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By Olga Fyodorova
…The year 1966. The Bashmets’ apartment in Lvov, western Ukraine.
“Where is this boy, I wonder? It’s already late and he’s still not home…”
“Must be rehearsing with his pals again. They’re a band, remember?”
“A band?”
“You know, they are all playing guitar these days, all ripping off the
Beatles…”
“And he too?! And how is he doing at school, may I ask?”
“Pretty fine, but he’s got problems at the music school, you know... Can’t
handle the violin, no matter how hard he tries… Teacher says he’d better
try his luck with the viola instead…”
“Viola?! Are you kidding me?! Everyone keeps telling jokes about viola
players who all look like idiots there. Are you saying our boy is going
to be an idiot too?”
“Come on, I don’t care what he plays as long as he plays something. It’s
better than spending his days horsing around or running in the streets…
He’s got talent, he really has. Well, he may not necessarily be a lead
player, but someday he could join a decent orchestra…”
“I thought he would be a violinist, playing all around the world… We would
be sitting in the audience and hear them announce his name…”
Giving up the violin, Yuri Bashmet became immediately infatuated with the
viola, its dark and rich tone touching the innermost chords of his soul.
The moment he took up the instrument, his life was never the same again.
Finishing music school with honors, he made easy entrance to the Moscow
Conservatory joining the class of the famous viola player and teacher,
Fyodor Druzhinin.
Fun loving and a good mixer too, Yuri became everyone’s darling winning
many new friends, young and old alike…
Basking in the Conservatory’s very special creative atmosphere, Yuri Bashmet
regularly attended piano, violin and cello classes, never once missing
those given by the great violinist David Oistrakh and regularly showing
up during lessons by the formidable cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, impressing
both by his burning enthusiasm and the big talent that was increasingly
hard to ignore…
Soon, Bashmet, a longtime fan of band playing, started setting up trios,
quartets and quintets all made up of his good friends. Getting word
about Svyatoslav Richter going to play with Conservatory students, he did
all it possibly took to catch the eye of the world-famous maestro. And
catch he did and, before very long, he even started receiving invitations
to come over to Richter’s apartment!
Immediately falling in love with the one-of-a-kind artistic atmosphere
of Richter’s home, Yuri literally bathed in the music played by the great
master and became absolutely indispensable during the noisy bashes and
masquerades Richter loved to organize, working for hours gluing, wood shredding
and paper cutting to get everything ready for show time.
Professionally too, he was developing all the time and soon his viola became
an indispensable and very welcome part of the mini concerts Richter used
to hold right in his home.
Always preferring the company of older and more seasoned musicians, Yuri
was now partnering on stage with cellist Natalya Gutman and violinists
Gidon Kremer and Viktor Tretyakov who loved and still love playing with
Yuri.
The ensemble eventually became the pride and glory of Svyatoslav Richter’s
traditional December Nights music festival at the Pushkin Museum of Fine
Arts in Moscow. No one could even imagine then that after Richter’s death,
Yuri Bashmet would take over as the artistic director of this world-famous
event.
Meanwhile, he was fast becoming an international celebrity. Starting out
by winning a very prestigious competition in Munich while still a Conservatory
student, he then started going on world tours, first playing small clubs
and then taking on major venues as well. Much to their managements’ amazement,
people lined up to buy tickets to a viola concert. Never before a lead
instrument, the viola eventually ranked with such traditional solo kings
like violin and cello, all thanks to Yuri Bashmet’s exceptional talent.
The black-maned Russian maestro was now taking the world by storm playing
sold out concerts in Paris, London, Rome and New-York, his records becoming
a collector’s must and dozens of international foundations showering him
with all imaginable prizes and other distinctions. As if oblivious to all
that, Yuri Bashmet just kept working on and on honing his playing skills
and increasingly throwing in violin and cello pieces which, played on viola,
sounded so fresh and unusual and inspiring many modern day composers to
write a lot of excellent viola music, including a concerto masterpiece
by Alfred Schnittke…
One day, just like many other instrumentalists, Yuri Bashmet felt
an urge to expand his musical horizons by trying his hand in conducting
an orchestra all his own. Making use of Moscow’s treasure trove of excellent
instrumentalists and financial help from his friends, Bashmet set up the
Soloists of Moscow ensemble. Brushing up his conducting skills with the
Mariinskly Theater’s chief conductor and his good friend, Valery Gergiyev,
Yuri now felt a lot more confident steering his own orchestra…
What started out as a good team working with clockwork precision during
their many national and foreign tours, however, ground to a halt the day
when, during a tour of France, the entire lineup decided not to return
home. Bashmet tried hard to make them reconsider their decision, but the
answer was a flat no. Only one band member agreed to go back while
the rest stayed behind hoping to find a better future in France.
Devastated by what happened, Yuri made up his mind never to set up an orchestra
again. Several years later, however, he allowed himself to be talked
into bringing together a team of talented Conservatory students…
The new-look Soloists of Moscow became exactly what Bashmet had always
been looking for. The young and like-minded players became his good friends
all and together, they have already conquered the world…
Yuri Bashmet is a hugely popular figure in the music world. The host of
a weekly TV program and his own foundation paying annual awards to the
world’s best musicians. The proud holder of many top European awards a
welcome guest at European royal courts and applauded by thousands of admiring
fans. A real dream comes true for any musician anywhere...
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