Yuri Bashmet

Yuri Abramovich Bashmet (russian: link=no, Юрий Абрамович Башмет; born 24 January 1953) is a Russian conductor, violinist, and violist.

Biography

Yuri Bashmet was born on 24 January 1953 in Rostov-on-Don in the family of Abram Borisovich Bashmet and Maya Zinovyeva Bashmet (née Krichever). His paternal grandmother, Tsilya Efimovna, studied singing at the conservatory for two years in her youth. His maternal grandmother, Darya Axentyevna, interpreted native Hutsul songs.

In 1971, he graduated from the Lviv secondary special music school. From 1971 till 1976, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory. His first viola teacher was Professor Vadim Borisovsky; after whose death in 1972 was succeeded by Professor Fyodor Druzhinin. Druzhinin was also the tutor of Yuri Bashmet for the probation period and for his postgraduate study at the Moscow Conservatory (1976–78).

In 1972, Bashmet purchased a 1758 viola made by Milanese luthier Paolo Testore, which he uses for his performances to date.
In the late 1970s through to the early 1980s, Bashmet developed his career as a solo performer. He began his active concert activities in 1976, with a tour of Germany with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra founded by R. Barshay. He has performed in leading concert halls the world over: in Europe, USA, Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. He was the first violist to perform a solo recital in such halls as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Barbican in London, the Berlin Philharmonic, La Scala of Milan, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, and the Great Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic.

Yuri Bashmet has performed under many noted conductors, including Rafael Kubelík, Mstislav Rostropovich, Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Colin Davis, John Eliot Gardiner, Yehudi Menuhin, Charles Dutoit, Neville Marriner, Paul Sacher, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kurt Masur, Bernard Haitink, Kent Nagano, Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

He started his conducting activity in 1985, consistent with his reputation as a bold contemporary artist unafraid of taking risks.

In 1992, Bashmet reconstituted the orchestra featuring some of the most talented young musicians of Russia who are graduates and postgraduate students of the Moscow Conservatory. This orchestra performs in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and has toured extensively abroad. Its performances have been recorded for broadcast by major radio companies, including the BBC
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