Moscow State Radio Symphony brings taste of Russia to GMU

Following the European tradition, the orchestra has had no permanent conductor since its founding in 1978. The music director and the genius behind the remarkable ensemble is Anatoly Nemudrov. Unlike the excellent NBC and CBS studio orchestras that no longer exist in this country, the radio orchestras flourish throughout Europe. Nemudrov attributes this to the presence of many talented young and new musicians, together with new compositions being written.

“The direction for the MSRSO is to provide information about everything new in the classical music world,” he said. “I offer special educational programs where I explain the music and talk about the composers, and the orchestra plays the work. An important part of my work is to introduce composers from other countries, not just Russians.

“In Moscow and wherever I go, I listen to conductors and know how they work. When I put a program together, I then choose a conductor who will be suitable to work with me on that program and invite him to work with the orchestra.”

For this coast-to-coast American tour, he invited Alexei Kornienko to conduct. A pianist and conductor with expertise in classical and romantic repertoire, Kornienko graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and was appointed last year as chief conductor of Bulgaria’s National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonie.

Other featured guests are Russian pianist Alexander Sinchuk, the first-prize winner of the 2009 International Rachmaninov Piano Competition, and American cellist Julian Schwarz, son of Seattle Symphony Music Director Gerard Schwarz and winner of the 2007 and 2008 Northwest Sinfonietta Youth Concerto Competition.

The orchestra receives some financial support from its government, but primarily its supports itself through recordings, concerts and tours. When not touring, it performs in several halls in Moscow, among them the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the Moscow Philharmonic Hall. All the orchestra’s programs, including the “Voice of Russia,” are prerecorded and broadcast throughout Russia at different times of day to reach everyone.

The MSRSO records frequently, both the classic Russian and European works and brilliant new ones. Nemudrov said he is excited about his most recent double CD incorporating symphonies by modern Spanish, Latin American and Russian composers Pedro Vilarroig, Eddie Mora and Andrei Petrov. He will follow it with a recording of Russian composer Mikhail Kolontay’s newest symphony.

During the six years since Nemudrov planned the United States tour, he discovered pianist Alexander Sinchuk, a young and talented artist with bright prospects, and invited him to join the orchestra on the tour.

“I would like the American audiences to remember a great evening of Russian music brought to them by a wonderful orchestra with the great Maestro Kornienko and our delightful young soloists, Alexander Sinchuk and Julian Schwarz,” he said. “My greatest joy is to bring to the American people the music of the great Russian composers.”