- Salvatore Accardo
- Martha Argerich
- Leonora Armellini
- Luis Bacalov
- Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists
- Mario Brunello
- Kathia Buniatishvili
- Lyric Singers of the "Accademia del Teatro alla Scala"
- Massimilano Caldi
- Cuarteto Casals
- Umberto Clerici
- Pietro De Maria
- Giedre Dirvanauskaite
- Filippo Gamba
- Nelson Goerner
- Eduardo Hubert
- Chikara Iwamura
- David Kadouch
- Gidon Kremer
- Alexander Lonquich & Cristina Barbuti
- Andrea Lucchesini
- Claudio Martinez Mehner
- Vera Martinez Mehner
- Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto
- Antti Siirala
- Grigory Sokolov
- Eriko Sumi
- Jeffrey Swann
- Uto Ughi
- Krystian Zimerman
- World Youth Orchestra
Yuri Bashmet
Yuri Bashmet developed a highly successful international career as a violist, but then, like so many talented instrumentalists of his generation, branched out into conducting, even founding an orchestra. He has never abandoned the viola, managing to split his time in even portions between soloist and conductor, often appearing in both roles in the same concert. He has performed with the world's leading orchestras, including those in Moscow, Berlin, Paris, New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and many other locales. He has also collaborated as soloist and conductor with some of the most celebrated string players of his time, including Rostropovich, Stern, Kremer, Mutter, and Mintz, as well as with keyboard legends like Richter and Argerich. For all his talent, Bashmet has been surrounded by controversy in the latter half of his career, owing to last-minute cancellations and sudden changes in concert programs. Yet he remains arguably the leading violist of his time and a powerful champion of contemporary music: indeed, a spate of major composers wrote works for him, including Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina, Giya Kancheli, Poul Ruders, John Taverner, and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Bashmet has made numerous recordings for a variety of mostly major labels, including Melodiya, DG, EMI, RCA, Sony, Onyx, and Toccata Classics.
Yuri Bashmet was born on January 24, 1953, in the Ukrainian city of Rostov-on-Don. He studied piano, then violin in his childhood. At 14 he took up the viola while also dabbling in rock music as a guitarist. He studied viola at the Moscow Conservatory with Vadim Borisovsky and Fedor Druzhinin.
After a second-prize finish at the 1975 Budapest International Competition, he captured first prize the following year at the Munich ARD Competition. In the wake of his victory, Bashmet became an international star, despite initial sanctions against travel abroad by Soviet authorities.
Bashmet took up conducting in 1985 and the following year founded the Moscow Soloists, a chamber orchestra that quickly developed a wide following. In 1992 he re-founded the ensemble when the original members decided to set their base of operations in France. In 1996 Bashmet became a professor of music at Moscow Conservatory, where he had taught since 1978.
Bashmet was appointed music director and chief conductor of the Russian Symphony Orchestra ("New Russia") in 2002. Among Bashmet's recordings is the 2008 Onyx CD of short works for viola and piano by Marais, Benda, Rameau, Brahms, and Prokofiev.
The Moscow Soloists
Conductor and soloist: M° Yuri Bashmet
First violins: Stepan Yakovich, Andrei Poskrobko, Artem Dyrul, Irina Shevliakova, Olga Kolgatina
Second violins: Sergey Lomovsky, Leonid Ferents, , Maxim Gurevich, German Beshulya
Viola: Vitaly Astakhov, Nina Matcharadze, Roman Balashov, Alexander Ilatovsky, Andrey Usov
Cello: Alexei Naidenov, Alexei Tolstov, Nikolay Solonovich
Double-bass: Maxim Khlopiev
Piano and harpsichord: Mikhail Muntian
Oboe: Erik Chalobaev, Grigori Kats
Horn: Philipp Korolkov, Dmitry Kouznetsov
In addition to his solo work, Bashmet has toured the world with his own chamber orchestra, the Moscow Soloists.
A fierce defender of the Russian educational system with regard to music, which he sees as more rigorous than in the west, his commitment to his students after college has been such that he has twice formed a group called the Moscow Soloists. The first group lasted for seven years. Then, almost as soon as it had disbanded ("divorced" is Bashmet's term), Richter's wife persuaded him that the fresh crop of young musicians needed him. Now the "new" Moscow Soloists is more than ten years old, with the same personnel as when it started.
Bashmet's enthusiasm for his players remains undiminished:
This orchestra has a very specific sound, a different sound - with a unique colour.
As in the zeal with which Bashmet encourages a new repertoire for his instrument in his solo career, he is keen to expand the repertoire for the string orchestra, not only with brand new music for the string ensemble to play, but also by rediscovering old music.
The orchestra enjoys a rewarding collaboration with record label Onyx - their first disc, of music by Shostakovich, Sviridov and Vainberg was greeted with acclaim. Their second disc, of music by Stravinsky and Prokofiev is now available, with a third in planning.
The orchestra maintains an extremely busy concert and touring schedule all over the world - recent tours have been to the Far East and the US, as well as numerous appearances in concert halls and at festivals throughout Europe.
Yuri Bashmet was born on January 24, 1953, in the Ukrainian city of Rostov-on-Don. He studied piano, then violin in his childhood. At 14 he took up the viola while also dabbling in rock music as a guitarist. He studied viola at the Moscow Conservatory with Vadim Borisovsky and Fedor Druzhinin.
After a second-prize finish at the 1975 Budapest International Competition, he captured first prize the following year at the Munich ARD Competition. In the wake of his victory, Bashmet became an international star, despite initial sanctions against travel abroad by Soviet authorities.
Bashmet took up conducting in 1985 and the following year founded the Moscow Soloists, a chamber orchestra that quickly developed a wide following. In 1992 he re-founded the ensemble when the original members decided to set their base of operations in France. In 1996 Bashmet became a professor of music at Moscow Conservatory, where he had taught since 1978.
Bashmet was appointed music director and chief conductor of the Russian Symphony Orchestra ("New Russia") in 2002. Among Bashmet's recordings is the 2008 Onyx CD of short works for viola and piano by Marais, Benda, Rameau, Brahms, and Prokofiev.
The Moscow Soloists
Conductor and soloist: M° Yuri Bashmet
First violins: Stepan Yakovich, Andrei Poskrobko, Artem Dyrul, Irina Shevliakova, Olga Kolgatina
Second violins: Sergey Lomovsky, Leonid Ferents, , Maxim Gurevich, German Beshulya
Viola: Vitaly Astakhov, Nina Matcharadze, Roman Balashov, Alexander Ilatovsky, Andrey Usov
Cello: Alexei Naidenov, Alexei Tolstov, Nikolay Solonovich
Double-bass: Maxim Khlopiev
Piano and harpsichord: Mikhail Muntian
Oboe: Erik Chalobaev, Grigori Kats
Horn: Philipp Korolkov, Dmitry Kouznetsov
In addition to his solo work, Bashmet has toured the world with his own chamber orchestra, the Moscow Soloists.
A fierce defender of the Russian educational system with regard to music, which he sees as more rigorous than in the west, his commitment to his students after college has been such that he has twice formed a group called the Moscow Soloists. The first group lasted for seven years. Then, almost as soon as it had disbanded ("divorced" is Bashmet's term), Richter's wife persuaded him that the fresh crop of young musicians needed him. Now the "new" Moscow Soloists is more than ten years old, with the same personnel as when it started.
Bashmet's enthusiasm for his players remains undiminished:
This orchestra has a very specific sound, a different sound - with a unique colour.
As in the zeal with which Bashmet encourages a new repertoire for his instrument in his solo career, he is keen to expand the repertoire for the string orchestra, not only with brand new music for the string ensemble to play, but also by rediscovering old music.
The orchestra enjoys a rewarding collaboration with record label Onyx - their first disc, of music by Shostakovich, Sviridov and Vainberg was greeted with acclaim. Their second disc, of music by Stravinsky and Prokofiev is now available, with a third in planning.
The orchestra maintains an extremely busy concert and touring schedule all over the world - recent tours have been to the Far East and the US, as well as numerous appearances in concert halls and at festivals throughout Europe.