RNO Camerata
The Ensemble
The RNO Camerata was founded by oboist Vitaly Nazarov in 2003, bringing together six musicians of the orchestra in an ensemble full of innovation and energy. The group was an immediate success, with audiences savoring the rich and diverse repertoire performed by these young virtuosos. The ensemble champions new music and musical experimentation, as well as traditional works written for oboe and strings.
In November 2004, Russia's Culture Radio broadcast a live performance of the RNO Camerata to a nationwide audience, following its first tour of Russia that took the ensemble to Ulyanovsk, Kazan, Cheboksary and Nizhny Novgorod.
Also in 2004, the RNO Camerata debuted in Asia with performances in Singapore and Malaysia as part of the RNO Promenade, and in London, when Lady Ustinov invited the ensemble to perform at the memorial service for Sir Peter Ustinov in the Church of St. Martin's in the Fields, Trafalgar Square.
The Musicians
Vitaly Nazarov (oboe)
Sergei Shakin (violin)
Andrey Provotorov (violin)
Alexander Akimov (viola)
Kirill Varyash (cello)
Grigory Krotenko (double bass)
Biographies
Vitaly Nazarov
oboe
Born in 1983 to a family of musicians, Vitaly Nazarov graduated with honors from the music high school attached to Moscow's Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He is presently completing advanced studies at the Conservatory.
Vitaly was a laureate at Moscow's 1998 Oboe and Chamber Ensemble Competition, and at Moscow's 2000 International Festival of Young Soloists. He also received a grant from the 2000 All-Russian Open Competition "New Names." In 2000, he became one of the youngest ever laureates of the All-Russian Competition of Wind and Percussion Instruments (St. Petersburg). In 2005, he was awarded a European Cultural Prize.
Vitaly took part in master classes of Professor A. Ogrintchouk in Ferrara (2006) and Portogruaro (2006), regularly performs as a soloist, and has a broad solo and chamber music repertoire. He is a frequent guest soloist at the Moscow Conservatory and in other concert halls throughout Moscow and Russia. Since 2001, he has been a soloist with the contemporary music ensemble "New Music Studio" (artistic director, Igor Dronov).
Nazarov joined the Russian National Orchestra in 2003. That same year, he founded the RNO Camerata.
Andrey Provotorov
violin
Born in 1982 in Krasnoyarsk, Andrey Provotorov began his higher musical education at the age of 11, in Voronezh. In 1998, he moved to Moscow and entered the Moscow Conservatory.
Provotorov has won several awards, including first prize at the All-Russian Competition (Ryazan, 1994), first prize at the Erdenko All-Russian Competition (Belgorod, 1994), third prize at the International Competition of Youth Ensembles (Moscow, 1996), and second prize at the "Classical Heritage" International Competition (Moscow, 1997).
Provotorov has been a member of the RNO since 2003.
Kirill Varyash
cello
Kirill Varyash was born in 1971 in Moscow. He studied at the musical high school attached to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, then at the Conservatory, where he completed graduate work under Professor Knyazev.
Varyash was the winner of the Moscow City Competition (1982),and was a diploma recipient at the Brahms International Competition (Austria, 2001). He was a member of the State Symphonic Cappella from 1997 to 2000 and the Philharmonia of Nations from 2000-2003. He joined the RNO in 2003.
Varyash also participates in the Sheremetyev Ensemble and performs in solo concerts both in Moscow and abroad. His solo repertoire embraces a wide range of works, from baroque to contemporary compositions.
Grigory Krotenko
double bass
While still a student at the high school attached to the Moscow Conservatory, Grigory Krotenko (born 1983) began developing concert programs that brought together the works of a variety of composers, from Dittersdorf, Hoffmeister, Gendel and Koussevitsky, to sonatas by Eckels, Levitin, Corelli and others.
In 1996, Krotenko became a member of the International Children's Symphonic Orchestra (later known as the Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra); beginning in 1998, he was first chair.
From 1999 to 2001, Krotenko was a member of Igor Dronov's ensemble "Premiere"; since 2000, he has performed with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and since 2001 as a member of the Great Hall's Soloists Ensemble.
Krotenko entered the Moscow Conservatory in 2002, and in the same year joined the Russian State Academic Symphonic Orchestra, becoming the youngest musician ever to join this prestigious orchestra. He became a member of the Russian National Orchestra in 2003 and, in addition to being a member of RNO Camerata, is also a member of the RNO Double Bass Ensemble.
Alexander Akimov
viola
Born in 1982 in Tashkent, into a family of musicians, Alexander Akimov began studying music at the age of four. He has performed in numerous concerts at the Moscow Conservatory, and worked in the Muscovy Chamber Orchestra. He is a graduate of the Central Music School attached to the Moscow Conservatory and the Moscow Conservatory (studying under Yuri Bashmet). He is presently a graduate student at the Conservatory.
Akimov is a laureate of the Young Soloists of Moscow Festival (1987), and the Third International Competition in Togliatti (1998). He won the First International Rubinstein Competition (Moscow, 1998), and took first prize at the International Brahms Competition (Austria, 2003). He is an honoree of the New Names and International Spivakov Fund, and was awarded a European Cultural Prize in 2005.
Akimov has taken part in the master classes of Professor E. Grach and T. Gaydamovich and has performed in the Great, Small and Rachmaninov Halls of the Moscow Conservatory and has had solo performances in Sweden and Belgium. He joined the RNO in 2003.