The quintet Style of Five was founded in 1994. In addition to traditional Russian instruments (the chiming gusli, domra, bayan and bass balalaika) the ensemble’s musicians also play synthesisers.
The ensemble has toured to the USA, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Great Britain and Sweden and taken part in the festivals Palaces of St Petersburg and Musical Spring in St Petersburg and concerts on Red Square and at the State Kremlin Palace.
In 2001 the quintet won the Grand Prix and special Osipov Prize at the VI All-Russian Vasily Andreyev Open Competition of Young Folk Instrument Performers in Tver. In 2004 it celebrated its tenth anniversary and held a series of concerts in Russia and abroad. In 2005 the ensemble took part in a tour of Russian cities to mark sixty years of victory in the Second World War. In 2009 at the Lyublino Estate Museum in Moscow there was an anniversary concert marking fifteen years since the ensemble was founded.
The musicians frequently collaborate with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and take part in his international tours. Together with Hvorostovsky and the State Academic Chamber Orchestra of Russia under the baton of Constantine Orbelian the quintet has recorded the discs I Met You, My Love (2002), Songs of the War Years (2003) and The Light of the Birches (2005). The ensemble’s discography also includes the albums Favourite Ukrainian Songs (with Vasily Gerello and the State Academic Chamber Orchestra of Russia under the baton of Constantine Orbelian, 2003) and The Unique Russian Folk Ensemble: Style of Five (Delos, 2005).
The first concert of The Impromptu-Quintet took place in 1999 at the State Academic Cappella in St Petersburg. Currently the ensemble appears at St Petersburg’s most prestigious concert halls, gives concerts at the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire and the St Petersburg Philharmonic and takes part in the festivals From the Avant-Garde to the Present Day, International Conservatoire Week, Musical Spring in St Petersburg and the Music Festival in Saima Park (Fichberg, Massachusetts).
The musicians have toured to The Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Denmark, Spain, the USA, Estonia, Columbia, France and Switzerland.
The ensemble’s discography features five discs, among them The Impromptu-Quintet-2010, which commemorates ten years since the ensemble was established.
