State Symphony

Orchestra

Music Director and
Chief Conductor—
Valeri Polyansky.

The State Symphony Capella of Russia was founded in 1991 as a result of merger of USSR State Chamber Choir under Valeri Polyansky and State Symphony Orchestra of USSR Ministry of Culture headed by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The Capella’s first performance with Dvorak’s cantata “The Wedding Shirts” under Rozhdestvensky, held on December 27th, 1991 in the Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatoire, had an outstanding success as if setting from the very beginning the creative level of the collective and determining its professional class. In 1992 Valeri Polyansky became a new artistic director and a chief conductor of the troupe. Polyanky’s Symphony Capella consists of two musical bodies which being in organic unity work out a creative autonomy (concert programs, recordings, tour plans of their own). Due to its special structure, the Capella has the opportunity to refer to many wonderful models of classical music—masses and oratorios, requiems and cantatas—which are to be performed by soloists, choir and orchestra. In the Capella’s programs there are such masterpieces of the world musical culture as Masses by Mozart and Schubert, Bruckner and Liszt, Requiems by Verdi, Cherubini, Brahms, Mozart, Dvorak, Britten, Schnittke, Rachmaninov’s Bells, Stravinsky’s Wedding, etc. A whole series of works were actually recovered by Polyansky from scenic oblivion.

The Symphony Orchestra has its own prehistory, first appearing in 1957 and directed in turn by S.Samosud, Y.Aranovich, M.Shostakovich, G.Rozhdestvensky. When headed the Capella in 1992, Valeri Polyansky knew how to fascinate musicians by those perspectives which were opened due to the merger with choir. Common work of orchestra and choir is alternated by its’ separate concert performances. The repertoire of the orchestra covers in general a few centuries of Russian and international music. Despite this, there is a constant replenishment in the concert programs with new works. At the same time the orchestra of Valeri Polyansky rangs among the finest Russian symphonic collectives. The orchestra is a frequent and desired guest in many countries worldwide. In these last years the tours of the orchestra have had a great success in USA and Europe.

Flexibility of phrasing, rich and warm sounding, nobility of expression, skillfully balanced sounding of orchestral groups, richness and fineness of nuancing. Another aspect marked in reviews is a close creative unity and mutual understanding between orchestra and conductor.