Michael Kugel ( ua, Михайло Бенедиктович Кугель; born December 5, 1946) is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

viola player and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Biography

Born in Kharkiv, USSR, he studied at the Beethoven School of Music, at the Music College in Kharkiv and later at the Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) Conservatory. In 1975 he won First Prize (joint with Zoltan Toth) at the International Viola Competition in Budapest."Playing the Soviet carrier", Tully Potter, The Strad, June 1995 During years 1975-1990 Michael Kugel was the soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic Organisation, violist of the Beethoven Quartet and professor at the Moscow Conservatory. From 1990 till 1996 Michael Kugel was a professor at the Jerusalem

Rubin Academy of Music and Dance The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance ( he, האקדמיה למוסיקה ולמחול בירושלים), is a school for the music and the performing arts in Jerusalem. It is located on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusal ...

. In 1996 he settled in Belgium and now he is a professor at the

Ghent Conservatory The Royal Conservatory of Ghent (Dutch: Koninklijk Conservatorium Gent) is a royally chartered musical institution. It is now a part of the University College Ghent. History The Royal Conservatory of Ghent is a royally chartered musical instituti ...

( Belgium) and at the

Conservatorium Maastricht The Maastricht Academy of Music, Dutch: ''Conservatorium Maastricht'', located in the city of Maastricht, is one of nine music academies in the Netherlands. The academy is a faculty of the Zuyd University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool Zuyd in D ...

in the Netherlands. Michael Kugel appeared as a soloist with many major symphony orchestras in the world and also appeared as a conductor with many orchestras. He has taken part in Festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, Lockenhause, Lille, Rolandseck, Passau, Jerusalem, Rizor, Orebro, Krems, Divonn, Menton, Mürzzuschlag, Venezia, Festival van Vlaanderen, Dubrovnik, Cincinnati, etc. Michael Kugel was a member of jury for International competitions in England, Austria, Israel, USA, Croatia, Belgium, Germany and CIS: *V Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, Workshop and World Viola Congress, 1994 *First International Viola Competition in Vienna, 1998 * Primrose Memorial Viola Competition, 1999 *IX Lionel Tertis International Viola competition and Workshop, 2006 *etc. Michael Kugel has given masterclass in Germany, England, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Mexico, Israel, France, Belgium, Croatia, CIS, Holland, Canada etc. Michael Kugel has enriched the viola repertoire with many transcriptions and with his own compositions : Sonata-Poem for viola solo, Concerto for viola and orchestra, Suite in memoriam Shostakovich for viola and piano, sonatas etc. His compositions also include a piano sonata, chamber symphony and chamber music among others. He has recorded about 20 discs and also made numerous records as a viola d'amore player as well. He is the author of three books :
The history of an era. An interpretation of two works for viola Viola
*Masterpieces of the Instrumental Music
Musical Essay
Michael Kugel is the founder and the President of the Belgian Viola Society.

Selected compositions

Michael Kugel's compositions are published by Alain Van Kerckhoven Editeur. * ''Il Carnevale di Venezia'' for Viola and Piano (2001) * ''Classical Preludes'' for Viola and Piano (1999) * ''Sonata-Poem'' for Viola Solo (1987) * ''Suite in Memoriam Shostakovich'' for Viola and Piano (1988) Michael Kugel'
works
are published by Nototeka (publisher Dmitry Yuferov)
Musical Essay
(2014)
Ostinato. sonata for pianoforte
(2015)
Nostalgia. Divertiento for viola and piano
(2015)

Discography

He has recorded about 20 discs and also made numerous records as a viola d'amore player as well. He made them in the former Soviet Union but unfortunately most of those records are unavailable. His recent recordings include: *''In Memoriam Shostakovich''. Michael Kugel (viola), Vesna Podrug (piano), 1998, *''The recorded viola. Volume IV''. Pearl GEMS 0039, PhonCD R2448 reva v.4, 1998 *''

Mark Kopytman Mark Kopytman (December 6, 1929 – December 16, 2011) (Hebrew: מרק קופיטמן) was a composer, musicologist and pedagogue. He was a professor and a rector of the Rubin Academy ( Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance), and a Laureate of the ...

, Beyond all this...'' The Israel Camerata, Avner Biron (conductor), Michael Kugel (viola), 1999, IMI-CD-1929-03 *''Glinka, Paganini, Bizet, Waxman.'' Michael Kugel (viola) Asir Rozenberg (piano), 1999 "The greatest Russian violists" (MELODIA)-2009. "Michael Kugel - Boris Berezovsky" (MELODIA - 2014)

Audio recordings

Michael Kugel plays
Carmen Fantasie (

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

— Franz Waxman, viola arrangement by Michael Kugel)

Video

Some videos can be found here

Bibliography

*Michael Kugel, History of an

era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

. An interpretation of two works for viola, 2002, *Masterpieces of the Instrumental Music, unpublished
Musical Essay
2014, ISMN 979-0-9007107-0-3

References

Budapest Philharmonic, Hall of fameNew Consonant Music, ComposersA & E Vienna Limited, Michael Kugel bio

Notes

External links

Official web-site of Michael Kugel

Michael Kugel at New Consonant Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kugel, Michael 1946 births Living people Russian classical violists Russian classical viola d'amore players Russian male composers Academic staff of the Maastricht Academy of Music Musicians from Kharkiv Saint Petersburg Conservatory alumni Academic staff of Moscow Conservatory