The Urals Academic Philharmonic Orchestra
was founded in 1936 by Mark Paverman, People’s Artist
of Russia. Since 1995 it has been led by Dmitry Liss, a representative
of the Moscow school of conducting and a graduate
of Dmitry Kitaenko’s class at the Moscow Conservatoire. Each
season the ensemble presents over seventy programmes and more than
a hundred concerts. It has recorded some twenty discs (together with Warner
Classics International and Mirare). Abroad, general management
of the orchestra is undertaken by the agency Productions
Internationales Albert Sarfati (France).
Over the years, the orchestra has worked with such conductors as
Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Krzysztof Penderecki, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir
Fedoseyev, Dmitry Kitaenko, Valery Gergiev, Andrey Boreyko, Klaus Tennstedt,
Jean-Claude Casadesus, Michiyoshi Inoue, Fabio Mastrangelo and Daniel Raiskin.
The orchestra has appeared with many outstanding soloists, among them
Mstislav Rostropovich, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Boris Berezovsky, Denis Matsuev,
Frederick Kempf, Nikolai Lugansky, Yuri Bashmet, Nikolai Petrov, Vadim Repin,
Sergei Krylov, Alexander Kniazev, Eliso Virsaladze, Natalia Gutman, Liana
Isakadze, Peter Donohoe, Olga Borodina, Alena Baeva and Sayaka Seji. From
2007–2013 the Urals Academic Philharmonic Orchestra has appeared
at numerous international festivals, among them La Folle Journйe
(France, Spain, Japan), the Radio France Festival, the International
Piano Festival in La Roque d’Anthйron, the Classical Music Festival
in Saint-Riquier, the Nuits de la Citadelle
in Sisteron), the Arts Square international winter
festival, the II Festival of World Symphony Orchestras (Moscow),
the Crescendo music festival (Moscow, St Petersburg,
Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad), Stars on Baikal (Irkutsk),
the Eurasia international music festival (Yekaterinburg),
Russian Christmas at the Kennedy Center (Washington) and
the Boris Berezovsky Festival (Yekaterinburg).
The Urals Academic Philharmonic Orchestra was one
of the organisers of the major Russian project
The Symphony Music Forum of Russia in Yekaterinburg. In 2010
and 2012 during this forum the orchestra appeared under four conductors –
Dmitry Kitaenko, Dmitry Liss, Andrey Boreyko and Enkhe. The Urals Academic
Philharmonic Orchestra is the only orchestra in Russia to have
founded its own competition which aims to stimulate the development
of symphony music for children. Between 2006 and 2012, seventy-four
composers took part in the Peter and the Wolf open
all-Russian competition for the composition of symphony music
for children. In the 2011–2012 season the orchestra had its own
subscription series at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky
Theatre in St Petersburg, which was conducted by Valery Gergiev and
Dmitry Liss with soloists Denis Matsuev, Vadim Repin, Boris Berezovsky and
the Mariinsky Chorus and soloists.
In March 2013 the ensemble undertook its annual tour to Europe. Two
of the four concerts were held in Graz in Austria
(Stefaniensaal), one in Metz in France (Arsenal) and one
at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. The concert by the Urals
Philharmonic Orchestra in Paris saw the capital of the Urals
submit its presentation to become home to the EXPO-2020
international exhibition. Dmitry Liss was an official Ambassador
for Yekaterinburg’s application to host this exhibition.
On 20 September 2013 Dmitry Liss conducted the Urals Academic
Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance at the Beethovenfest
in Bonn, making it only the second Russian symphony orchestra
to have taken part in the festival in the entire course
of its history. 1996 saw the establishment of the Urals
Academic Philharmonic Orchestra Charitable Foundation, thanks to which
the orchestra has been furnished with some amazing instruments including
a Vuillaume string quartet and masterpieces by Bergonzi, Guarneri, Ruggieri
and other great craftsmen of the past.