Guest Conductors

Principal Guest Conductor - Arthur Arnold

Arthur Arnold (Naarden, The Netherlands, 1967) studied cello from an early age, soon devoting himself to conducting. He studied in the with Anton Kersjes, later becoming assistant conductor to Hans Vonk, with whom he worked intensively in Amsterdam, Paris, Cologne and Saint Louis.

After Arnold's highly successful debut in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 2001, he established his musical profile as a conductor who combines a fluent, natural style with a careful eye for musical detail. Rooted in the European tradition of music making, his focus lies on balance, musical phrasing and clarity of texture, while being open for the artistic spontaneity of the individual player. With his generous enthusiasm, he once and again succeeds in engaging the audience in the musical experience.

Recently the Shalom News Moscow described Arnold as "one of the rare conductors that not only possesses a flawless technique, but also is capable of inspiring the orchestra while giving the individual musicians creative freedom."

In his home country, Arnold has conducted Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, North Netherlands Orchestra, Holland Symfonia, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Nieuw Ensemble.

His debut with Moscow Symphony Orchestra in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam during the summer of 2001 resulted in great reviews and a mere two weeks later an immediate encore invitation for both Arnold and the orchestra. It was a tremendous success, bringing the acclaim, "Arthur Arnold: a promise—Arnold has a comfortable, extremely musical beat and maintains inspiring eye contact with the musicians."

After performing expanded Russian repertoire, the national newspaper NRC wrote: "Arthur Arnold radiates serenity and natural authority. He conducted the great repertoire in grand style and in tranquil tempi that allowed the typical Russian sound of the orchestra to flourish, thanks to an excellent balance… Arnold succeeded to immediately achieve a great musical tension and thrilling atmosphere. The musical build up was magisterial."

Soon after the achievement in Amsterdam, Arnold was appointed principal guest conductor of Moscow Symphony Orchestra. He and the orchestra have been invited back to the Concertgebouw year after year where they perform a wide range of pieces from the Russian symphonic repertoire as well as a concert production of Tchaikovsky's Jevgeni Onjegin. In Russia they frequently perform for audiences in a number of venues, most notably the historical Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

Arnold is co-founder, music director and conductor of the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific (SOAP) in Powell River, BC, Canada. Under his guidance SOAP has grown in richness and breadth, motivating Arnold to invest an increasing portion of his time in Canada, where he also conducted Victoria Symphony and the Orchestra of the Glenn Gould School of Music. Arnold appears in A Single Passion, A Thousand Voices, a documentary by Avanti Pictures about International Choral Kathaumixw. He has been orchestra conductor and a jury member for Kathaumixw since 2000.

Arnold has conducted orchestras throughout Europe, North America and Asia, including South Korea where he became principal guest conductor for Seoul National Symphony Orchestra. He has been featured in interviews and live performances on radio with Moscow Symphony Orchestra as well as Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra in a national live radio broadcast from Concertgebouw. The Netherlands national newspaper Telegraaf: "Arnold showed himself as a reputable orchestra leader. He conducted with authority and all of his gestures spoke emotion. In the sixth symphony of Tchaikovsky (Pathetique) Arnold was totally in control. The calm and natural build-up gave all the space to the tragic undertone of this symphony. Moments of excitement could count on a measured dose, never becoming an empty fanfare. Even in the third movement, the perspective was primarily intimate. The unbelievable happened. After this Allegro molto vivace, the traditional applause didn't occur. Arnold held the tension and with perfect timing started the slow last movement. The lamenting was executed in golden honesty. At the end the conductor first thanked his musicians before turning towards the audience to receive the standing ovation with his hand on his heart."

Arnold frequents Romania where he conducts Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra and Targu Mures StatePhilharmonic Orchestra. His conducting career has taken him to Italy, Great Britain and Poland. In the UnitedStates, he conducted performances at Woodstock Mozart Festival in Illinois and has been invited back to opentheir 2010 season. Among other scheduled engagements this year are a range of concerts with MoscowSymphony Orchestra and a return engagement with Podlasie Orchestra and Opera in Poland.

Arnold started conducting studies in The Netherlands with Anton Kersjes and continued training internationallywith Marcello Viotti, Jean Fournet and Graeme Jenkins. In 1996 he received the Prins Bernhard Foundationaward to study at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy with Myung-Whun Chung, and was later honoured withthe Busenhart Morgan-Evans award to participate in master classes with Jorma Panula, Diego Masson, andGianluigi Gelmetti.

Ignat Solzhenitsyn

Recognized as one of today's most gifted artists, and enjoying an active career as both conductor and pianist, Ignat Solzhenitsyn's lyrical and poignant interpretations have won him critical acclaim throughout the world.

Ignat Solzhenitsyn is in his fifth season as Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, having served as its Principal Conductor for the preceding six years. He also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. His recent guest soloists in Philadelphia have included Sylvia McNair, Cho-Liang Lin, Steven Isserlis, Gary Graffman, Sergei Leiferkus, Anton Kuerti, and Leila Josefowicz. Mr. Solzhenitsyn has led the Chamber Orchestra in numerous special projects, including Bach�s Saint John Passion and the complete Brandenburg Concerti, Haydn�s The Creation and Seven Last Words, the complete symphonies of Schubert, and a rare complete performance of Gluck�s Don Juan.

Mr. Solzhenitsyn has appeared as guest conductor with the symphonies of Dallas, Seattle, Indianapolis, Buffalo, North Carolina, Toledo, Virginia, New Jersey, and Nashville, as well as many of the major orchestras in Russia including the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Moscow Symphony, the Urals Philharmonic, and the Kremlin Philharmonic.

In recent seasons, his extensive touring schedule in the United States and Europe has included concerto performances with numerous major orchestras, including those of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, Los Angeles, Seattle, Baltimore, Washington, Montreal, Toronto, London, Paris, Naples, St. Petersburg, Israel, and Sydney, and collaborations with such distinguished conductors as Andr? Previn, Herbert Blomstedt, Yuri Temirkanov, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gerard Schwarz, Charles Dutoit, James DePreist, Krzysztof Penderecki, David Zinman, Jerzy Semkov, James Conlon, Lawrence Foster and Maxim Shostakovich. In addition to his recital appearances in the United States at Philadelphia's Academy of Music, St. Paul's Ordway Theatre, San Francisco�s Herbst Theatre, and many others from coast to coast, Mr. Solzhenitsyn has also given numerous recitals in Europe and the Far East in such major musical centers as London, Milan, Zurich, Moscow, Tokyo, and Sydney.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Solzhenitsyn has collaborated with the Emerson, Borodin, Brentano, St. Petersburg and Lydian String Quartets, and in four-hand recital with Mitsuko Uchida. He has frequently appeared at international festivals, including Salzburg, Evian, Ludwigsburg, Caramoor, Ojai, Marlboro, Nizhniy Novgorod and Moscow�s famed December Evenings.

A winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Ignat Solzhenitsyn serves on the piano faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. He has been featured on many radio and television specials, including CBS Sunday Morning and ABC�s Nightline. Born in Moscow, Mr. Solzhenitsyn resides in the United States with his wife and three children.

Charles Ansbacher

Charles Ansbacher holds titled positions with orchestras in Boston, Moscow, Sarajevo, and Bishkek. Mr. Ansbacher has had a 25-year career working in the performing arts and serving in civic, state, and national leadership positions in. Mr. Ansbacher has played dual roles as an event producer and arts administrator, concerned with producing musical concerts of high quality and great public impact. He has continually strived to make the arts accessible to all through innovative programs aimed at more fully integrating the arts into the life of the community.

Mr. Ansbacher is the founder and conductor of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra (founded in 2001), which gives free classical music concerts at public landmarks around the Boston area.

Building upon multiple concerts with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in that city's Tchaikovsky Hall, as well as the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Ansbacher has conducted the MSO on four CD�s. The Landmarks Orchestra annually incubates a new work for children, and two of the MSO cds are Make Way for Ducklings, and The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. For adults, Ansbacher has led the MSO recording Beethoven Fourths: his Symphony and Piano Concerto, as well as Landmark Overtures.

Sergey Stadler

Sergey Stadler Born May 30, 1962 in Leningrad into a family of musicians. Graduated from the specialized school of the Leningrad Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory and then did his postgraduate course at the Moscow State Conservatory.

Winner of a number of international concerts such as "Concertino- Prague" (1976, First Prize), Long- Thibaud Contest (Paris, 1979, Grand-Prix and a special prize for the best performance of French music), Sibelius Contest (Helsinki, 1980, Second Prize and a special public prize), Tchaikovsky Contest (Moscow, 1982, First Prize and Gold medal). The only violinist in the world to be awarded the honour to play Paganini's violin in a concert.

Stadler is the main conductor of Saint-Petersburg Theatre of opera and ballet by the name of Rimsky � Korsakov. He is founder, art director and the main conductor of symphony orchestra �Stars of Saint � Petersburg�. Honoured Actor of Russia.

Wilson Hermanto

The Indonesian-American conductor Wilson Hermanto was born in 1972 in Jakarta. He completed his formal music education with high honors in violin from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and in conducting from the Manhattan School of Music in New York.

Mr. Hermanto has made appearances with orchestras such as, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, the Sofia Symphony Orchestra and the Sinfonietta Cracovia. Mr. Hermanto founded and served as Music Director of the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra in New York from 1996 to 2002. Since September 2004, Mr. Hermanto works as Assistant Conductor to Maestro Christoph Eschenbach with the Orchestre de Paris. During the 2006-07 Season, Mr. Hermanto made his debut conducting the Brandenburgische Staatsorchester Frankfurt. In June 2007 Wilson Hermanto.

Riccardo Capasso

Born in Gorizia, Riccardo Capasso distinguishes himself for his activity as a conductor both in concerts and operas, often combined with didactic engagements.

In 1967 Riccardo Capasso won ex-aequo the First prize in the Italian Radio competition for young conductors, and since then he began his prestigious career in important Italian institutions as Radio Orchestras of Turin, Napoli and Milan, Arena Verona, Petruzzelli Bari, The London Symphony Orchestra, Budapest MAV Symphony Orchestra, National Orchestra of Russia, State Symphonic Orchestra of Russia, Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Novaia Opera House of Moscow, Philharmonic Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Cape Town Opera House, Johannesburg National Symphony Orchestra, Beijing National Opera House, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne UN Symphonic Orchestra, Kiev State Opera Theatre, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Bucarest National Opera House.

In 2007 he celebrated the 50� anniversary of the Toscanini death with a Gala-concert at the Moscow Svetlanov Grand Hall of the Performing Arts Cente� conducting The MSO.

Professor Arkady Berin

"Maestro is a real star! Energy radiated by him, its felt from the first until the last second. He just leads listeners of this concert in the magic world of music."
                           Balver Nachrichten.
"Arkady Berin simply lives this music, which he plays. With improbable accuracy and at the same time smoothly, in constant movement he leads the Orchestra masterful leading it through contrast changes of harmony, dynamics and rate."     Westfálische Rundschau.

Professor Arkady Berin completed his study with the prominent conductor of the world such as the professors Ilja Mussin, Leo Ginsburg and Gunnar Ordilowskis at the conservatoires of Moscow , St. Petersburg , Riga and Minsk . 1968 he became lecturer, later professor as well as director/conductor of the department for opera and symphony at the national music academy White Russia . Starting from 1970 it was active as a conductor of the national symphony and chamber orchestra White Russia (Minsk) and became in the former USSR countries admits (appearances in Moscow, Kiew, Minsk, Riga, Tallin, etc.). He has numerous appearances as a guest conductor with different East and Western European orchestras ( Italy , Germany , the Netherlands , England , Hungary , Poland , Belgium , France, Austria , Luxembourg and Liechtenstein ) at many festivals and all well-known concert halls of the world. Since 1997 he gives as a guest professor master course for conductor in Italy , Spain , Luxembourg and Germany . Under his line soloists played such as Yuri Bashmet, John Sass, Giora Feidman, Sergej Nakariakow, Ljuba Kasernovskaja, David Grigorian, Rachmaninov Trio, Anna Maria Kauffmann and many different. Numerous CD, television and broadcast photographs were taken up. In the press Arkady Berin was called as one of the most important conductors of our time.

Since 2003 he is principal conductor and artistic director of the orchestra International Symphony Orchestra of Germany as well as president of the international Yuri Bashmet festival and artistic director/conductor of the benefit performance. In the year 2005 Arkady Berin for international cultural activity received the Lomonosov medal from the Russian government

The style of conducting of Maestro Arkady Berin is distiguished by accurate rhythmical precision, as well as organic flowing gestures and well- coordinated entries , which sometimes are developing to dramatical, extensive dynamical risings with wide- spread gestures of suggestive expression and tonal imagination.

In this way Arkady Berin sets a high value on the acustic balance between the different instrumental sections of the orchestra, as well as in instrumental solo concertos and operas the dynamical and metrical adjustment of the orchestra to the soloists, who appear as being integrated acoustically in an organic whole but still are dynamically present in the foreground.

With a well- balanced sound of the string section, a warm and luminous sounds of the woodwind group, the well- finished sonority of the perfect intonated brass section as well as a great variety of dynamical shades and a certain instinct for the architectute and thematical context of a work, Araky Berin forms well- formed interpretations of music of all periods.

Prof. Arkady Berin combinates the razor- sharp rhythmical precision of Arturo Toscanini with the sumptuos tonal imagination of Karajan oder Furtw?ngler and the sparkling esprit of Leonard Bernstein. With his direct, precise gestures and economical but most effective conducting style and suggestive power of persuasion Arkady Berin communicates immediately with orchestra musicians of all nations.

In three decades of playing concerts and teaching as a professor for conducting Arkady Berin became one of the the most outstanding conductors of our time, who has a wide- spread repertoire of all periods of symphonic and operatic music. To this belong orchestral suites and oratories from Bach as well as the great symphonies of german classic and romantic period from Mozart and Beethoven to Schubert, Schumann and Brahms; the highlights of the italian operatic music (Verdi, Puccini, Rossini) and the major works of the german opera (Mozart, Wagner) as well as the ballets and operas of the great russian composers and the sinfonic Jazz of George Gershwin und Glenn Miller. Since his childhood in Russia Arkady Berin has a special relationship to the way of expression of the so- called Russian soul - the great poets and literates as Puschkin, Tolstoi und Dostojewsky and the famous russian composers as Tschaikowsky, Rachmaninov, Glinka und Mussorgsky.

With his natural feeling for the character of every work, his unmistakable charisma on stage, a certain instinct for the forming of expressive melodious bends and the structure of thematical and motive- connections Arkay Berin motivates orchestral musicians from various cultural origins to a maximum performance and electrifies audiences of all nations.

Maestro Arkady Berin is one of the most important artists of our time and continues the tradition of famous colleagues and countymen like Jewgenij Mrawinsky, Kyrill Kondrashin, Evgeni Swetlanov sowie Gennadi Roschdestwenskij.