Fall 2014 - Boston, USA

26th FESTIVAL PARTICIPANTS

Grigory Amnuel was born in Moscow. From 1972 to 1976 he worked at the Moscow Theatre of Satire and at Taganka Theatre and in 1977 in motion pictures. He authored, produced and directed more than 30 political, musical, and sports movies. He is a prize winner of the international film festivals in Italy, Spain, Russia, Poland, and actively politicizes all life. From 1996 to 1998 he worked in the Moscow City Council and from 1998 to 2010 in the State Duma of Russia. He worked at the Expertise Fund, on M. Khodorkovsky's project "Open Russia". He actively takes up the problems of foreign policy and participates in many international conferences and forums. He is the founder of "Schools of Social Management and Civil Initiatives" for representatives of the Russian regions in Poland and Latvia. He conceived the idea of erecting a monument to Roman Pope John Paul II, the first in Russia. Grigory Amnuel is a member of the Film Union of Russia.

Arsenii Gusev is a young Russian composer and pianist, born in St. Petersburg in 1998.
Since 2004 he has studied at the City Children's Music School under prof. Y. A. Kozulin (composition) and prof. V. A. Ovcharova (piano). In June 2014 Arseniy became a student at the Central Special Music School of the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory under Prof. O. A. Curnavina (piano).

Arsenii actively participates in school concerts of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the concerts of the annual music festival "Petersburg Autumn", "Children's Land". In 2013 he gave concerts at the international music festival "Allegro Vivo" (Austria), and in 2014 the Omsk Philharmonic (Russia) premiered his symphonic suite "Terioshechka".

Nineteen times since 2007, Arsenii has been awarded the title of winner of such composition competitions as The Valery Gavrilin International Youth Competition. Among the works by the young composer are "Terioshechka", Orchestral Suite from a Russian fairy tale opera (2011-2012), Orchestral Rhapsody "Rus. In anticipation of St. Petersburg" (2013).

Vladimir Linov, Professor of St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, was born in the city of Sverdlovsk (nowadays Yekaterinburg) in 1944. He graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Civil Engineering (which is now called St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering) in 1970. He is the author of more than 30 projects in St. Petersburg and other Russian cities, projects of reconstruction of small historic towns in the north of Russia, and projects of shopping centers.

Since 1982 he has been a lecturer at the St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, with management oversight of course and final thesis projects, international seminars and schools, and organization of international training courses. His main interest is reconstruction of historic buildings and issues of legislation in the field of town-planning. He has been awarded the honorary titles of Honored Architect of Russia and Professor of International Academy of Architecture (Moscow branch).

Maria Lyudko is one of the most spectacular singers of today's St Petersburg. Those who have heard her voice will never forget the charming timbre of both deep and sparkling soprano, her profound expression, and her premeditated and style-wise faultless interpretation.

Born into a family of opera singers, Maria Lyudko began to study music at the age of four, and made her operatic debut aged eight, singing the role of Nightingale in N. Bryansky's comic opera The Quartet. She graduated from the special music school for gifted children, later graduated from both musicology and vocal departments of the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St Petersburg, and earned a doctor of musicology academic degree.

Maria Lyudko has recently been appointed Head of the Chamber Singing department at the St Petersburg State Conservatory in addition to heading up the Early Russian Vocal Music Department. She is the winner of many international and All-Russian competitions and holds the title of Honored Artist of Russia.

The Rimsky-Korsakov String Quartet, based in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formed in 1939, is a monument to Russian musical history. The present members Mikhail Bondarev (violin), Ekaterina Belisova (violin), Alexei Popov (viola), Anton Andreev (cello) are graduates of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory who, by virtue of a shared background, steeped in the grand tradition of Russian music making, achieve organic and convincing interpretations of a diverse repertoire of masterworks, Russian classics, and contemporary masters. The Quartet champions the music of Russian composers with the core of their repertoire being the music of Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Taneyev and Stravinsky. They also perform lesser-known masterworks of Glinka, Alabiev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Gretchaninov, Miaskovsky and Mossolov. The group is an exponent of contemporary composers having recently premiered Hans Werner Henze’s Piano Quintet at the Berliner Philharmonie. Furthermore, they have been active in presenting premiere performances of young composers in Saint Petersburg. Since 1989, the group has been actively touring internationally and has made appearances at numerous prestigious music festivals.

Elena Selezneva is Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages and Deputy Director of the Department of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. She is a philologist. In 1989 she graduated from the State University in the city of Rostov-on-Don (in the south of Russia), the Faculty of Philology (Russian language and literature). In 2000 she received her Ph.D. at the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Saint Petersburg, Department of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language which is now called the Department of Cross-Cultural Communications.

Since 2001 Elena Selezneva has been working in the Department of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering involved in management of international educational programs and academic mobility. She initiated and assisted in the development of joint educational programs with partner universities from different countries. In 2003 she worked as an invited lecturer at the State Higher Vocational School in Nowy Sonch (Poland) teaching the Russian language.

Alexander Solovyev, Dean of International Students Affairs of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, is a well-known Russian choral conductor, recipient of many prestigious awards, Associate Professor of Choral Conducting and Director of the Chamber Choir at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He graduated with honors from the Gnessin Musical Institute in 1997 (under Prof. V. K. Lubarsky) as well as from the Choral Conducting Department of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 2002 (under Prof. S. S. Kalinin). After defending his undergraduate thesis on the musical language and style of William Walton’s choral compositions (under Prof. V. S. Tsenova), he completed his graduate work at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Prof. B. G. Tevlin in 2004. In 2008 Maestro Solovyev founded the Concert Choir of the Moscow Pedagogical State University, which has since been granted many notable awards, both in Russia and internationally.

Yulia Tskhvediani was born in 1955 into a family of hereditary oil industry employees. In 1977, she graduated from the Faculty of Engineering and Economics at the Moscow Institute of Petrochemical and Gas Industry (currently, the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas). In 1983, she finished her postgraduate studies, defended and was awarded a Ph.D. in Economics.

From 1977 to 1983, she worked as a Senior Research Assistant at the Central Scientific Research Institute of Information and Economics of the Petroleum Refining and Petrochemical Industry of the USSR. From 1983 to 1988, she was a lecturer, a Senior Research Assistant and an Assistant Professor at the Moscow Institute of Petrochemical and Gas.  From 1994 to 2003 Yulia held the position of General Director of Oil House, Ltd., Russia and from 2003 to the present at Ventech Engineers, International, USA,  she has been the General Director, Head of the Representative Office, Russia and the CIS.

Young Russian architects from St. Petersburg - Raisa Sakharuk, Taisiia Makhova and Denis Sumin are graduate students at Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering where they have earned Bachelor of Architecture diplomas. They represent three main departments of the Faculty of Architecture. Raisa Sakharuk is working on her dissertation in the Urban Planning Department with the theme “The formation of the natural and industrial framework in the area of industrial development on Vasilievsky island, Saint Petersburg”; Taisiia Makhova is developing her master's thesis on the theme "Public spaces in the historic centre of Saint Petersburg" in the Department of Architectural and Urban Heritage or Restoration, and Denis Sumin is writing on the theme “The Campus of the University of Architecture” in the Department of Architectural Design. All of them have experience working in design offices, and successfully participating in different conferences and competitions. All are interested in painting, drawing and traveling.