Moscow Conservatory Symphony Orchestra Records the Instrumental Part of Baruch Berliner’s Abraham Oratorio at the Legendary Mosfilm Studio in Moscow
On December 2, the instrumental part of Baruch Berliner’s oratorio, Abraham, was recorded at the legendary Mosfilm Studio. The work draws on the biblical account of Abraham, progenitor of the Jewish people, Israel, foremost among the Israelite patriarchs, and founder of monotheism. The recording featured the Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Conservatory under the baton of its artistic director and conductor, Vyacheslav Valeev.
Associate Professor of operatic and symphonic conducting at the Moscow Conservatory, Dr Valeev is Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Conservatory’s Symphony Orchestra. He regularly appears as conductor and music director of productions at the Conservatory’s Opera Theatre. He is a recipient of the ‘Service to Art’ Silver Order and a laureate of numerous international conducting competitions.
Dr. Valeev graduated with distinction from the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, specialising in choral conducting (2002, under Prof. Stanislav Kalinin) and operatic and symphonic conducting (2005, under Prof. Gennady Rozhdestvensky). Under the supervision of Profs. Kalinin and Rozhdestvensky, he continued his postgraduate training until 2009. Dr. Valeev has collaborated with the Svetlanov State Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Russian National Orchestra, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic, the State Symphony Capella of Russia, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, as well as symphony orchestras from Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Poland, and Turkey, among others. He is a frequent participant in festivals such as Golden Mask, Moscow Autumn, Nobility Seasons, Sviatoslav Richter’s December Evenings, and Universe of Sound.
The Moscow Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble of students from the orchestral faculty, is a pride of its Alma Mater. Its history began almost simultaneously with the founding of the Moscow Conservatory and the establishment of the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society. Even in those early years, the most talented student instrumentalists performed at public symphonic assemblies of the Imperial Russian Musical Society under the direction of Nikolay Rubinstein. The Conservatory Orchestra later participated in many of Moscow’s major cultural events, including celebrations for the unveiling of the Alexander Pushkin monument in 1880 and the first staging of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin in 1878–1879. Vasiliy Safonov and Nikolay Golovanov devoted sustained and tireless efforts to the refinement of the orchestra.
Over the years, the orchestra has been led by Alexander Melik-Pashayev, Mikayel Terian, Fuat Mansurov, and Alexander Lazarev. Moreover, maestros such as Pierre Boulez, Mstislav Rostropovich, Kirill Kondrashin, Anatoly Levin, Dmitry Kitaenko, Evgeny Svetlanov, and Gennady Rozhdestvensky have appeared at its podium.
Project director: Evgeniy Atsapkin
Orchestration by Andrey Pospelov
Sound Engineer: Ilya Dontsov
Orchestra Director: Varvara Baimuldina
Produced by Nachum Slutzker