Music Director & Chief Conductor: Pavel Kogan
Debuting at age 12, Pavel Kogan first performed as part of the Kogan family trio along side his parents, legendary violinists Leonid Kogan and Elizaveta Gilels. He later continued his education at the Moscow Conservatory pursuing studies in both violin with Yuri Yankelevich and conducting with Ilya Musin and Leo Ginzburg.
In 1970, at the age of 18, Pavel Kogan won First Prize and the Gold Medal at the Sibelius International Violin Competition in Helsinki. This led to engagements in recital and as soloist with the world's leading orchestras of Russia, Europe, Japan, and the United State, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1974, at the age of 22, Mr. Kogan made his conducting debut with Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Philharmonic Orchestra, and subsequently focused more on conducting. He is now considered one of the top conductors in Russia, appearing frequently with the leading orchestras of Europe and the United States. From 1998-2005 he served as chief guest conductor of the Utah State Symphony Orchestra.
In 1989, Pavel Kogan was named Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra (MSSO). Under his leadership, the MSSO has become one of the most respected ensembles in Russia, notable for its large scale composer retrospectives—such as the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruckner, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, and Dvořák, etc. Expanding the MSSO's repertoire beyond traditional Russian classics, Mr. Kogan has also advocated non-Russian composers such as Bartok, Respighi, Saint-Saëns, Schoenberg, Bernstein and Scott Joplin. In 1997, he received the National Prize of the Russian Federation for the first Russian performance of the complete symphonies and vocal cycles of Gustav Mahler.
Moscow State Symphony Orchestra
Celebrating its 65th Anniversary in 2008, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra (MSSO) is acclaimed as one of the greatest orchestras from a cultural tradition rich with extraordinary symphonic ensembles. Founded in 1943 by Lev Steinberg, the MSSO quickly established a reputation as one of the premier interpreters of the Russian "classic" composers. Under the subsequent leadership of Nikolai Anosov and Leo Ginzburg, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra developed relationships with the most prominent Russian Twentieth Century musicians and composers, including many premieres of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Myaskovsky, and Gliere.
Since Pavel Kogan assumed the positions of Music Director and Chief Conductor in 1989, the MSSO has steadily expanded its repertoire beyond the classics of Russian and Western symphonic literature to include contemporary compositions from both Russia and abroad. A landmark of the MSSO was to present cycles of "Complete symphonies..." by composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of these cycles were recorded and received the critical praise from both Russian and Western listeners. Among contemporary composers whose music was premiered by the MSSO are Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Andrei Petrov and Georgy Dmitriev. The MSSO also claims rich collaborations with such artists as Evgeny Svetlanov, Kirill Kondrashin, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Emil Gilels, Leonid Kogan, David Oistrakh, and Mstislav Rostropovich.
In addition to its regular appearances at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and performances throughout Russia, the MSSO has been enthusiastically received throughout the major musical centers of the world and it also appears regularly at major Russian and European festivals. The MSSO has engaged in extensive international touring, visiting over 50 countries under Kogan and performing 20-50 concerts abroad each year, including the most prestigious concert halls of Europe, Asia, Australia, and America.
Press Quotes
"The orchestra [The Moscow State Symphony] has a dark, burnished sound that Music Director Pavel Kogan exploited to the fullest extent in Shostakovich's "Symphony No. 10," which concluded the evening. Most exceptional was a violin section that produced a deep, rich sound on the lower strings. This played perfectly to the generally somber mood of this long work."
—Telegram&Gazette
"Tchaikovsky's music is always an emotional roller coaster ride, and the orchestra, under its longtime conductor, Pavel Kogan was up to every nuance from the almost imperceptible quiet passages to the fullest, overwhelming climaxes...The articulation was immaculate and the inner voices were always apparent under Kogan's sure hand. The sound was controlled but intense and energetic, moving the listener along from one emotional mountain to the next."
—The Daily News
"Russian orchestras are known for their brashness, clipped phrasing and ear-popping declamations, and there was no scarcity of those qualities at this concert...More than any conductor in memory, Kogan looks like the music he conducts. With this group's discipline and size, it's easy for him to sculpt and shape in any way he chooses, and he does so tastefully and with digital precision."
—The Birmingham News
"The 10th's initial somber, ominous tones resonated through the massive string section, evolving alternately into some rather starkly dissonant passages relieved by moments of a refined but not completely comfortable lyricism. The orchestra [The Moscow State Symphony] easily recognized the composer's interest in the work of Mahler with its robust approach to the larger-than-life personality within the work...Conductor Pavel Kogan maintained a close watch on the development of the melodic fragments in the woodwinds, leaning forward and gracefully guiding both the seasoned and the younger musicians in the multi-generational orchestra through the 50-minute work. Though the juxtaposition can be jarring, the final movement's sudden, almost giddy, change of attitude was handled with a great deal of spirit, tempered by a dignified forthrightness that characterized the program's other major piece as well."
—Portland Press Herald
"A Russian orchestra playing an all-Russian program is a grand tradition that audiences never tire of, judging from the enthusiastic reaction to State Symphony Orchestra at Ruth Eckerd Hall."
—Saint Petersburg Times
Programs
Feb. 16
Tchaikovsky Slavonic March in B-flat minor, Op. 31
Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71
——Intermission——
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E minor
Feb. 17
Glinka Waltz Fantasy in B minor
Glazunov Concert Waltz No.1
Khatchaturian Waltz from Masquerade Suite
Borodin Polovetsian Dances
——Intermission——
Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade |
