15 Years of “Soloists of Moscow “

Yuri Bashmet invited me to the 15th Anniversary celebration of his “Soloists of Moscow Orchestra”. It was 15 years ago that Yuri came into Russian Samovar in NY and introduced me to his orchestra for the first time. The orchestra’s performance that night in the big hall of the Moscow Conservatory was the last in a series of grueling performances, as they were finishing up a huge tour of Russia - performing in 40 cities in 2 months. The day after the event, they left for another concert in Paris.

The ‘tout Moscow’ attended the concert – many of Russia’s well-known musicians, actors, artists and writers. Among them was Alexander Tchaikovsky, t he Director of the Leningrad Conservatory and the famous actor, Oleg Menshikov. It was scorching hot in Moscow and the theater was an inferno, but still full o f eager listeners who bravely sat through the entire concert. Afterwards, there was a reception in the covered courtyard of the newly reconstructed Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater, which was hosted by Leonid Yarmolnik. At the end of the night, Sati Spivakova drove me home.

While I was in Moscow, a good friend of mine, Dennis Sedov- a tall, good-looking, opera singer with a beautiful voice, came into Russian Samovar. He often performs in America and quite recently played the part of Figaro. He will soon join the Cincinnati Opera for Mephistopheles in Faust. During my stay, I also met Renat Davletarov, who informed me that he will be bringing the Russian Film Festival to NY at the end of October and promised many new and exciting films.