Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra，Russia

The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra (originally the Grand Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio and Central Television) was founded in 1930 as the first symphony orchestra of the Soviet Union. It has repeatedly proved its right to be one of the world’s best orchestras — the right won by its history, meticulous work behind microphones and busy concert schedule.

The high reputation the orchestra established across the world is a result of fruitful cooperation with remarkable Russian conductors Alexander Orlov, Nikolai Golovanov, Alexander Gauk and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Nikolai Myaskovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Aram Khachaturian, Georgy Sviridov, Dmitri Shostakovich and Boris Tchaikovsky trusted the premieres of their works to the orchestra’s care. Vladimir Fedoseyev has been an unchallenged artistic director and chief conductor of the orchestra since 1974.

The orchestra’s chronicle can boast the names of conductors Leopold Stokovsky, Hermann Abendroth, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Evgeny Mravinsky and Carlo Zecchi, soloists of the past Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, Antonina Nezhdanova, Sergei Lemeshev, Irina Arkhipova, Luciano Pavarotti and Nicolai Ghiaurov, and contemporary performers Viktor Tretiakov, Pinchas Zukerman, Yuri Bashmet, Oleg Maisenberg, Elisabeth Leonskaja and Alexander Knyazev. Vladimir Fedoseyev and TSO introduced Evgeny Kissin, Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin to the world. Today, the orchestra continues to collaborate with the best soloists from different countries.

In 1993, the orchestra was named after the great Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for the genuine and deep interpretations of his works.

Recordings of the orchestra’s immense repertoire spanning from Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Mahler to contemporary music have been released on Sony, Pony Canyon, JVC, Philips, Relief, Warner Classics & Jazz and Melodiya.

The list of countries where the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra has performed reflects almost the entire map of the world. However, the performances in the cities of Russia remain the most important area of TSO’s activities — Smolensk, Volgograd, Cherepovets, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Sarov, Perm, Veliky Novgorod, Tyumen, Ekaterinburg, Stavropol, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Tula, Zaraisk and Klin to name but a few. The orchestra’s repertoire includes monographic cycles, projects for children, charity events and concerts combining music with declamation. Along with performances at the world’s best known venues, TSO continues its outreach activities hosting recitals at the Tretyakov Gallery and Lomonosov Moscow State University.

“The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra is definitely rated among the very best orchestras I have ever happened to hear. Their performance is known for absolutely inimitable sound and unique melodious flavour. This melodiousness, along with lustre and technically impeccable performance, is the collective’s most valuable quality that constitutes, in my opinion, its artistic originality,” Georgy Sviridov said.

“The composers of this country owe a special debt of gratitude to the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra which was the first to perform many of our works and so deeply interpret the scores by Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, Gliere, Khachaturian, Kabalevsky, Shaporin, Babajanian, Peiko, Kara Karayev and many other composers,” Dmitri Shostakovich noted.

TSO was one the breakers of the once popular stereotypical opinion of Russian orchestras stating that they were arguably allowed to play only Russian music when they performed in the western countries. The collective performed Beethoven’s music with a great success in the composer’s hometown Bonn, as well as in Vienna, becoming the first of the Russian orchestras to be a regular guest at the legendary Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein. As Dr Thomas Angyan, the intendant of Musikverein noted, “Great art in all times lived thanks to the great creators. They give new development impulses to art, and they are guarantors of the fact that music will win again, that it’s beyond time and will stay popular in such away. Vladimir Fedoseyev, the artistic director of the Tchaikovsky symphony orchestra, is one of such creators.”

Conductor: Thomas Sanderling

Chief conductor of the Novosibirsk
Philharmonic Orchestra ( since 2017 )

Thomas Sanderling grew up in St Petersburg, where his father, the celebrated conductor Kurt Sanderling, was permanent conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He graduated from the Music School of the Leningrad Conservatory and went on to study conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in East Berlin, becoming Music Director of the Halle Opera at 24 years old. By his mid-twenties he was conducting in all East Germany's principal orchestras and opera houses, including the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Leipzig Gewandhaus and won the Berlin Critic's Prize for his opera performances at the Komische Oper Berlin. His CD of Shostakovich's Michelangelo Suite (premiere recording) directly lead to his becoming assistant to both Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein. In the early 1980s he became permanent guest conductor of the Deutsche Staatsoper Unter Den Linden, which led to his successful debut at the Wiener Staatsoper, conducting Die Zauberflöte. Immediately afterwards the Wiener Staatsoper invited him to conduct Le Nozze di Figaro - the first performance after the death of the great Karl Böhm. He has won many prizes, competitions and is particularly renowned for the German, Russian and French orchestral repertory.

Among the orchestras he has conducted are:

BBC Scottish; Baltimore Symphony; Bayerische Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra; Bergen Philharmonic; Bournemouth Symphony; Czech Philharmonic; Dallas Symphony; Dresden Staatskapelle; Dresden Philharmonic; Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig; Halle Orchestra UK; Helsinki Philharmonic; Konzerthausorchester Berlin: London Philharmonic; Montreal Symphony; NDR Hamburg Symphony Orchestra; Oslo Philharmonic; Philharmonia Orchestra; Pittsburg Symphony; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Royal Philharmonic; Radio Philharmonic Hilversum; Royal Stockholm; St Petersburg Philharmonic; Tchaikowsky Radio Symphony, Moscow; Vancouver Symphony; WDR Symphony Cologne.

He is also a regular guest conductor of radio orchestras in Germany as well as principal guest conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia. Further, the Osaka Symphony awarded him the title of Music Director Laureate for his Lifetime. With this Orchestra he won the Grand Prix of the Osaka Critics twice in three years.

Review

"Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio…still sounds as deep and rich as it did when I last heard it live nearly 30 years ago."

- The Arts Desk