 Mark Gorenstein, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, People's Artist of Russia, was born in Odessa in 1946. He trained as a violinist at the Stolyarsky School and at the Chişinău
Conservatoire. He worked with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and later with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the USSR under Yevgeny Svetlanov. While still a musician with the latter ensemble, Mark Gorenstein won the All-Union Conductors' Competition and began to appear with symphony orchestras both in Russia and abroad. In 1984 he graduated from the conducting faculty of the Novosibirsk Conservatoire.
In 1985 Mark Gorenstein became Principal Conductor of the Budapest Symphny Orchestra (MÁV). The Hungarian press noted that the maestro's work had «turned a new page in the history of Hungarian symphony music».
Between 1989 and 1992 Mark Gorenstein was Principal Conductor of the Busan Symphony Orchestra (South Korea). South Korea's Music Magazine wrote: «For South Korea, the Busan Symphony has become what the Cleveland Symphony is for the USA. But to achieve its first-class rank the Cleveland Orchestra needed eight years, while Busan needed just eight months. Gorenstein is an outstanding conductor and teacher!» As a guet conductor, the maestro has appeared in many countries throughout the world - Austria, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Czechoslovakia and Japan.
An important stage in Mark Gorenstein's career was his work with the Young Russia State Symphony Orchestra, which he founded in 1993. In nine years the ensemble had emerged as one of the finest symphony orchestras in Russia and firmly occupied a place of its own in music in Russia. This great ensemble toured to immense acclaim to many cities throughout the world, performing with brilliant soloists and conductors; it released eighteen discs together with recording companies Russian Season, Harmonia Mundi and Pope Music.
On 1 July 2002 Mark Gorenstein was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia. He joined the famed ensemble following a difficult period in the orchestra's history with the resolute intent to revive the State Orchestra's former glory, and he achieved staggering results.
«In a short period, the Svetlanov Orchestra, restored from ruins by Mark Gorenstein, has attained a high, a very high level.»
Leonid Gvozdev. Moskovskaya Pravda
With Gorenstein's arrival, the orchestra's creative life once again began to take off. The ensemble took part in major events of major public significance (the festivals Rodion Shchedrin. A Self-Portrait and Mozartiana, the concerts 1000 Cities of the World and the international charity programme Stars of the World for Children), as well as recording several video and audio discs of works by Anton Bruckner, Giya Kancheli, Alexander Scriabin and Edward Elgar among others.
Starting in 2002, the orchestra toured to Belgium, the UK, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Turkey, France and Switzerland, and in March 2008 for the first time in twelve years it completed a triumphant tour of the USA, receiving immense praise from the public and critics.
In January 2005 the State Orchestra became the first Russian ensemble to receive the prestigious international Supersonic Award for its recording of Dmitry Shostakovich's Chamber and Tenth Symphonies under Mark Gorenstein for Melodia.
In 2002 Mark Gorenstein was made a People's Artist of the Russian Federation, and in 2005 the maestro received the Government of the Russian Federation Culture Prize for his 2003-04 concert programmes. In 2006 he received the order «For services to thr Fatherland», 4th class.
«Maestro Mark Gorenstein is one of those dazzling conductors that I have had the honour of meeting in the course of my long life. He makes miracles with his orchestra».
Ferenc Farkas, composer
«... Mark Gorenstein conducts works with unusual restraint, with agonising intensification, with subtly refined pianissimi, with breathtaking play of colour and truly searing, heart-gripping intensity.»
Pizzicato, from a review of the CD In Memory of the Victims of Fascism and War
«From the first bars it could be clearly heard why the State Orchestra is one of Russia's leading ensembles. Mark Gorenstein understands brilliantly how to unite his virtuoso musicians into an integral whole.»
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung
«First of all, I would mention the talent of Mark Gorenstein, who has established, quite simply, a unique ensemble. Today, beyond all doubt, it is one of the finest orchestras in the world.»
Saulius Sondeckis, conductor
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 Alexander Knyazev is one of the most charismatic musicians of his generation, appearing to great acclaim as both a cellist and an organist. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire in cello studies (class of Professor Alexei Fedorchenko) and the Nizhny Novgorod Conservatoire in organ music (class of Professor Galina Kozlova). His repertoire includes almost every work written for cello and many organ pieces. He has won great international acclaim as a cellist, winning prestigious performing arts competitions including the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, UNISA in South Africa and the Gaspar Cassado Competition in Florenc.
As a soloist, Alexander Knyazev has appeared with leading orchestras across the globe, among them the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, Gothenburg Symphony, the Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra and the chamber ensembles Moscow Virtuosi and Moscow Soloists. He has collaborated with such renowned musicians as Viktor Tretyakov, Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Spivakov, Mario Brunello, Vadim Afanasiev, Sergei Stadler, Mikhail Voskresensky, Boris Berezovsky, Alexander Rudin, Sergei Milstein, Ivan Monigetti, Aurèle Nicolet and Julian Milkis to name but a few.
From 1995 to 2004 Alexander Knyazev taught at the Moscow Conservatoire. Many of his studentshave won prizes at international competitions. Currently he runs master classes in France, Spane, South Korea and the Philippines. Alexander Knyazev was asked to join the II International Tchaikovsky Youth Competition in Japan and the XI and XII International Tchaikovsky Competitions in Moscow. Alexander Knyazev was named Russia's «Musician of the Year» in 1999.
In 2005, a recording of Rakhmaninov and Shostakovich trios for Warner Classics by Boris Berezovsky (piano), Dmitry Makhtin (violin) and Alexander Knyazev (cello) received Germany's prestigious ECHO Klassik award. 2007 brought him another ECHO Klassik award for a CD of Chopin and Rakhmaninov sonatas (Warner Classics), which he recorded with pianist Nikolai Lugansky.
Alexander Knyazev has appeared at numerous international festivals including the December Evenings, Colmar Festival (France), the Shostakovich Festival in St Petersburg, Radio France Festival in Montpelier, Schloss Elmau and the Elba Musical Island of Europe Festival to name but a few. Alexander Knyazev performs concerts in Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, France, Japan, Norway, Korea and South Africa. June 2007 saw his triumphant South American debut performance in Rio de Janeiro.
Alexander Knyazev is an Honoured Artist of Russia and a soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic. He performs on a Carlo Bergonzi cello, generously provided by the State Collection of Unique Musical Instruments.
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