Grigoriy Korchmar ( Russian Григорий Корчмар, ''Grigorij Korčmar''; alternately translated Grigori or Grigory) (born 1947 in

Baltiysk Baltiysk (russian: Балти́йск; german: Pillau; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; pl, Piława; lt, Piliava; Yiddish: פּילאַווע, ''Pilave'') is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, R ...

) is a Russian

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 Def ...

and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. Although little-known outside his native Russia, Korchmar is a prominent figure in the musical life of

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. He began to study piano and composition in 1958 at the Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St Petersburg. In 1996 he was made an "Honoured Art Worker of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

". Notable works by Korchmar include the operas ''Newlyweds'' (1970), ''A Story about Boris and Gleb'' (1981) and ''Fedra'' (1984), ''Dialogues'' for cello and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(1976), ''Tango macabre'' for

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

and piano (1985), ''White Nights Serenades'' (1991) for

solo guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured ...

and four

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning co ...

, the latest of which was completed in 2003. Grigoriy Korchmar's brother, Leonid Korchmar is a conductor of the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...

and a notable conducting pedagogue.

References

Official Site of "Grigoriy Korchmar" , Saint-Petersburg Contemporary Music Resource Center

''Compozitor'' biography
1947 births 20th-century classical composers People from Baltiysk 21st-century classical composers Living people Russian classical composers Russian male classical composers Russian classical pianists Male classical pianists 21st-century classical pianists 20th-century Russian male musicians 21st-century Russian male musicians {{Russia-composer-stub