow's Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. Other performances include appearances with the Petrozavodsk Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Russian National orchestra under Maestro Pletnev, Symphony Orchestra of Rome as well as chamber music collaborations with the Lyrica Chamber Music Series as their "Young Artist of the Year", and the Chamber Music Foundation of New England. Other engagements include solo recitals in Italy, Bordeaux Music Festival in France and Newport Music Festival in Rhode Island.

Antonov has appeared with the Moscow, St Petersburg, and Budapest Philharmonic Orchestras, the Philharmonia Di Nation (Italy and Spain) as well as numerous other orchestras in the Russian Federation. He has performed solo and chamber music recitals in Moscow, Boston, New York, Paris, Stockholm, Budapest, Gdansk and many other cities in Russia, Europe and the United States.

A soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic and a prize-winner at international competitions, the young pianist Philipp Kopachevsky had won tremendous audience admiration and acclaim by the age of twenty-three. He regularly appears in recital in Great Britain, Germany, the USA, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Greece, Poland and Spain as well as throughout Russia. Kopachevsky has won particular popularity in Japan, where especially for NHK TV he recorded a disc of piano music by Chopin. 

Philipp Kopachevsky was born in Moscow in 1990. He graduated from the Central School of Music of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. He is currently a student at the Moscow Conservatoire (class of Professor Sergei Dorensky). He has been a prize-winner at eight prestigious international competitions, among them the Х International Franz Schubert Piano Competition (Germany).

The musician has performed with the world’s great orchestras, among them English Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre in Moscow, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Moscow State Academic Symphony Orchestra, Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra, Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra and the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg Philharmonic. He has collaborated with such illustrious conductors as Mstislav Rostropovich, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov, Mikhail Pletnev, Yevgeny Kolobov, Yuri Simonov, Alexander Dmitriev, Andrew Gourlay, William Noll, Bjarte Engeset, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Yevgeny Bushkov, Maxim Vengerov, Paul Watkins, Jan Latham-Koenig, Dorian Wilson and Dmitry Liss among others. 

Philipp Kopachevsky has appeared at numerous international festivals, such as the Andrei Sakharov Festival (Nizhny Novgorod), the Vera Lotar-Shevchenko Memorial Competition (Novosibirsk), the Steinway Festival, the Miami Piano Festival, the Arts Naples World Festival (USA), the Colmar International Festival (France), the Mstislav Rostropovich Memorial Festival (Baku), the Baltic Seasons festival (Kaliningrad), Vladimir Spivakov Invites, Stars on Baikal, Crescendo and Denis Matsuev Invites among numerous others. 

Philipp Kopachevsky performed at the world premiere of choreographer Benjamin Millepied’s ballet Without at the Mariinsky Theatre. He is involved in the Moscow State Philharmonic’s project Stars of the 21st Century. Previous engagements include concerts at the Moscow Conservatoire and the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and appearances with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia under Jan Latham-Koenig, the State Academic Symphony Cappella of Russia under Philipp Chizhevsky and the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra under Terje Mikkelsen.

The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia (NPR) was founded in January 2003 by the Ministry of Culture. The Orchestra united top orchestra musicians and gifted youth. During the years of its activities, the NPR has succeeded in becoming one of the best symphonic orchestras of Russia and in gaining admiration from the audience and recognition from the professionals. 

The Orchestra is headed by Vladimir Spivakov, a world-known violinist and conductor. 

The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia has been collaborated prominent conductors such as Michel Plasson, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Krzysztof Penderecki, James Conlon, Okko Kamu, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Alexander Lazarev, John Nelson, Jan Latham-Koenig, Alexander Vedernikov, Tugan Sokhiev, Ken-David Masur, Simon Gaudenz, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Alexander Soloviev, Gabriel Bebeşelea, Pierre Bleuse and others.

The NPR has performed with many outstanding artists, such as Jessye Norman, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Renee Fleming, Juan Diego Florez, Matthias Goerne, Waltraud Meier, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Marcelo Alvarez, Ramon Vargas, Violeta Urmana, Anna Netrebko, Ildar Abdrazakov, Gidon Kremer, Gil Shaham, Natalia Gutman, Alexander Knyazev, Arkady Volodos, Evgeny Kissin, Vadim Repin, Martha Argerich, Boris Berezovsky, Kun Woo-Paik, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Viktoria Mullova and others. 

Among many artists who have worked with the NPR on a regular basis are John Lill, Denis Matsuev, Nikoly Lugansky, Vadim Gluzman, Hibla Gerzmava, Albina Shagimuratova, Anna Aglatova, Vasily Ladyuk, Dmitry Korchak, Nikolay Tokarev, Alexander Romanovsky, Sergey Dogadin, David Garrett, Alexander Ramm. 

The NPR’s repertoire covers the period from early classical symphonies to the newest works of modern composers. In the course of eleven years the Orchestra has presented many exceptional projects, world premieres, unique transcription series and concert cycles. 

In accordance with its status and name, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia gives concerts not only in Moscow, but in various regions of Russia as well. The NPR ends up each season with a tour in Russia. Every year the NPR takes part in the International Music Festival in Colmar, France. The Orchestra has toured extensively over the CIS countries and the Baltic countries, in Europe, the USA, China and Japan. 

In May 2005 the Capriccio Recording Company released CD and DVD of Isaak Schwartz’s Concert for Orchestra, titled Yellow Stars, recorded by the NPR under the baton of Vladimir Spivakov to whom the composer dedicated the work. In 2010–2016 Sony Classical released several NPR’s CDs with music of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Grieg etc. In 2014–2021, a number of recordings of Russian music were released under the Spivakov Sound label, including Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky, a triple album with works by Tchaikovsky (Symphonies No. 4-6, Italian Capriccio, Romeo and Juliet); The Bells and The Spring by Rachmaninoff, as well as his complete piano concertos (with Alexander Romanovsky); the albums Holy Russia (sacred works by Rachmaninoff and Taneyev), Magic in Music and Masterpieces of Russian Music (Lyadov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Scriabin). It is planned to release three Rachmaninoff's symphonies for the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth.

Jan Latham-Koenig was born in 1953 in England. He was educated at the Royal College of Music in London, where he won numerous prizes as conductor and pianist. Since 1981 he has concentrated on conducting, and conducted most of the major English orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, and all the BBC ensembles as well as his own Koenig Ensemble, which he founded in 1976.

 Jan Latham-Koenig is frequently employed as guest conductor by leading international orchestras all over the world. His great interest in opera has taken him to the Vienna State Opera, the English National Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, La Fenice (Venice), Deutsche Oper, Berlin, the opera in Verona, the Danish Royal Theatre, and to the opera in Rome, where he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor. To this may be added opera festivals and radio transmissions for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, West Deutsche Rundfunk and others. Jan Latham-Koenig's recordings include a Weill cycle comprising, Mahagonny, Der Zar läst sich photographieren, Der Lindberghflug, Magna Carta, Der Silbersee, Happy End and Der Kuhhandel (Capriccio), William Walton's violin and viola concertos and Facade Suites (Chandos), Donizetti's Poliuto and Elisabetta al castello de Kenilworth, Catalani's Dejanice, Henze's La cubana and Leoncavallo's La Bohème.