12, 13, 14 July

Without doubt, one of the world’s greatest living musicians.
(The Times)

Graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, he subsequently became the youngest person ever to be appointed to a professorship at the Conservatory. In 1976 he won first prize at the International Viola Competition in Munich which launched his international career.

YURI BASHMET has been the first violist ever to give a solo recitals in a number of major concert halls, including La Scala in Milan and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has appeared with all the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Montreal, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, London’s Philharmonia and London Philharmonic Orchestras. He has preformed with Sv. Richter, N. Gutman, the Borodin Quartet, G. Kremer, Ms. Rostropovich, M. Vengerov. Yuri Bashmet has inspired many composers to write for him. He enjoyed an especially close and productive relationship with Alfred Schnittke whose Viola Concerto was premiered at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Other works written for Bashmet include Georgian composer Giya Kancheli’s Viola Concerto, premiered at the Berlin Festival, The Myrrh Bearer by John Tavener, and concerto by Paul Ruders. Bashmet also gave the world premiеre of Britten’s recently-edited Double Concerto for violin and viola with Gidon Kremer and the Hallе Orchestra under Kent Nagano in Manchester (1998). A year later he performed in the world premiеre of Kanceli’s Styx, playing the solo viola part, written especially for him. Mark-Anthony Turnage wrote a concerto for him, the world premiere of which took place in Cleveland in November 2002. Yuri Bashmet records exclusively for leading worlds companies as Deutsche Grammophon and Sony Classical. Many prestigious national and international awards have been the recognition of the high performing mastery of Yuri Bashmet, among them are Award 1993 for The Best Instrumentalist of the Year, London (equal to film Oscars); Sonnings Musicfond, Copenhagen 1995, which was awarded to musicians such as Stravinski, Britten, Menuhin, Shostakovich... One of the most acclaimed chamber ensembles in the world, made his debut in May 1992 in the Big Hall of Moscow Conservatoire and after two days - in Pleyel, Paris. Then Yuri Bashmet gathered the best graduates of the Moscow State Conservatoire together.

Since then the MOSCOW SOLOISTS ensemble has performed in such well-known concerts halls as Carnegie-Hall in New York, Albert-Hall and Barbican in London, Champs-Elysees Theatre in Paris, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Santory-hall in Tokyo. The ensemble has toured all over the world and has taken part in numerous significant musical festivals such as BBC Proms, the festivals in Evian, Montreux, Sydney, December Nights in Moscow, etc. As soloists of the ensemble have performed Sv. Richter, G. Kremer, M. Rostropovich, V. Tretyaikov, M. Vengerov, B. Hendrix, J. Galoway, L. Harrel, M. Brunello. In 1994 the ensemble recorded on CD for EMI the Triple Concerto by Schnittke with G. Kremer, M Rostropovich and Basmet. In 1998 their CD featuring works by Schostakovich and Brahms, recorded for Sony Classical, was nominated for the Grammy prize. The group has participated in different TV programs in Russia and abroad. Their concerts were broadcast several times or recorded by the leading world radio stations such as BBC, Bavarian Radio, Radio France, NHK in Japan, etc. The ensemble’s artistic biography includes over 800 concerts, (about 1600 hours of music). Their performances have been met by ovations in 40 countries on 5 continents. Over 185 chef-d’oeuvres of the world classical music and rarely performed works and many diverse and interesting premieres mark the orchestra’s repertoire. For the years of his artistic activity under the direction of Yuri Bashmet the young musicians have perfected their performing mastery and have achieved an excellent unanimity combined with the unique personality and talent of each musician.

ALEXANDER MELNIKOV has won a reputation as one of the finest Russian pianists of his generation. While still studying at school he became a prize-winner of several major international piano competitions (Schumann, Zwickau in 1989 and Queen Elisabeth, Brussels in 1991 among others) and began his international career shortly afterwards. He has performed with the Russian National Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic with Mikhail Pletnev, Leipzig Gewandhaus and Philadelphia Orchestra with Charles Dutoit, Rotterdam Philharmonic with Valery Gergiev, St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov. Melnikov appears regularly at the world’s leading concert halls and also at festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein, Neuhaus and Gstaad, etc. Chamber music plays an important part in Melnikov’s activities. Between 1993 and 2003 he performed extensively with Vadim Repin, and at present he is a part of a well-established duo with Isabelle Faust. He was featured as a BBC New Generation Artist from 2000 to 2002 and broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 in recital and chamber music as well as performing and recording with the BBC Orchestras. He has released several CDs met with great critical acclaim. Since 2002 Melnikov has taught piano at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

The world famous bayan player FRIEDRICH LIPS is a professor at the Gnessin (renamed today to Russian Music Academy) in Moscow. Since 1996, he has been director of the Folks Instrument Department. As interpreter, he has appeared in the world’s most important concert halls, such as the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Santory Hall in Tokyo, Lincoln Center in New York, etc., working with the most outstanding soloists among them G. Rozhdestvensky, Vl. Spivakov, G. Kremer, Y. Bashmet, V. Gergyev, Yo-Yo Ma.He has premiered more than 70 works. Many composers have written pieces especially for him, among others S. Baydulina, E. Denisov, K. Volkov, etc. He has over 100 recordings for the radio and more than 30 CDs released in Russia, USA, Japan, Austria, Germany, Sweden. His CD Seven Words, featuring music by S. Baydulina , won the CD of the Year prize in 1991 and was distinguished with the Diapason d’or award in Paris. Lips is the author of many articles and books, the best known among them is The Art of Bayan Playing. He is Art Director of Bayan and Bayanists International Festival in Moscow.