Yuri Bashmet

Yuri Abramovich Bashmet (Юрий Абрамович Башмет; born 24 January 1953) is a Russian conductor, violinist, and violist.

Yuri Bashmet was born on 24 January 1953 in Rostov-on-Don in the family of Abram Borisovich Bashmet and Maya Zinovyeva Bashmet (née Krichever).

His paternal grandmother, Tsilya Efimovna, studied singing at the conservatory for two years in her youth.

His maternal grandmother, Darya Axentyevna, interpreted native Hutsul songs.

In the late 1970s through to the early 1980s, Bashmet developed his career as a solo performer.

In 1971, he graduated from the Lviv secondary special music school.

From 1971 till 1976, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory.

His first viola teacher was Professor Vadim Borisovsky; after whose death in 1972 was succeeded by Professor Fyodor Druzhinin.

In 1972, Bashmet purchased a 1758 viola made by Milanese luthier Paolo Testore, which he uses for his performances to date.

Druzhinin was also the tutor of Yuri Bashmet for the probation period and for his postgraduate study at the Moscow Conservatory (1976–78).

He began his active concert activities in 1976, with a tour of Germany with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra founded by R. Barshay.

He has performed in leading concert halls the world over: in Europe, USA, Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

He was the first violist to perform a solo recital in such halls as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Barbican in London, the Berlin Philharmonic, La Scala of Milan, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, and the Great Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic.

Yuri Bashmet has performed under many noted conductors, including Rafael Kubelík, Mstislav Rostropovich, Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Colin Davis, John Eliot Gardiner, Yehudi Menuhin, Charles Dutoit, Neville Marriner, Paul Sacher, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kurt Masur, Bernard Haitink, Kent Nagano, Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

He started his conducting activity in 1985, consistent with his reputation as a bold contemporary artist unafraid of taking risks.

In 1992, Bashmet reconstituted the orchestra featuring some of the most talented young musicians of Russia who are graduates and postgraduate students of the Moscow Conservatory.

This orchestra performs in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and has toured extensively abroad.

Its performances have been recorded for broadcast by major radio companies, including the BBC, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Radio France, and Radio Luxembourg.

The orchestra has recorded several CDs, among these a recording of the Alfred Schnittke Triple Concerto (EMI Records), soloists: Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Another CD, of the Thirteenth String Quartet by Shostakovich and the quintet by Brahms (Sony Classics), was acclaimed "Best Album of 1998" by The Strad magazine, and was nominated for a Grammy Award.

As a soloist and a conductor, Bashmet has performed with leading symphony orchestras: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Вауrische Rundfunk, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Paris Orchestra, etc. Repertoire with these orchestras has included the symphonic works of Brahms, Haydn, Schubert, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven.

A particularly noted concert at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow featured Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13.

Bashmet has performed recitals, as well as his joint performances together with noted musicians including Mstislav Rostropovich, Gidon Kremer, Sviatoslav Richter, Isaac Stern, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Mischa Maisky, M. Portal, Shlomo Mintz, Oleg Kagan, Roberto Carnevale, Viktor Tretiakov, and Maria João Pires.

Of particular note were Bashmet's performances in collaboration with Sviatoslav Richter, two performers of different generations but with common artistic views.

They performed together at the "December Evenings" festival in the Pushkin museum in Moscow, as well as on world tours.

Another of Bashmet's longstanding artistic friendships, personal and in performance, is with Mstislav Rostropovich.

Numerous modern composers have composed works especially for Yuri Bashmet or dedicated to him, including 50 viola concertos and other works: A. Schnittke – "Concerto", "Monologue"; S. Gubaidullina – "Concerto", E. Denisov -"Concerto", D. Tavener – "The Myth Bearer"; M. Pletnev – "Concerto", A. Golovin – "Sonata-breve".

A. Raskatov – "Sonata"; V. Sharafyan - "Surgite Gloriae" viola concerto with duduk, descant, baritone and orchestra, G. Kancheli – "Liturgy " and "Styx"; A. Tchaikovsky – two "Concertos"; Barkauskas – "Concert", A. Eshpay – "Concert"; P. Ruders – "Concerto".

A. Schnittke – "Concerto for three" (dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer), and many others.

Yuri Bashmet has transcribed the "String Trio" by A. Schnittke for string orchestra; this work was issued by "Sikorsky" (Vienna) under the name "Trio – Sonata".

Particular works for which Bashmet is known include the Chaconne by J.S. Bach, Arpeggione Sonata by F. Schubert, Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola by W. A. Mozart, Viola Sonata by D. Shostakovich, and the Concerto for viola and orchestra by A. Schnittke.

Yuri Bashmet has participated in many festivals all over the world: Tanglewood (USA), Tours, Bordeaux, Biarritz, Menton (France), Brussels, Kainuu, Mikkeli (Finland), Kroyt (Germany), Siena, Sorrento, Camerino, Streza (Italy), and "March Music Lias" (Ruse, Bulgaria).

He is an artistic director and one of the organizers of the festivals in Rolandseck (Germany), and Elba Island (Italy).

He is a regular participant of the Promenade Concerts in Royal Albert Hall (London, UK).

The highest appraisal of Bashmet's talent was his appointment to the position of the art director of the "December evenings" music festival in Moscow, a position held for 17 years by Sviatoslav Richter.

Since 2006 Yuri Bashmet together with famous Belarusian pianist Rostislav Krimer has held the annual Yuri Bashmet International Music Festival in Minsk (Belarus), which has become one of the most prominent events in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Yuri Bashmet is a founder and a Jury Chairman of the International Contest of Violists in Moscow, the only event of its kind in Russia.

He is the President of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in Great Britain, the member of Jury for the violists' contests in Munich and "Maurice Vie" in Paris.

Cinema and TV broadcasting companies of different countries (Great Britain, France, Russia) have filmed several movies about his art.