The MSSO was founded in 1943 by the Kremlin and is one of the five oldest concert orchestras in Russia.
Leo Steinberg, the Peoples Artist of USSR and conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre, became the MSSO's first Chief Conductor, a post he held until his death in 1945. He was succeeded by a series of distinguished Soviet musical giants, including Nicolay Anosov (1945 – 1950), Leo Ginsburg (1950 – 1954), Mikhail Terian (1954 – 1960), and Veronica Dudarova (1960 – 1989). The collaboration with these major figures helped to shape the orchestra into one of most prominent national symphonic ensembles, revered for its performances and premieres of Russian and Soviet classical music, including the works of Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Glier ... read full bio
The MSSO was founded in 1943 by the Kremlin and is one of the five oldest concert orchestras in Russia.
Leo Steinberg, the Peoples Artist of USSR and conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre, became the MSSO's first Chief Conductor, a post he held until his death in 1945. He was succeeded by a series of distinguished Soviet musical giants, including Nicolay Anosov (1945 – 1950), Leo Ginsburg (1950 – 1954), Mikhail Terian (1954 – 1960), and Veronica Dudarova (1960 – 1989). The collaboration with these major figures helped to shape the orchestra into one of most prominent national symphonic ensembles, revered for its performances and premieres of Russian and Soviet classical music, including the works of Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Glier.
The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra has reached new levels of success around the world under the leadership of Pavel Kogan. In 1989 he was engaged as Music Director and Chief Conductor and immediately started incorporating European and American music into the orchestra's repertoire.
A landmark of the MSSO has been to present the great cycles of complete symphonic works from leading composers such as Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, R. Strauss, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Bruckner, Sibelius, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Scriabin, Berlioz, Debussy and Ravel. The orchestra’s wide-ranging programs combine great orchestral, operatic, and choral classics with equally significant music of the 21st century, including many forgotten and neglected works.
The MSSO plays some 100 concerts annually. Along with the series in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and in the 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 many other Russian cities. The MSSO tours regularly overseas in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, Spain, Austria, Italy, Germany, France, South Korea, Australia, China and Switzerland.
The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra also has a long and distinguished recording and broadcast history on television and radio. In 1990 the MSSO, led by Maestro Kogan, made a live recording of Tchaikovsky’s piano and violin concertos, soloed by Aleksey Sultanov and Maxim Vengerov and released by Pioneer. In the early 1990s, Russian television stations aired the documentary “Travels with the Orchestra” about the MSSO and Pavel Kogan tour in Europe and Saint-Petersburg. Their Rachmaninov cycle, released by Alto, which recorded all of Rachmaninov's symphonies and symphonic dances, has become a chart-topping album.
The MSSO has a proud history of collaborating with eminent conductors and soloists including Evgeny Svetlanov, Kirill Kondrashin, Aleksandr Orlov, Natan Rahlin, Samuil Samosud, Valery Gergiev, David Oistrakh, Emil Gilels, Leonid Kogan, Vladimir Sofronitsky, Sergei Lemeshev, Ivan Kozlovsky, Svyatoslav Knushevitskyi, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniil Shafran and Angela Gheorgiu.
The orchestra’s partnership with Pavel Kogan has earned the orchestra an enviable reputation for high standards of artistic excellence, imaginative programming and community engagement, and having a broad and loyal constituency around the world.
For more information about the MSSO please visit msso-kogan.com.
Last updated September 2014. Contact Opus 3 Artists for the most up-to-date version.
Audio Clip:
Adagio from Khachaturian’s ballet “Spartak”
June 6, 2008
Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory
