Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles, and his nemesis, the False Dmitriy. The Russian-language libretto was written by the composer, and is based on the 1825 drama Boris Godunov by Aleksandr Pushkin, and, in the Revised Version of 1872, on Nikolay Karamzin's History of the Russian State.
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five". He was an innovator of Russian music in the Romantic period. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music.
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He is originally from Russia and has held Icelandic citizenship since 1972, and Swiss citizenship later. He has lived in Switzerland since 1978. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, he has recorded a large repertoire of classical and romantic works. His recordings have earned him five Grammy awards and Iceland's Order of the Falcon.
Pictures at an Exhibition is a piano suite in ten movements, plus a recurring and varied Promenade theme, written in 1874 by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. It is a musical depiction of a tour of an exhibition of works by architect and painter Viktor Hartmann put on at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, following his sudden death in the previous year. Each movement of the suite is based on an individual work, some of which are lost.
This article is about music-related events in 1874.
The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory is a musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. The conservatory offers various degrees including Bachelor of Music Performance, Master of Music and PhD in research.
Alexander Davidovich "Lexo" Toradze was a Georgian-born American pianist, best known for his classical Russian repertoire, with a career spanning over three decades. He regularly appeared as soloist with many of the world's major orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a professor of piano at Indiana University South Bend from 1991 to 2017.
Felix Mikhailovich Blumenfeld was a Russian and Soviet composer, conductor of the Imperial Opera St-Petersburg, pianist, and teacher.
Issay Alexandrovich Dobrowen, born Itschok Zorachovitch Barabeitchik, was a Russian/Soviet-Norwegian pianist, composer and conductor. He left the Soviet Union in 1922 and became a Norwegian citizen in 1929.
Vladimir Pavlovich Ovchinnikov is a Russian pianist from Belebey, Bashkir ASSR. He is the only pianist ever to win the top prizes at both the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition (1987). Artistic Director of the Association of Tchaikovsky Competition Stars since 2000.
Nikolai Semyonovich Golovanov, PAU, was a Soviet conductor and composer, who was married to the soprano Antonina Nezhdanova.
Boris Berman is a Russian pianist and pedagogue.
Yevgeny Yevgenievich Nesterenko was a Soviet and Russian operatic bass. He made an international career, based at the Bolshoi Theatre. He performed a vast repertoire of 50 leading roles, and was known for the title role of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. He was active in concert, and composers wrote music for him such as Suite on Verses of Michelangelo by Dmitri Shostakovich. He was a teacher at Moscow Conservatory and the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna.
Konstantin Saradzhev was an Armenian conductor and violinist. He was an advocate of new Russian music, and conducted a number of premieres of works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian. His son Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev was a noted bell ringer and musical theorist.
Stefan Dimitrov was a basso opera singer. Born in the Black Sea town of Burgas, Bulgaria, he was of Greek origin. He won four international singing competitions at the very beginning of his career: those in Toulouse, the "Erkel" in Budapest, the "s’Hertogenbosch" in the Netherlands, and the "Young Opera Singers" in Sofia. In 1965 Stefan Dimitrov met the piano accompanist and répétiteur, Malina Dimitrova, who graduated at this time and took her first steps in the opera accompanying field. They were later to be married. The couple had one son, Liuben, who graduated as solo pianist and later become part of the Genova & Dimitrov piano duo.
Igor Konstantin Buketoff was an American conductor, arranger and teacher. He had a special affinity with Russian music and with Sergei Rachmaninoff in particular. He also strongly promoted British contemporary music, and new music in general.
Victor Alexandrovch Sokovnin was an opera singer and vocal teacher. Born in the village Zavodouspenskoe, Tyumen county Tobolsk Province. In 1906 he graduated from Business School, Society for Mutual helper clerk in Yekaterinburg. In 1911-1918 he studied at the solo singing class of Professor I. Ya. Gordy Moscow State Conservatory.
Ilya Itin is a Russian concert pianist of international acclaim currently residing in New York City.
Mikhail Georgiyevich Kollontay, Russian composer and pianist. Also known under his mother's name, Ermolaev.
Vladimir Mikhailovich Genin is a Russian-German composer, pianist and piano teacher. Since 1997 he lives in Munich.
