   St. Petersburg Symphony : Second Conductor
 | Vladimir Altshuler
Conductor of the St. Petersburg Symphony, Artistic Director and Lead Conductor of its Chamber Orchestra, Russian State Prize Laureate. |
Vladimir A. Altshuler was born in 1946 and graduated from the St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) Conservatory in 1970, where he studied viola with Professor Yuri Kramarov. In 1969 the young musician joined the viola section of the St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) Philharmonic. In the 1970-1971 he served in the army and as of November 1971 came back to the Symphony.
In 1972 Maestro Altshuler became a professor at the Quartets Department of the Leningrad Conservatory, where he served until 1979. Also in 1972, he founded the String Quartet of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, which remains under his leadership today.
In the years 1979-1994 Maestro Altshuler was additionally the Concertmaster of the Viola division of the St. Petersburg Symphony. In the 1983 he graduated from the Conducting department of the Leningrad Conservatory (Professor Alexander Dmitriev) and in the same year became the Assistant Conductor of the St. Petersburg Symphony.
After conducting the Chamber Orchestra of the Leningrad Conservatory from 1983, Maestro Altshuler became the Artistic Director and Lead Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Symphony in 1990 and the Conductor of the Symphony itself in 1994.
Today Meastro Altshuler has become a mentor as well, teaching at the Department of Orchestral Conducting at the University of Arts and Culture of St. Petersburg.
Vladimir Altshuler holds a Ph.D. in Art History from St. Petersburg Conservatory and was named Honored Artist of Russia in August 1997.
Over his career, Maestro Altshuler has conducted at the St. Petersburg Symphony Hall, the St. Petersburg Cappella hall, toured as a guest conductor within Russia with the Moscow and Nijni Novgorod Symphony Orchestras, and in the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Spain, Germany, Finland, Norway, Turkey, South Korea and the Baltic countries. He was the first one to introduce the St. Petersburg audience to "Saul" by Handel, "Orpheus" by Monteverdi (both in authentic interpretation), "A child of our time" by Tippet, concerts for piano and orchestra by Lutoslavsky and Fild, and the Russian national primiere of the cantata "Benauerin" by Orph , in concert version and performed at the St. Petersburg Symphony Hall.
Among the most interesting projects created by Vladimir Altshuler during the last few years in cooperation with the musicians of the St. Petersburg Symphony one would name:
- "Nine Symphonies by Bruckner", cycle performed in St. Petersburg. The last concert of the series was done to commemorate the 100 years anniversary of Evgeni Mravinsky;
- "Four Orpheus operas", a cycle which consisted of the Operas by Monteverdi, Telemann, Rossi and Gluck based on the same plot, while creating the most authentic interpretation possible of each of the four;
- "Music of St. Petersburg Imperial Court", a cycle consisting of the music of the St. Petersburg bandmasters that was hardly performed after 1917, this series was created for the 300 anniversary of St. Petersburg;
- "Classical music in the history of St. Petersburg", a titanic cycle that took several years to perform, in the halls of the State Museum of Ethnography.
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| | Works Featuring Maestro Vladimir Altshuler |
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