OKM publishers
Mikhail Gantvarg was born in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad) in 1947 and started to play violin at the age of six. He made his official debut at age eleven when he performed the Mendelssohn Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with the orchestra of The Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He later joined the high school of the Conservatory for musically gifted children. After graduation, he continued his studies at the Conservatory under Professor Mikhail Vaiman.In 1967 Mikhail Gantvarg won the International Paganini Competition for violinists in Genoa and in 1969 became Laureate of the Russian National Competition. Between 1975 and 1987 Mikhail Gantvarg was the Concertmaster of the Academic Orchestra of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia. In 1987 he founded the chamber orchestra "The Saint Petersburg Soloists" and became its artistic director.
Apart from his work with The Saint Petersburg Soloists, Maestro Gantvarg performs regularly in duet with Irina Rumina on piano, and is a professor of violin at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He gives regular master classes in Austria and Germany. The Saint Petersburg Soloists, under the direction of Maestro Gantvarg, tour regularly in Germany, Spain, Israel, Korea, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Luxembourg and in the USA.
Maestro Gantvarg's performances have been often recorded, with over 50 CD releases around the world. Mikhail Gantvarg has also received the appreciation and acclaim of his country, being named "Honored Artist of Russia".
Remarkable cellist Mischa Maisky is one of the most vivid and striking performers of today. At different moments of his life he was a creative partner of some of the best world musicians: Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Vadim Repin, Radu Lupu, Pavel Gililov, Mathieu Dufour and many others. He has played with many of today's greatest conductors: among which Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson Thomas, Zubin Mehta, Sir Georg Solti, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Daniel Barenboim. He tours all over the world - Europe, North and South America, Australia, South Africa, the Far East.Mischa Maisky performs regularly with the most renown world orchestras, such as Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Concertgebouw, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Dresdner Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Maisky is often invited and very well received at some of the world best music festivals, among which Salzburg, Verbier, Lugano, London, Dubrovnik, Ludwigsburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
Mischa Maisky was born at Riga in Latvia in 1948. There he studied at the E. Darzin Music School, with Professor M. Ischanov. In 1962 he joined the Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad) Conservatory, in the class of Emanuel Fishman. In 1965 the young musician won the First Award at the All-USSR Competition and made his first appearance on stage with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra. In 1966 Misha Maisky became a Laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and was accepted as a student of Mstislav Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory.
As a soloist Misha was very well received in the USSR and performed all over the country. In 1970 the young musician was arrested based on a false political accusation and became a dissident. In 1972 he was compelled to emigrate from the USSR.
He found asylum in Israel, and his career moved to a new stage. He wins a first award at the Gaspar Cassadó International Cello Competition in Florence, made his debut at New York's Carnegie Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. After the performance, Mischa received a gift from an anonymous donor, that happened to be a cello made in the 18th century, the famous "Montagnana" that he plays till this day.
In 1982 Mischa Maisky, performing with Gideon Kremer and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra made his first recording for Deutsche Grammophon - it was the Brahms Double Concerto Opus 102, with Leonard Bernstein conducting. Today the discography of the cellist numbers more then 30 solo albums, many of which have received various awards. Among his most famous recordings one should note cello concerti by Dmitriy Shostakovich (with The London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas conducting), and trios for piano by Tschaikovsky and Shostakovich (with Martha Argerich and Gidon Kremer). In the first part of 2007 was published the recording of the Bach Goldberg variations, performed jointly with Julian Rachlin and Nobuko Imai.
Camille Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto No. 1 Opus 33 is the first cooperation of the musician and OKM Publishers. It is planned that all the cello repertoire published by OKM will be issued as an authorized performance edition by Maestro Maisky.
Violinist Anatoly Resnikovsky is a Professor of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and an Honorable Guest Professor of the Petrozavodsk Conservatory in Karelia and of Kerava Music College in Finland. He is one of the foremost specialists in the world in the correction and development of violin technique. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and completed his Doctor of Performing Arts degree under Professor Veniamin Sher, one of the last representatives of the famous Leopold Auer's school (among his pupils are such well-known performers as Vladimir Spivakov and Victor Liberman).Professor Resnikovsky has an intensive performance schedule and gives master classes throughout Europe, in South Korea, China and the USA. He collaborates with many contemporary composers and has often given first performances of their works. Many compositions of leading Saint Petersburg composers are dedicated to Professor Resnikovsky. He has also a great reputation as conductor of the Youth Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared as a conductor in many cities of the former USSR, Estonia, Hungary, Netherlands, Germany and Greece and on radio broadcasts in Russia, Estonia and Moldova.
Among his students are prizewinners of international violin competitions and leaders of such orchestras as the Budapest State Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Mariinsky and Mussorgsky Theatres in Saint Petersburg, the Mexico Symphony and others.
Since Victor Kuleshov, ex-pupil of Professor Resnikovsky and now a managing director of OKM Publishers, invited him to collaborate with OKM Publishers as editor, he has edited the Sonatas for solo violin by J.-S. Bach, Concerto KV 207 by Mozart, Fantasy and Rondo Brilliant by Schubert and Concerto No. 5 by Vieuxtemps.
"Anatoly Resnikovsky's performance fully demonstrates the best features of the Saint Petersburg school of playing - exquisite taste and sense of style, and diversity of bowing technique and sound palette.” - Kaleva (Finland)
Natalya Arzumanova is a noted pianist and professor in the faculty of chamber ensemble at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. An Honored Artist of Russia, Natalya Arzumanova is a senior editor at OKM Publishing. She graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory in piano under the tutelege of professor N.I. Golubovskoy, and in chamber ensemble with professor F.I. Fondaminskoy. She ranks among leading performers of the chamber repertoire, and cooperates often with leading Russian and foreign soloists.Zodim Dmitrievich Noskov, Senior Editor at OKM Publishers, writes for us ....
"Life is short and art is eternal" - this is a known truth. But when an 80th birthday is approaching along with the 55th anniversary of working at the same orchestra, one starts feeling more the speed and shortness of life.
These years passed by quickly with work in the group of the First Violins of the Philharmonia's Saint Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. The journey started in 1937, when as a boy of eight years I received my first violin as a gift from my parents. My parents really loved music but were not musicians. My father was a painter and mother worked in education. I was very lucky with my tutors. Both of my music professors were the pupils of the famous Leopold S. Auyer. At the music school it was Ilya G. Genetsinsky and at the conservatory Yuri I. Eydlin.
The post war years at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory - the professors were remarkable. I remember the pianists S. I. Sofronitsky and Nadezhda I. Golubovskaya, violinists Mikhail B. Reysson and Veniamin I. Sher, the violist Sossin, organist I. Braude, singer Zoya P. Lodiy (lyrical soprano) and many others. The class of the professor Yuri Eydlin was really starry. My colleagues were the future laureates Mikhail Vaiman and Boris Gutnikov, and the wonderful violinists Mirra Furer and Nina Beilina. When I studied with professor Veniamin Sher, I studied with Mark Komissarov and Victor Liberman.
And I became a regular listener of the concerts at the Grand Hall of the Philharmonia.
I witnessed the change of the first concertmaster. At that tme it was traditional to start the season with the Hymn of the USSR. The long standing leader of the orchestra, Victor A. Zavetnovsky, played the hymn and then solemnly handed over the concertmaster's place to Ilya A. Shpilberg - and the concert conducted by Evgeni A. Mravinsky continued with Ilya A. Shpilberg leading the orchestra.
I also remember a concert pemiere. David Oystrach for the first time performed the First Concerto by Shostakovich in 1953. I attended the unforgettable concert of the pianist patriarch Arthur Rubinshtein and later, in 1986, Vladimir Horovitz. I also can not forget the great violonisits - Yehudi Menuhin, Isaak Stern, Henry Shering, David Oystrach. I was lucky to accompany them.
In 1953 my dream became true, i started to work at the orchestra of the Philharmonia, having won the competition for a place in the First violin section. The orchestra started touring in Europe, America and Asia.
Numerous meetings and concerts together with the great musicians and work at the Great Hall of the philharmonia, the "best place in the world" as it was named by the Russian writer Irakly Andronnikov, brings great satisfaction. I want in particular to note the concert of the orchestra of music by Igor Stravinsky, with the famous 80 year old composer conducting in 1962.
There is a saying that one is fortunate who is has pleasure from going to work and from going home - I consider myself being one of these fortunates.
Another source of joy for me is that behind my chair I can see and feel the young generation of violinists, they are wonderful musicians. I can feel that my life work is in the good hands. I believe that the young generation will carry with honor and increase the fame of the Russian performing art.