Founded in 1934 as an institution at the Mussorgsky Conservatory in Yekaterinburg, the student orchestra is one of the oldest of its kind in all of Russia. Its first chief conductor was the legendary Mark I. Paverman (1907-93), whose activism led to the founding of many an orchestra during that era. Since 2011 the conductor Anton Shaburov has been at the helm of the orchestra, which includes roughly 85 students. The goal is to introduce the players to a broad range of repertoire, which ranges from the classical works of Haydn and Mozart to Russian “classics” by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich to Dvořák, Wagner and Alfred Schnittke. The Symphony Orchestra of the Mussorgsky Conservatory Ural makes its Young Euro Classic debut with this concert in 2016.
Konzerthaus, Berlin
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Director General of the Department of Culture and Communication
© Auswärtiges Amt
Not a classical diplomatic career: today’s Director General of the Department of Culture and Communication at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Andreas Görgen, completed a law degree and then began working at the theatre company Berliner Ensemble in 1996. For many years, he crossed borders between France and Germany, between culture and industry. After having been awarded a scholarship to the French National School of Administration, he joined the public sector in Germany to work on the public aid scheme for film financing. He then became an advisor within the Directorate General for European Affairs to the German Chancellor and advisor to the minister of Foreign Affairs. Given his experience and skill at negotiation in a complex international environment, leading positions in the energy sector at Siemens France followed in 2009 and 2011, before he returned to Minister Steinmeier’s team again in 2014.
The Russian conductor Anton Shaburov, born in Yekaterinburg in 1983, graduated from the Mussorgsky Conservatory in his hometown in 2008 with a conducting degree, going on to study at the State Conservatory in Moscow under Gennady Roshdestvensky. In 2013 Shaburov won the Ilya Musin Conducting Competition and one year later the competition in Budapest. As early as 2009 he took on the position of chief conductor of the Globalis Symphony Orchestra in Moscow; he added the Symphony Orchestra of the Mussorgsky Conservatory in Yekaterinburg to his portfolio in 2011. In the meantime, Shaburov looks back on 40 different concert programmes, with no lack of world premieres between them. In addition, he has conducted opera productions such as Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Orff’s Die Kluge, as well as Mavra and The Nightingale by Stravinsky.
The Russian violist Alexander Mitinsky, born in 1984, received his first violin lessons at the famous Gnessin Music School in his native city of Moscow. After graduating with success, the 16-year-old transferred to the Gnessin Music Academy, where he studied viola with Eugen Stoklitskaya, Yuri Yurov and the principal violist of the Rudolf Barshai Chamber Orchestra, Vyacheslav Trushin. His repertoire includes works from the baroque period to contemporary music. Mitinsky has performed with numerous orchestras, string quartets and chamber music ensembles; his musical partners have included Michail Pletnev, Justus Frantz, Julian Rachlin and Misha Maisky. Since 2010 the violist has also given master classes in Italy, Canada and the USA.
Concert Fantasy “A Night on Bald Mountain” Op. posth. (1867)
"Chorale Postlude“ for Viola and Orchestra, in memoriam Rudolf Barshai (World Premiere)
“Russian Easter” Op. 36 (1888)
Symphony No. 6 in B-Minor Op. 74 “Pathétique” (1893)
7 pm: Pre-concert Lecture with Anne Kussmaul in the Werner-Otto-Saal
Free for ticket holders (admission at 6:45 pm)
PROGRAMME
A hit, a masterwork, a rarity and a novelty: this promising mixture awaits the audience at the concert by the Symphony Orchestra of the Mussorgsky Conservatory Ural, which travels to Berlin from Yekaterinburg in Central Russia. Unsurprisingly, all the works are by Russian composers. The evening opens with Mussorgsky’s dark, even satanic orchestral piece A Night on Bald Mountain, and then veers towards the religious in Yuri Abdokov’s world premiere. The new work with the title Chorale Postlude is dedicated to the memory of the great Russian violist Rudolf Barshai. And Rimsky-Korsakov was inspired by melodies of the Russian-Orthodox Easter liturgy to write his stirring overture Russian Easter Festival. All that is missing is the hit after the interval: Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, the “Pathétique” – a rousing, soulful portrait that could hardly be more Russian!
Broadcast
This concert will be broadcast via live stream on ARTE Concert and will be available online for 30 days. A production by EuroArts Music and ZDF in cooperation with ARTE.