«To
“Masters of Choral Singing”: You are real Masters and it is pleasure to
work with a chorus of such quality!» — Christoph Eschenbach, conductor.
Grand choir was founded in 1928, its founder and first artistic
director was a master of choral art A.V.Sveshnikov. At various times, he
was guided by such great musicians as N.S.Golovanov, I.M.Kuvykin,
K.B.Ptitsa, L.V.Ermakova.
In 2005, the Grand Choir (known as the
«Masters of Choral Singing») for the post of artistic director was
invited by the People’s Artist of Russia, Professor Lev Kontorovich.
Under his leadership, the updated composition of the choir successfully
continues the traditions established by their predecessors. The name
itself — «Masters of Choral Singing» — determined the professionalism,
high level of performance, exceptional speed and versatility of the
team, where each artist can act as a member of the choir and as a
soloist.
For 85 years, the choir performed more than 5,000 works —
operas, oratorios, cantatas Russian and foreign composers, works
a’cappella, folk songs and sacred music. Many of them were the «golden
fund» of the national record, gained recognition abroad (Grand Prix
competition of recordings in Paris, the «Gold Medal» in Valencia). In
the performance of a large choir were first heard many choral works by
Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Shchedrin, Aram Khachaturian, O.Taktakishvili,
V.Agafonnikova, Yu.Evgrafova etc.
With a large choir at various
times such outstanding conductors as E.Svetlanov, M.Rostropovich,
V.Spivakov, D.Kitaenko, V.Fedoseev, H.Rilling, G.Rozhdestvensky,
A.Dzedda, E.Morrikone, V.Jurowski, M.Pletnev, K.Eshenbah; singers E.
Obraztsova, I.Arkhipov, N.Gedda, D.Hvorostovsky, A.Netrebko,
Z.Sotkilava, E.Nesterenko, R.Alanya, A.Georgiu, V.Ladyuk and many
others.
In 2008 and 2012 the Grand choir took part in the
inauguration ceremony of President of the Russian Federation Dmitry
Medvedev and Vladimir Putin.
Grand choir clapped their hands in
the major concert halls of Russia, Italy, France, Germany, Israel,
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Indonesia and
others held touring Grand choir for major cities of the Urals and
Siberia (Dmitri Hvorostovsky) and the Far East.
