St. Petersburg String Quartet
Alla Aranovskaya, First Violin
Ilya Teplyakov, Second Violin
Konstantin Kats, Viola
Leonid Shukaev, Cello
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The Quartet was formed in 1985 by graduates of the Leningrad Conservatory
under the guidance of Vladimir Ovcharek, first violinist of the
Taneyev String Quartet. Early in their musical career, the Quartet
(then called "String Quartet of the Leningrad Conservatory
named after N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov") won first prize at the
All-Soviet Union String Quartet Competition. At the First International
Shostakovich Competition for String Quartets, held in Leningrad
in 1987, the Quartet had considerable success, winning one prize,
the title of Laureate, and the special prize for the best performance
of the required work, Shostakovich's Quartet No.7. In 1987 the
ensemble performed in concert halls throughout Russia, made its
first recordings for radio and TV, and participated in various
festivals.
The young quartet was given permission in 1989 to take the name
"Leningrad String Quartet" and to travel to Tokyo to
compete in the International Competition of Chamber Ensembles.
There they won a silver medal and a special prize. In the summer
of that same year, the Quartet visited the USA for the first time.
At the Vittorio Gui International Competition for Chamber Ensembles
in Florence, Italy, they won not only the first prize but two
special prizes.
In 1991, the Quartet won first prize and the "Grand Prix
Musica Viva" at the International Competition for Chamber
Ensembles in Melbourne, Australia. This was followed by concerts
in Germany, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Lithuania, Japan, North and
South Korea, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and the USA. That same year
their native city changed its name and so did the Quartet, becoming
the St. Petersburg String Quartet.
In 1995, the Quartet spent two months in the USA performing at
nearly 20 music festivals including Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center,
the Sedona Festival in Arizona, Mainly Mozart in San Diego, the
Colorado, San Antonio, and Texas Music Festivals, Music Mountain
in Connecticut, the Princeton Music Festival in New Jersey, the
Arcady Festival in Maine, the Sewanee Festival in Tennessee and
the Huntington Festival in Long Island, NY, among others. The
group played 24 concerts in the United States (from New York City
to Honolulu), receiving rave reviews everywhere.
In 1996 and 1977 the Quartet returned to the U.S. to perform each
summer at two months of music festivals, including Caramoor (NY),
Music Mountain, Princeton, Piccolo Spoleto, Mainly Mozart Miami,
Mendocino Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, Killington,
and many others.
In 1998 the Delos label will launch a major series of recordings
of Russian and Georgian music with the St. Petersburg Quartet.
The Quartet is in Residence at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
in Ohio for the 1997-98 year.
The St. Petersburg String Quartet appears by arrangement with
Lisa Sapinkopf Artists |
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Last updated: 6 November 1997
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