Moscow Chamber Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The Moscow Chamber Orchestra is a Chamber Orchestra based in Moscow, Russia, and assigned to the Moscow Philharmonia, a State-run enterprise, formerly under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture (Soviet Union)
Ministry of Culture (Soviet Union)
The Ministry of Culture of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , formed in 1936, was one of the most important government offices in the Soviet Union. It was formerly known as the State Committee on the Arts . The Ministry, at the all-Union level, was established in 1953, after existing as a...

 and now, Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation.

Founding, 1955

Rudolf Barshai
Rudolf Barshai
Rudolf Borisovich Barshai was a Soviet/Russian conductor and violist.Barshai was born in Stanitsa Lobinskaya, Krasnodar Krai, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Lev Tseitlin and Vadim Borisovsky. He performed as a soloist as well as together with Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, and...

  was a virtuoso viola player and a founding member of Borodin Quartet
Borodin Quartet
The Borodin Quartet is a string quartet that was founded in 1945 in the former Soviet Union. It is one of the world's longest lasting string quartets, marking its 60th anniversary season in 2005....

 and left the Quartet to pursue his conducting ambitions. He assembled young, talented musicians and soon, first Chamber Orchestra in the former USSR had their inaugural concert in the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...

 on April 2, 1956. The Orchestra became the most traveled Classical Music ensemble in the former Soviet Union and toured the world from Eastern Europe to Canada and the United States and from Japan to South America.
Many composers dedicated their compositions to the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, such as Dmitry Shostakovich, Revol Bunin
Revol Bunin
Revol Samoilovich Bunin , was a Russian composer.-Early life and education:Brunin's father, Samuil Markovich, was an old bolshevik, a member of the Communist Party from before the revolution and was a professor of social economics at one of the Moscow Institutes...

, Mieczysław Weinberg, Boris Tchaikovsky
Boris Tchaikovsky
Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky was a Soviet composer, born in Moscow, whose oeuvre includes orchestral works, chamber music and film music. He is considered as part of the second generation of Russian composers, following in the steps of Pyotr Tchaikovsky and especially Mussorgsky.He was admired...

 and many others. Moscow Chamber Orchestra performed many world-premiers of contemporary compositions, such as Dmitry Shostakovich's Symphony No.14
Symphony No. 14 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 14 by Dmitri Shostakovich was completed in the spring of 1969, and was premiered later that year. It is a sombre work for soprano, bass and a small string orchestra with percussion, consisting of eleven linked settings of poems by four authors. Most of the poems deal with the...

, in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...

, on September 29, 1969, being a prime example.
Many world-famous musicians performed and recorded with the Orchestra: Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...

, Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was a Soviet pianist well known for the depth of his interpretations, virtuoso technique, and vast repertoire. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Childhood:...

, David Oistrakh
David Oistrakh
David Fyodorovich Oistrakh , , David Fiodorović Ojstrakh, ; – October 24, 1974, was a Soviet violinist....

, Emil Gilels
Emil Gilels
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet pianist, widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.His last name is sometimes transliterated Hilels.-Biography:...

, Leonid Kogan, Malcolm Frager
Malcolm Frager
-Life and career:Frager was born in St. Louis, Missouri and studied with Carl Friedberg in New York City from 1949 until Friedberg's death in 1955. In 1957 he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University with a major in Russian...

, to name a few.
Following Barshai’s emigration to the West in 1977, Igor Semyonovich Bezrodny was appointed a new conductor and an artistic director of the Orchestra. He led the Orchestra until 1981. For the next 10 years Moscow Chamber Orchestra was led by Victor Tretiakov, then Andrei Korsakov.
Constantin Orbelian was appointed a new conductor in 1991; he was succeeded by Alexei Utkin , in 2010.

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