   The Saint Petersburg Soloists : Overview
Elegance and precise consideration, noble coloring of sound and the highest grade of virtuosity .... ("Kiel News")
Elegant technique, extraordinary energy of sound, cheerful spirit .... ("Los Angeles Times")
The artists of the ensemble have leading edge technical skills and great sense; the soloist's expressive manner combined with his sense of style presents him as an outstanding musician .... ("The Voice of Galicia")
The Saint Petersburg Soloists Chamber Ensemble, consisting of 16 strings and cembalo was founded in 1987 as a creative concord of talented musicians - young by age, but in spite of that, already experienced and successful in solo, ensemble and orchestral activities in the leading ensembles and orchestras of Saint Petersburg. Some of the reasons why the ensemble was created : the mutual sympathy, common creative interests and, of course, the personality of their leader. Mikhail Gantvarg, a leading violinist of Saint Petersburg for several decades, is a very noticeable and original person in the city's musical life.
After winning a prize at the Paganini International Competition in his youth, he combined intensive concert work together with performing as principal violin in the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Symphonic Orchestra directed by Yury Temirkanov. Additionally, he started a teaching career in the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory. By the time of the Ensemble was created, Maestro Gantvarg was already a mature and well-known artist with his own creative outlook and performance style. He is one of the last inheritors of the traditions of the legendary Saint Petersburg violin school, which gave birth to a whole "constellation" of world famous violinists. Trying to keep its best traditions, Maestro Gantvarg is always in search of new ways of expression, sometimes coming to non-traditional, even paradoxical performance solutions. His generous and "classic" playing manner, is combined with creative freedom and improvisational embellishments bits, resulting in a total absence of routine. He is always in the process of co-creation with the author of the music he plays.
The main principles of Maestro Gantvarg's playing are brought to realization with his colleagues - the musicians of the Saint Petersburg Soloists Chamber Ensemble. The leader directs the whole Ensemble, which reacts sensitively to any manifestation of his performance style. Qualities like close concentration on timing, sharp expression of rhythm changes, a high degree of performance freedom and a rich timbre palette are most noticeable in the Ensemble's performances. These "traits" are the reasons for the originality of the Ensemble and always attract audiences' attention.
The repertoire of the Ensemble is very broad; and with this diversity, it shows the artistic taste of its leader and the musicians. Among the most played pieces are : the "golden" pages of Baroque and Renaissance music (Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel, Bach and Pergolesi), Germanic classics (Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven), masterpieces of romantic music (Rossini, Grieg and Tchaikovsky). An important part is the music of the 20th century (Prokofiev, Schostakovitch, Schnitke, Bartok, Barber and Britten). The very newest pieces are often brought to the audience by the musicians of the Ensemble, among these are pieces written by the composers of their own city (A. Petrov, B. Arapov, G. Korchmar and P. Gekker).
The Ensemble is permanently resident in Saint Petersburg, but has also tours to Moscow and other cities of Russia and the former Soviet Union. Also there are the foreign tours of the Ensemble, frequently part of international festivals. The countries visited include : the USA, Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Finland, the former Yugoslavia, Italy, Israel, Hungary, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Mexico.
The Saint Petersburg Soloists have recorded and released more then 30 CDs. These include "The Piano and Violin Concertos of Mozart"; a monumental cycle of works by Vivaldi entitled "Harmonic Inspiration", "Fancies" and "The Four Seasons"; the uniquely technically difficulty met in Beethoven's "Great Fugue"; "Six Sonatas by Rossini"; and an extensive series of Bach's instrumental concertos.
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