Students

There are students of all kinds in my Quartet Class. Some of them have come on their own, some on the recommendation of specialty teachers or older friends, and some were just placed there. I make sure that the atmosphere in my class is creative and that the students get many opportunities to appear at concerts: class concerts, cathedral concerts, thematic concerts etc. We often have projects to work on – festivals, competitions, master classes. I always pay close attention to the choice of repertoire.

First of all, I focus on the desires and preferences of the students themselves (unless, of course, we are talking of the final exam or another performance of major  importance), because where the chamber music is concerned, the main thing is to work with gusto. Then the possible technical problems either do not arise at all or may be solved with comparative ease.

The list of pupils gets longer and longer every year and, of course, I am very glad that I had the opportunity to work with such wonderful young musicians as:

Narek Hakhnazaryan, Dmitry Khakhamov, Polina Borisova, Sergey Yarovoy, Vera Pritchina, Artiom Rudenko, Anton Khlynov, Tigran Suzhiyants, Mion Nakamura, Ono Yui, Makio Horie, Armen Nazarian, Lorenzo Mazzamuto, Dragan Sredojevich, Eliza Khanafina, Stepan Starikov, Elena Pshenichnaya, Daria Barlybaeva, Mark Gorshkov, Gershon Chervinsky, Nikita Budnetsky, Anna Karpuk, Alena Shapochka, Vasilisa Chaplinskaya, Dmitry Kosolapov, Anna Penkina, Emma Alikova, Alexandra Adianova, Ilya Chkhaidze, Danila Popov, Yaroslav Srodnykh, Ksenia Khripunova (Gaisina), Cetin Ceviz, Daniel Salazar Serrano, Dmitry Novikov, Artiom Len, Andrey Ivanov, Kirill Voinkov, Maxim Nagovitsyn, Anastasiya Terekhova, Vera Butysina, Kamilla Bikkulova, Nelli Tsinman, Kristina Lukmanova, Alexandra Izenkova, Vera Korovina, Polina Shupilova, Nikolay Charnukha, Alexander Serdyukov, Tatiana Polyakova, Roman Vikulov, Nikita Sidorov, Lidia Aristova, Angelina Mironova-Veligurskaya, Irina Karmanova, Daria Zaboleva, Alexander Kozlov, Nikita Ruzhavinsky, Elizaveta Ruzhavinskaya, Dmitry Borodin, Chung Man Jung, Sepel Tsoy, Ekaterina Sultanova, Anna Mokrenko, Veronika Roschina, Diana Tetermazova, Daria Maltseva, Meruert Karmenova, Andrey Roszyk, Yuriy Atvinovsky, Anna Koshkina, Linda Gilbert and other.

Darya Motuz, Alexandra Pertseva, Shamil Shaikhutdinov and Alexander Avramchik have formed the Life-Quartet that won the V. Berlinsky Moscow Competition for String Quartets in 2012 and received the diploma of the N. G. Rubinstein International Competition for Chamber Ensembles and String Quartets (Moscow, 2013). They took part in concerts and master classes of the International Music Festival in Hvide Sande (Denmark). In 2014 their Quartet became the laureate of the L. Auer International Festival Competition for Violinists and String Quartets in St. Petersburg (III prize). In 2015-2016 the musicians continued their studies and took the Master’s Degree course on a specialty ‘string quartet’ with Professor Henk Guittart (Schoenberg Quartet) at the Conservatory of Maastricht in the Netherlands.

RUSQUARTET

Being still very young, a pupil of the Academic Music Specialized School (now the Academic Music College) at the P.I. Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory, within its walls I came in contact with an amazing genre – the string quartet. Seemingly, it was just a subject taught in class, the same as any other, a weekly compulsory chore, but from the very first lesson I had a feeling that this line would be continued. My first teacher was Galina Soboleva, a cellist of the State S. S. Prokofiev Quartet. First as a performer, then as a teacher she proved to be a person whole-souled in her devotion to string quartet, a true professional and real enthusiast for her work…

All these words are perfectly correct, but they do not fully convey the essence of her teaching gift. Being near such a tutor, we got an irrevocable sense of natural, unconditional love to string quartet, the desire to perform the assigned pieces at the top of our capabilities. Moreover, we had frequent extracurricular performances, participated in festivals and internal competitions… I remember playing Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8. It’s challenging … The musical text is not easy… In the interval between the lectures I switched on the recording of this work performed by the A.N. Borodin quartet – and fell in love forever! And so, in 2001 the history of the RUSQUARTET began.

When I entered the Сonservatory, I found that the quartet class would begin only in the second year of study. So we studied on our own for a while, and then the following Autumn we entered the class of Dmitry Shebalin, the People’s Artist of Russia and the violist with the Borodin Quartet for 43 years. Unlike most students, we showed up for the first lesson as early as in September and played the Second Quartet by Borodin. I still remember how my hands shook when we started playing. But a few words said by Shebalin filled the atmosphere with warmth and light.

He had a wonderful quality: his presence alone made us play much better and we did not lose the acquired skill when we left the classroom. The impact of his personality was so strong that even just playing before him, we easily perceived the form, balance and tempo. We adored Dmitry Vissarionovich. We admired his house, his family and everything that was associated with him. Then there were competitions, festivals, concerts, victories, awards and tours. Of course, we always look back at that time with fond memories and nostalgia.

In 2007, we were lucky to take part in the master class with Henk Guittart, the viola player and conductor from Holland (Schoenberg Quartet). It was held at the Moscow Conservatory. We played the Brahms Second Quartet. It was very interesting, unusual and devilishly inspiring to study with Henk. He was the first to tell us about the Banff Centre in Canada, where RUSQUARTET and I were destined to appear more than once and to play more than one concert. Henk became our mentor.

Then followed a series of events, acquaintanceships, music making together with diverse musicians, interaction with composers and much more.

The line-up of RUSQUARTET has changed several times over the past few years, but devotion to the genre remained unchanged. Now the quartet is at the peak of its development: extensive programs, cooperation with amazing musicians, magnificent concert venues. Enthusiasm and far reaching ambitious plans.

Editions

Since early 2016 I have had the working relationship with the ‘Music Well’ publishing house. For this remarkable publisher, the following editions were prepared:
1. J. Haydn – String Quartet Or.64 N5, ‘Skylark’
2. A.V. Tchaikovsky – String Quartet N4
3. A.V. Tchaikovsky – String Quartet N5
4. P. I. Tchaikovsky – String Quartet B-dur (unfinished)

These issued editions can be purchased in Moscow music stores:
Moscow, Skatertny Pereulok, 8,
Moscow, Tverskoy boulevard, 9
For the ‘Composer’ publishing house the edition of the I. Vorobyov String Quartet was prepared (Moscow, 2016).

Calendar

2017

May

1-4  Masterclasses Conservatory Maastricht (The Netherlands)

5  Concert RUSQUARTET Theatre Herlen (The Netherlands)

June

8  Concert RUSQUARTET Moscow International Performing Arts Center – Chamber hall (Moscow)

July

18-28  Masterclasses X InternationalMusic Festival – Loutraki (Greece)

August

6 Concert RUSQUARTET Moscow Evangelical-Lutheran Piter’s and Pavel’s Church

10-20 Masterclasses and concerts Orlando International Chamber music Festival and Competition

23 Concert RUSQUARTET Chamber music seria in Mozzhinka

September

30 Concer RUSQUARTET The S. Richter memorial apartment (Moscow)

October

23 Concert RUSQUARTET Small hall Moscow conservatory

Desember

17 Concert RUSQUARTET Saransk (Mordovia)

Anna Yanchishina

Founder, artistic director and the only permanent member of RUSQUARTET, laureate of international competitions, teacher at the P. I. Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory.

Anna Yanchishina was born in 1983 in Moscow. She studied at the children’s music school, then at the Academic Music College at the Moscow Conservatory in the classes of N. Boyarskaya and A. Vandysheva. At the age of 9 she made her debut with a symphony orchestra on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. She was a laureate and winner of many children’s competitions and participated in several festivals.

In 2007, she graduated from the Moscow Conservatory and in 2010 completed a postgraduate course at the Conservatory in the class of the People’s Artist of Russia, Professor, S. G. Girshenko. She was twice a scholarship holder of the ‘New Names’ International Charity Program and got an E. Bystritskaya International Charity Foundation scholarship.

As a member of RUSQUARTET, she won the International Competition in Rheinsberg (Germany, 2006), held in the honour of Dmitry Shostakovich centenary, and the VIII Shostakovich International Competition for String Quartets (Moscow, 2008). As a soloist, she participated in such festivals as Mozartino (Italy, 2001), Musike (Great Britain, 2002), Banff Summer Festival (Canada, 2005) and others. She performed with symphonic orchestras under the leadership of A. Lazarev, I. Dronov, J. B. Pommier and collaborated with such musicians as …

Since 2010, he has been leading a quartet class at the Moscow Conservatory. She is also an assistant to Professor S. G. Girshenko at the Violin Department directed by I.V. Bochkova.