Double Bass Quintet

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The Ensemble

The RNO's double bassists are superb artists individually and, together, comprise an incomparable orchestral section. They are also highly inventive musicians who have transferred their virtuosity to the ensemble format. The first performance of the RNO Double Bass Quintet (Moscow, 1992) was a sensation that led to immediate bookings. The group has toured in Russia and California, and made regular appearances on Russian radio and television.

The RNO Double Bass Quintet is visually stunning and produces a vibrant and exciting sound. The ensemble's founder, RNO Principal Bassist Rustem Gabdullin, has created for the group transcriptions of many classical and modern works, as well as arrangements of popular jazz and ragtime pieces.

The ensemble is committed to creating an increased body of repertoire for the instrument. New pieces commissioned for the Double Bass Quintet include Adagio by RNO Founder and Artistic Director Mikhail Pletnev, and Who's on First? by American composer David Jaffe. Other works are in creation by American and Russian composers to be premiered by the ensemble during its 2006 US tour.

The RNO Double Bass Quintet works actively to encourage young persons to study the instrument, and to introduce people of all ages to the distinct colors and brilliance of the double bass sound.

The Musicians

Rustem Gabdullin
Gennady Krutikov
Sergei Kornienko
Grigory Krotenko
Leonid Bakulin

Biographies

Rustem Gabdullin, Principal
Gabdullin spent more than 20 years with the State Chamber Orchestra of the USSR before joining the RNO, as principal, in 1990. He tours Russia regularly in recital and as guest soloist, appears at music festivals throughout Europe and played with the London Symphony Orchestra as guest bass principal. His performances include the world premieres of double bass compositions by contemporary Russian composers, several of which are dedicated to him. Gabdullin records for Russian radio and has made a CD of works by Bottessini and Kussevitsky. A professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where he also studied, Gabdullin has published music anthologies containing his own reductions and transcriptions for double bass, and given master classes in the US, Sweden and Korea. In 1995 he was awarded the title of People's Artist, the highest professional distinction given by the Russian government.

Gennady Krutikov
Krutikov was a member of The 21st Century ensemble before joining the RNO in 1994. The second prizewinner at the 1995 Koussevitsky International Competition (Moscow), he regularly performs with chamber ensembles and as a soloist. He is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory.

Sergei Kornienko
Kornienko joined the RNO in 1990 from the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Prior to that he was bass principal of the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, Kornienko now teaches at the Central School of Music, which is affiliated with the Conservatory. Additionally, he serves as the RNO's Personnel Manager for Musicians.

Grigory Krotenko
While still a student at the Moscow Conservatory (2002-2007), Grigory Krotenko (born 1983) began developing, with Professor Evgeny Kolosov, concert programs that brought together the works of a variety of composers, from early music to contemporary compositions.

In 2002, Krotenko joined the Russian State Academic Symphonic Orchestra. He became a member of the Russian National Orchestra in 2003 and is a part of both the RNOboe+Strings ensemble and the RNO Double Bass Ensemble.

He is also a member of The Pocket Symphony (HIP) ensemble of soloists led by Nazar Kozhuhar, where he performs on the continuo group of instruments (violone, viola da gamba, chitarra battente).

As a chamber ensemble player, Krotenko regularly collaborates with other leading Russian musicians, including Alexander Rudin, Mark Pekarsky, Boris Andrianov, Alena Baeva, Alexander Buzlov, Peter Aidu and others.

Krotenko won 1st prize at the Third International Serge Koussevitzky Competition in St. Petersburg (2009), for which he was awarded a bass specially built at the Thomas Martin Workshop.
Leonid Bakulin
Leonid Bakulin was born in Moscow in 1983. He graduated from the music high school attached to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he studied under the tutelage of Mikhail Kekshoev. A laureate of the 2002 International Competition of Young Performers, in 2001 and 2002 Bakulin was a member of the "Philharmonia of Nations" orchestra. In 2002 he entered the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, studying under Professor Kekshoev. In 2004, Bakulin joined the Russian National Orchestra.