Biography
The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra is the oldest orchestra in Russia and one of the world`s largest symphony orchestras. It was founded in 1776 when the Company, which put a start to the future Bolshoi Theatre, was formed. According to a decree of Catherine II, the opera orchestra was to incorporate 35 musicians.It was made up of serf musicians bought by the Treasury from their landowner-masters, of foreigners and other free people. The Orchestra took part in all the Theatre`s musical dramas and opera productions.Gradually its repertoire was expanded: following operas and ballets by Alyabiev, Verstovsky and Varlamov, the works of Glinka, later by Serov, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov were staged at the Bolshoi and played by its Orchestra.
From the 1830`s, the Orchestra began to give performances of well-known European operas by Mozart, Cherubini, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Weber, later by Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Gounod and Puccini.From the end of the 19th century, the Orchestra started to give symphony concerts and these were to play a major role in the development of its professional skills. The two years - 1904-1906 - that Rachmaninov was conductor of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra saw considerable reorganization of the Orchestra. Rachmaninov`s activities resulted in a re-assessment of the role and place of the orchestra in opera and ballet productions and the key importance of the Orchestra in musical theatre came to be acknowledged.
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The 1920s and 1930s witnessed a new stage in the creative evolution of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra. Over this period, the best players in the country joined the Orchestra which became the Soviet Union's most authoritative collective of performing musicians and the center of the capital's musical life.Many outstanding Russian conductors have appeared with the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra. These include: Rachmaninov, Suk, Golovanov, Pazovsky, Samosud, Melik-Pashaev, Haykin, Svetlanov, Rozhdestvensky, Simonov, Lazarev and Ermler. In 2001, Maestro Alexander Vedernikov was appointed Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre.When appearing with the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, the distinguished foreign conductors - Bruno Walter, Oscar Fried, Albert Coates, Fritz Stiedry, Zdenek Khalabala, G. Abendrot, Riccardo Muti - never failed to remark on the Orchestra's high professional level.
Today, the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra has about 300 members. Among them are many first class musicians who often perform as soloists and members of ensembles in concert halls in this country and abroad. In the Orchestra too are international competition prize-winners and People`s or Merited Artists of Russia. Many of the older generation of musicians are professors at the Moscow Conservatoire and the Gnessin Academy of Music, and a lot of the young players in the Orchestra are their pupils. This style is distinguished by the striking, full-blooded sound of the string quintet, the filigree work of the wood-wind and the brilliance and power of the brass.The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra has made numerous recordings of operas, ballets and symphonic works many of which have received widespread international recognition and high awards.
The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra tours extensively both in Russia and abroad. In addition to taking part in opera and ballet performances on these tours, it also gives symphony concerts.It was during the Bolshoi Theatre Opera Company's 1964 tour (its first) to Milan, that the Theatre`s Orchestra gave its first symphony concerts abroad. Ever since, most of the Bolshoi Theatre Opera and Ballet Company tours have included symphony concerts in their programs, this quite apart from the independent performances given by the Orchestra in the USA, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece and elsewhere.In 1989, the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra was awarded Italy`s highest music prize, the "Golden Viotti" medal, as best orchestra of the year.
Over the years, the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra has won international acclaim due to its participation in Bolshoi Ballet and Opera Company tours as well as to its appearances on the concert platform. Maestro Yuri Temirkanov was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra since season 2007-2008.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.