The history of the Department of Stringed Bowed Instruments
The Department of Stringed Bowed Instruments has existed since the opening of the Belarusian State Conservatory in 1932. The first teachers of the department were violinist Samuel Leontievich Zhiv, violist I. Guralnik, cellist M. Orlov, double bassist Ignati Grigorievich Solodchenko. The department was headed by a well-known violinist and conductor in the republic, Honored Artist of the BSSR, Professor Arkady Lvovich Bessmertny.
In 1937, students of the Moscow State Conservatory, laureates of the All-Union Competition, violinist Alexander Naumovich Amiton and cellist Alexander Kondratievich Vlasov, were invited to work at the conservatory. In 1939-1941 and in 1944-1951 at the department, which was headed by the Honored Artist of the BSSR, Professor A.N. Amiton, was a violinist and conductor, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, Professor Allan Isakovich Zholents, Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, Associate Professor, cellist Mikhail Abramovich Kaluzhsky, violists Honored Artist of the Armenian SSR, Professor Arshaluis Martirosovich Azatyan, Honored Artist of the BSSR, Associate Professor Pyotr Mikhailovich Kirilchenko; in 1952, violinist, laureate of the All-Union Competition, pupil Mikhail Markovich Goldstein of the Odessa Conservatory, who has been performing and teaching at the Conservatory for almost 30 years. In 1951-1955, the department was again headed by A.L. Bessmertny.
In the period from 1955 to 1978, the Department of Stringed Bowed instruments was headed by Nikolai Danilovich Bratennikov, a graduate of MGK, an Honored Artist of the BSSR, and in 1978-1982 by Vitaly Georgievich Chernysh, a graduate of the Belarusian violin school. Since 1955, the enrollment of students has been expanded, educational and methodological work has been intensified, and since 1957, republican and inter-republican competitions have been regularly held, the winners of which were violinists Vitaly Chernysh, Valentin Badyarov, Vladimir Klochko, Peter Sakin, Victor Emilit, and others. Cellists widely known in the country and abroad worked at the Department of Stringed bowed instruments: Honored Artist of the RSFSR, Professor Alexander Pavlovich Stogorsky, Honored Artist of the BSSR, Professor Boris Germanovich Skoblo, Associate Professor Stanislav Ivanovich Madorsky, Professor Evgeny Leonidovich Ksaveryev, Professor Nikolai Semenovich Shcherbakov, senior lecturer Lyudmila Alexandrovna Zimovina, violinists: student of Professor Leopold Auer Honored Artist of the BSSR, Professor Viktor Markovich Goldfeld (from 1958 to 1982), Honored Artist of the BSSR, Associate Professor Georgy Yakovlevich Klochko, laureates of international competitions Roman Naumovich Nodel and Alexander Alekseevich Kramarov, teachers Vera Alekseevna Kramarova, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Zelenin, Vitaly Georgievich Chernysh, Regina Dmitrievna Krivel, Lilia Vladimirovna Umnova; violists: associate professors Vadim Nikolaevich Skibin and Lucia Leonardovna Lastovka, double bassists: associate professors Solomon Schneurovich Hersonsky, Vladimir Vladimirovich Fedorchuk, Professor Nikolai Alekseevich Krivosheev.
In 1982, the Department of Stringed bowed instruments was divided into the Department of violin and the Department of viola, cello, double bass and quartet. In September 1984, it was decided to create an independent department of viola, cello and double bass. On April 25, 2011, the Department of Stringed Bowed Instruments was re-organized, which combined the Department of Violin and the Department of viola, cello and double bass. Tatiana Pavlovna Bodneva headed the department.
Since September 2013, violinists have worked at the department: Professor Henri Borisovich Yanpolsky, associate professors Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Zelenin, Regina Dmitrievna Krivel, graduates of the Belarusian State Conservatory Lyudmila Mikhailovna Kalinovskaya, Elena Anatolyevna Maltseva, Anna Frantsevna Alexandrovich, Evgeny Borisovich Osnovich, Ekaterina Evgenievna Puxt; violists: Professor Lucia Leonardovna Lastovka, Associate Professor Vladimir Petrovich Rylatko, part-time teachers Alexander Ivanovich Karazhev, Larisa Ivanovna Vatamanyuk, Inna Vasilyevna Goncherenok; Cellists: Professor, Honored Artist of the BSSR Vladimir Pavlovich Perlin, associate professors Natalia Viktorovna Shpeneva, Evgeny Nesterovich Feshchenko, senior lecturer Alexey Vladimirovich Afanasyev, teachers Olesya Viktorovna Rodevich, Yulia Viktorovna Rozhkovskaya; double bassists: Professor, Honored Artist of the BSSR Nikolai Alekseevich Krivosheev, senior lecturer Vladimir Ivanovich Pulenkov, teacher Pavel Sergeevich Sidorenko and others.
Currently, the violin class is led by associate professors of the department Bodneva Tatiana Pavlovna, Krivel Regina Dmitrievna, Puxt Ekaterina Evgenyevna, Alexandrovich Anna Frantsevna, Maltseva Elena Anatolyevna, Chernevskaya Polina Stanislavovna, senior lecturer Pishik Maria Leontievna, Kalinovskaya Lyudmila Mikhailovna, viola class – associate professor Lastovka Lucia Leonardovna, senior lecturer Teran Nikolai Petrovich, cello class – associate professor Feshchenko Evgeny Nesterovich, teacher Forostyanaya Polina Yuryevna, double bass class – Professor Krivosheev Nikolai Alekseevich, Associate Professor Pulenkov Vladimir Ivanovich.
The department’s concertmasters, pianists Sergey Bogachev, Nina Kavetskaya, Elena Khaytina, Svetlana Darmoyan, Elena Afanasyeva, Olga Kirillova, Anastasia Burya, and others made a great contribution to the training of specialists.
History of the Chamber Ensemble Department
The organization of the chamber ensemble department was preceded by the work of chamber classes led by the famous cellist, graduate of the Moscow Conservatory A.Stogorsky. But the chamber ensemble and quartet classes were taught by teachers of special classes. In 1962, the Department of Chamber Ensemble was established, which was headed by the senior lecturer of the Department of Wind Instruments, flautist S.Sizko. Later, the department was headed by: Professor, Honored Artist of the BSSR Yu.Korsak (1975-1985), Professor N.Shcherbakov (1985-2003), Associate Professor G.Nekrasov (2003-2013), Associate Professor, PhD in Art History L.Orlova (2013 – present).
The department was mainly formed in the 1965 – 1970s, it included both teachers of the Conservatory and its graduates who completed an assistant internship: in the 60s – N.Shcherbakov, Y.Korsak, E.Gabrielyan, L.Deduk, I.Galochkina, T.Solopakho; the 70s – V.Savina, I.Zharova, I.Lubotskaya; in the 80s – G.Nekrasova, I.Nevsky. Later, the line-up was replenished with new names: in the 90s – O.Sinetskaya, J.Varlamova, V.Sidorov; in the 2000s – L.Orlova, D.Moroz, D.Sklyarov; in the 2010s – T.Levitskaya, S.Petchenko, M.Nekrasova-Gutor, Y.Pereu, A.Baranenkova, N.Krivosheev in the 2020s – A.Danilov, N.Teran, T.Lyakh, A.Teran. In different periods, L.Barladina, V.Zvyagintseva, A.Staroselsky, I.Tursh, O.Krylatova, V.Prishchepov, L.Zimovina, V.Zelenin, V.Nevdakh, A.Khokhlov, I.Kolesnikova, I.Goncherenok, O.Sizko-Gabrielyan, E.Gembitskaya, Y.Galuza, A.Karpenko, A.Burya taught at the department for some time. and others .
The composition of the chamber ensemble department at the moment: L.Orlova – Head of the Department, Candidate of Music, Associate Professor; professors – G.Nekrasova, L.Deduk, N.Krivosheev; associate professors – O.Sinetskaya, J.Varlamova, I.Nevskaya, T.Levitskaya; senior teachers – M. Nekrasova-Gutor, A.Baranenkova, N.Teran; teachers – A.Danilov, T.Lyakh, A.Teran, M.Deruga. The department’s concertmasters are D.Sudakova (viola), P.Cherkas (cello), A.Yurinok (flute), S.Beltsov (violin), O.Trofimova (violin), D. Bobko (saxophone). Teaching at the department is conducted in three disciplines: “Chamber ensemble” (piano, stringed bowed instruments, woodwind instruments), “Quartet class” (violin, viola, cello), “Ensemble” (double bass).
The glorious pages of the department’s history are associated primarily with the names of S.Sizko, N.Shcherbakov, and Y. Korsak. They were united by their creative interest, bright performing talent, love of chamber music, and active work to promote chamber music. A special place in the development of the Belarusian quartet performance was occupied by the activity of N.Shcherbakov as a member of the string quartet of the Union of Composers of the BSSR, founded in 1962 and existed for almost 30 years. During this time, the quartet made a large number of stock recordings on the Republican Radio (with a total duration of about 9 hours), held more than 600 concerts in different parts of the republic and beyond, about 200 performances took place in the programs of thematic cycles of the musical editorial board of the Belarusian television. The bright milestones in the history of chamber performance in Belarus were the achievements of Yu.Korsak in the period 1975-1978. concert cycles: “Chamber Music by I. Brahms” (6 concerts), “Chamber Music by R. Schumann” (4 concerts). Open cathedral competitions of chamber ensembles named after Yu.F. are held every two years in memory of outstanding colleagues.Korsak and N.S.Shcherbakov String Quartets.
Teachers of the department L.Deduk, I.Galochkina, I.Lubotskaya, V.Savina proved themselves to be active performers-ensembles at one time. Intensive performing activities in the 1990s and early 2000s were conducted byNekrasova, I.Nevskaya, L.Orlova. G. Nekrasova. Currently, young teachers of the department are actively performing: A.Danilov, T.Levitskaya, N.Teran, M.Nekrasova-Gutor, A.Teran.
A striking event in the life of the department was the implementation in autumn 2015 of the international project “On the 250th anniversary of Mikhail Oginsky: Minsk – Vilnius – Warsaw – Paris”, which was attended by a string quartet of students led by T.Levitskaya. The performances were successfully held in the halls of the Lithuanian Philharmonic, the University of Warsaw, and the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in France. The international project “110th anniversary of D.Shostakovich – Shemetovo”, carried out by teachers (T.Levitskaya, S.Petchenko, E. Gembitskaya) and students of the quartet class in the homeland of the composer’s ancestors in the village of Shemetovo, Myadel district, received a great public response. The project was implemented with the assistance of the French association “Exchange: France – Belarus” and the Embassy of Belarus in France.
In recent years, the cathedral projects “Music in the Theater” and “Music in the Museum” have become famous as part of public education activities. Chamber music performed by students and teachers of the department is performed at the Belarusian State Youth Theater, Youth Theater, National Art Museum, Savitsky Gallery, Vankovich Museum, Loshitsa Estate Museum, etc. Students of the department constantly take part in socially significant events of urban and national scale. In 2022 A creative project of three chamber music concerts “In Memory of I.Brahms” was carried out at the BGF under the guidance of Professor of the department G.Nekrasova.
The active creative position of the department brings well-deserved results in teaching activities. This is evidenced by the numerous victories of students of the department at international chamber ensemble competitions: named after M.K.Oginsky (Belarus), named after I.Brahms (Poland), named after G.Zinetti (Italy), named after S.Taneyev (Russia), M.Yudina (Russia), S.I.Savshinsky (Russia), D.Bortnyansky (Ukraine), E.Stankovich (Ukraine), etc. Many students have been awarded prizes and scholarships from the Special Fund of the President of the Republic of Belarus for the Support of Talented Youth (see “laureates of the Department”).
The geography of the master classes organized by the department is also significant: Professor of the Higher Institute of Music and Pedagogy in Namur M.Danel (Belgium), professors of the Gdansk Academy of Music A.Prabutska-Firlei and K.Spersky (Poland), Professor of MGK A.Bonduryansky and Associate Professor I.Krasotina (Russia), Associate Professor E.Nekrasova (Germany). Teachers of the department are invited to participate in the work of the jury of international competitions both in the Republic of Belarus and abroad. In recent years, online.
A lot of scientific and methodological work is being carried out at the department. Teachers publish textbooks, programs, and teaching materials on academic subjects. The subject matter and range of professional issues covered in the research is quite wide. N.Shcherbakov edited quartets by Belarusian composers and wrote several books on quartet art. The department has created a number of textbooks: G.Nekrasova “P. Hindemith’s Sonatas for wind instruments and piano in the chamber ensemble class” (2005); L.Orlova “Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas” (2006); I.Galochkina “F. Poulenc. Sonata for Violin and Piano in the Chamber Ensemble class” (2006), “F. Poulenc. Sonata for Cello and Piano in the Chamber Ensemble Class” (2008); O.Sizko-Gabrielyan “Chamber Ensemble: Instrumental music by V. Karetnikov (using the example of Trio No. 1 c-moll for piano, violin and cello and the lyric poem “The Flutist”)” (2008); I.Nevskaya “Creativity and the evolution of style R.Clark on the material of the Sonata for Viola and Piano and the Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello” (2014), J.Varlamova “Music by P. Podkovyrova in the chamber ensemble class: Piano Quintet” (2019), O.Sinetskaya “Figurative and stylistic features of chamber and instrumental creativity by I. Brahms on the example of the Sonata for Clarinet Op.120 No. 1” (2020). In 2012, L.Orlova defended her PhD thesis, based on which she published the monograph “The Belarusian Piano Chamber and Instrumental Ensemble at the turn of the Century: compositional creativity and performing practice” (2014). O.Sizko-Gabrielyan published the monograph “Faithfully and Truly” about the life and work of V.A. Sizko and S.V.Sizko. Teachers of the department take part in international scientific conferences in the Republic of Belarus and abroad (Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Poland) Teachers of the department constantly give lectures at the Faculty of Advanced Training of the Academy of Music.
The Chamber Ensemble Department is actively involved in all areas of the academy’s activities and is open to all forms of creative collaboration.
