The State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov” is one of the oldest symphony ensembles in the country. In 2023, the Orchestra celebrates it’s 87th anniversary. The first performance of the orchestra conducted by A. Gauk and E. Kleiber, took place on October 5th, 1936 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

 

Over the years, the State Orchestra was directed by Alexander Gauk (1936–1941), Natan Rakhlin (1941–1945), Konstantin Ivanov (1946–1965), Evgeny Svetlanov (1965–2000), Vasily Sinaisky (2000–2002), Mark Gorenstein (2002–2011), Vladimir Jurowski (2011–2021) and Vasily Petrenko (2021–2022). In 2005, the ensemble was named after E. F. Svetlanov. Since 2021 Vladimir Jurowski has been holding the position of Honorary Conductor of the Orchestra.
 
The orchestra’s concerts were held at the most famous concert venues in the world including the Great Hall of the Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the Column Hall of the House of Unions, the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Pleyel in Paris, the Colon National Opera in Buenos Aires, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. In 2013, the orchestra for the first time performed in the Red Square in Moscow.

 

 

Conductor: Ayyub Guliyev
An internationally renowned symphonic and operatic conductor, Ayyub Guliyev is a Principal conductor and Artistic director of the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre and Guest conductor of the Kunming International Philharmonic (China), Mariinsky Theatre, Kazan Opera (Russia), Belarus Bolshoi State Opera and Ballet Theatre and Bohdan Warchal Slovak Chamber Orchestra. Winner of the 2011 Arturo Toscanini International Competition for Conductors (Parma, Italy), Maestro Guliev has been also awarded First prizes at the Witold Lutosławski Competition for Young Conductors in Bialystok (2006), The International Conducting Competition in Craiova, Romania and the Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition in Athens among others.

 

 

Theodosia Ntokou is a classical pianist and the Founder and Artistic Director of the annual music festival “China Music Series”, which takes place each November at the Guangzhou Opera House in China, one of the best 10 Opera Houses in the world, in which wonderful top music personalities from the international music stage are participating each year, such as Martha Argerich, Maxim Vengerov, Daniel Hope, Steven Isserlis, Nelson Freire, Guy Braunstein, Mischa Maisky, and Maxim Vengerov among many others.

 

Theodosia Ntokou is the protégé of the famous Martha Argerich. The legendary pianist, took Theodosia under her wing since they first met in 2009.  The friendship, mentorship, and guidance that Theodosia Ntokou received from the extraordinary Martha Argerich, who is at the top of the best classical pianists today, has been a great inspiration and has led her to new paths in her career.

 

"I can see why Argerich is drawn to Ntokou’s playing, for it has a certain freedom and daring." - Grammophone Magazine

 

"Theodosia Ntokou in an excellent, extremely talented, enthusiastic musician and a brilliant pianist with a very generous temperament." - Martha Argerich