Moscow State Symphony Orchestra

The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra (MSSO) was founded in 1943 by the Kremlin and is one of the five oldest concert orchestras in Russia.

Lev Steinberg the Peoples Artist of USSR and conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre, became the MSSOs first Chief Conductor, a post he held until his death in 1945. He was succeeded by a series of distinguished Soviet musical giants that has included Nikolai Anosov (1945 – 1950) and Leo Ginzburg (1950 – 1954), Mikhail Terian (1954 – 1960) and Veronica Dudarova (1960 – 1989). Owing to collaborations with such figures the orchestra became one of the most prominent national symphonic ensembles, but in the first place it was known by the performances of Russian and Soviet classical music, involving many premieres of Nikolai Myaskovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Reinhold Gliere.

The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra became renowned around the globe under the leadership of Pavel Kogan. In 1989 Maestro was engaged as Music Director and Chief Conductor and immediately enriched the orchestra repertoire with the works of European and American musical literature.

A landmark of the MSSO has been to present the grandiose monographic cycles of complete symphonic works of the greatest composers: Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, R. Strauss, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Bruckner, Sibelius, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Scriabin, Berlioz, Debussy, and Ravel. The orchestra wide-ranging programs balance great orchestral, operatic, and choral classics with equally significant music of the 21st century, lots of many forgotten and neglected pieces.

It plays some 100 concerts annually. Along with the series in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and in Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra performs in the Great Hall of the Saint-Petersburg D.D. Shostakovich Philharmonic Society and on the stages of other Russian cities, as well as on tours abroad. The MSSO constantly appears in 59 countries, held at the major musical centers of the world, such as USA, Great Britain, Japan, Spain, Austria, Italy, Germany, France, South Korea, Australia, China and Switzerland.

The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra also has a long and distinguished recording history with DVD and CD studio and live recordings, TV and radio broadcast. In 1990 the “Pioneer” made a live recording of Tchaikovsky’s piano and violin concertos, performed by the MSSO and Maestro Kogan (soloists – Aleksey Sultanov, Maxim Vengerov). In the beginning of 90th the Russian television released the documentary Travels with the orchestra about the MSSO and Pavel Kogan's tour to Europe and Saint-Petersburg. Widely known and enjoying considerable popularity, the Rachmaninov cycle, released by “Alto” – the MSSO and P. Kogan interpretations of all the composer’s symphonies and “Symphonic Dances” has led the lists of all present versions.

Also the MSSO takes a legitimate pride in its cooperation with eminent conductors and soloists especially with Evgeny Svetlanov, Kirill Kondrashin, Aleksandr Orlov, Natan Rahlin, Samuil Samosud, Valery Gergiev, David Oistrakh, Emil Gilels, Leonid Kogan, Vladimir Sofronitsky, Sergei Lemeshev, Ivan Kozlovsky, Sviatoslav Knushevitsky, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniil Shafran and Angela Georgiu.

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