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1986
             
Desperately looking for new music to hone his viola-playing skills on, Yuri Bashmet tries his hand in conducting. The chance debut is such a great success that the maestro decides to set up a string orchestra all his own, or, rather an ensemble of soloists. The new outfit is aptly called The Moscow Soloists…
The new orchestra where Yuri Bashmet doubles as a lead player and conductor, wins quick recognition in the West with its impeccable technique and refined taste.
In 1986 Yuri Bashmet is awarded the State Prize along with several members of the famous Borodin string quartet. The BSQ, which has just marked its 40th anniversary, launches a series of all Shostakovich concerts to celebrate the great Russian composer's 80th birthday… The Borodin quartet also takes the program to Europe and puts it on tape.
With Mikhail Gorbachev's advent to power, Russia opens up to the world attracting a posse of big-name performers, among them the Italian operatic diva Katya Richarelli who sings at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow…
After a 61 year hiatus, the great pianist Vladimir Horowitz, now 82, makes a much-awaited comeback playing in the Conservatory Big Hall in Moscow where he had his debut in the early spring of 1922…
In Moscow music buffs have been awaiting Horowitz's arrival with a mix of adoration and fear. They believe the great musician is too old now to make a full-strength performance. They say he has brought along his own grand piano, but the instrument cannot play all by itself, can it? On April Vladimir Horowitz walks out on stage and allays all these fears with an absolutely brilliant performance…
Even the staunchest pessimists tipped their hats to the larger-than-life performance offered by one of the greatest pianists who ever lived… Each piece was a revelation, a real Godsend to his listeners' ears…
At the Bolshoi, the operatic prima Yelena Obraztsova tries her hand producing Werther by Jules Massnet. The three-act lyric drama is very special to Obraztsova who has partnered with so many great conductors and singers performing Charlotte's part all around the world. Obraztsova takes Charlotte's character so close to heart that she once even writes her a letter pledging to bring back to her the love she had lost…
Quite predictably, Obraztsova sings Charlotte's part with young tenor Vladimir Bogachev playing Werther and her husband, Algis Ziurajtis, conducting the Bolshoi orchestra...
In June they are holding in Moscow the 8th International Tchaikovsky Competition which traditionally brings together pianists, violinists, cellists and singers from around the world. Among the major highlights here are pianist Barry Douglas from Britain, cellist Mario Brunello from Italy, violinist Ilya Kaler of Russia, Barbara Kildaff from the United States and singer Nina Rautio from Russia…
The Russian musicians are doing equally well participating in other competitions with the Gnessins Institute graduate Alexander Frauchi winning the first prize at a international guitar competition in Havana, Cuba and the Leningrad Conservatory's 19 year-old cellist Leonid Gorokhov taking away the top award of a very prestigious competition in Geneva…
UNESCO names the year 1986 after the great 19th century Hungarian composer and pianist Ferenz Liszt whose 175 birthday falls on October 22 and his centennial death anniversary comes on June 31. The Hungarian government institutes a special medal awarding it to a large group of leading musicians from around the world, among them pianist Svyatoslav Richter and conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky.
Ferenz Liszt performed in Russia three times and in 1986 they put up a commemorative plaque in the foyer of the Philharmonic Big Hall in Leningrad…
In Moscow, an exhibition opens in the Music Museum offering rare photographs, letters and autographs of the great 19th century musician. The display is held in collaboration with the Ferenz Liszt Memorial Museum in Hungary…
In the Black Sea resort of Sochi they unveil the city's first ever organ. The triple-keyboard instrument is made by Czechoslovakia's famous Riger-Kloss company…
In Moscow, the now traditional December Nights art and music festival takes on two 19th century Russian classics: landscape painter Isaak Levitan and composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky. As usual, the festival is organized by pianist Svyatoslav Richter whose larger-than-life personality attracts a start-studded performing lineup from all around the world…
Russian television goes out to the Russian folklore traditions launching the Play Harmonica! show hosted by the Zavolokin brothers. This television show is still on and is hugely popular here in Russia…
In the Ural Mountains region, there springs up a new rock band with a strange sounding name Nautilus Pompilius - the Latin name of the pilot fish. The band-members write their own songs where traditional melodies mix perfectly with stirring lyrics. Nautilus Pompilius fast develops a cult following among the youngsters …
 
THE RUSSIAN MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY is prepared for you by Olga Fyodorova.


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