Sergey Poltavsky

Sergey Poltavsky is one of the greatest solo violists performing the viola d’amore and an outstanding chamber musician of the younger generation. In 2001 he entered the class of Roman Balashov at the Moscow Conservatoire, Viola Faculty of Yuri Bashmet. In 2003 he was a prize-winner at the International String Musicians’ Competition in Tolyatti. Having graduated with distinction from the conservatoire, in 2006 he became a prize-winner at the Yuri Bashmet Competition. 

Poltavsky has also appeared as a soloist with chamber ensembles at various festivals in Russia and abroad, among them Viola is My Life, December Nights, Ars Longa, Homecoming, VivaCello and the Vladimir Martynov Festival (Moscow), Diaghilev Festival (Perm), Music Days (Montenegro, Kaštel Novi), Novosadsko Muzičko Leto (Serbia) and Art November. <>

The musician’s circle of interests is incredibly broad and varied, ranging from baroque music for the viola d’amore to works by Vladimir Martynov, Georgs Pelēcis, Sergei Zagny, Pavel Karmanov, Dmitri Kourliandski and Boris Filanovsky. Poltavsky has worked with ensembles including the Academy of Early Music, Opus Posth and the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble. In November 2011 he took part in the Sofia Gubaidulina Festival at which he performed the Russian premiere of the piece Two Paths at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. 

Poltavsky has appeared with orchestras including The New Russia, the State Chamber Orchestra of Russia, the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Soloists, musicAeterna and The Seasons. In chamber ensembles, he has collaborated with Tatiana Grindenko, Vladimir Spivakov, Alexei Lyubimov, Alexei Goribol, Polina Osetinskaya, Maxim Rysanov, Julian Rachlin, Alena Baeva, Elena Revich, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Roman Mints, Boris Andrianov, Alexandre Bouzlov, Andrei Korobeinikov, Valentin Uryupin, Nikita Borisoglebsky, Gaik Kazazian, Alexander Trostyansky and Rodion Zamuruev among others.