ArtistInfo

Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble

Band, *1976
Classical
A.k.a. Mark Pekarsky Ensemble of Percussion Instruments (Ансамбль ударных инструментов Марка Пекарского)

Mark Pekarsky founded his Ensemble of Percussion Instruments in 1976. Before their sold-out debut concert at the Moscow House of Scientists, featuring Dmitri Shostakovich, Vyacheslav Artyomov, Carlos Chávez and Alan Hovhaness, Soviet listeners never heard chamber music for percussion as a leading instrument. Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble debuted with tremendous success in Europe at the 36th Berliner Festwochen festival in 1986. Presenting a program of Sofia Gubaidulina's Jubilatio, Artyomov's Totem, and Daily Routine by Vladimir Martynov, they became famous overnight, with triumphant reviews in press referring to Pekarsky's group as the "eastern competitors" to Les Percussions De Strasbourg (hugely popular in Europe at the time). Solo concerts at various festivals followed, such as Warsaw Autumn, Wien Modern, Sacro Art and International Junifestwochen in Germany, New Beginnings, Soviet Arts in Glasgow at the UK, Fete de la Percussion and Rencontres Internationales de Percussion in France. On the verge of their success, even Melodiya released Ritmo: Music For Percussion album in 1989. Usually, the ensemble features six members on various percussion and exotic/DIY instruments from Mark Pekarsky's extensive collection (anything from Tibetan two-headed damaru drum made of a human skull or Arabian darbuka to skilletophone built from various skillets organized by tone). The ensemble has an exclusive repertoire of over 300 compositions, and several generations of outstanding Russian composers wrote for Pekarsky and his group, including Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina, Edison Denisov, Viktor Suslin, Alexander Knaifel, Alexander Vustin, and Aleksander Raskatov. Current line-up: Mark Pekarsky, artistic direction, multi-percussion Andrey Doynikov, percussion instruments Andrey Vinnitsky, percussion instruments Dmitry Shchyolkin, percussion instruments Dmitry Vlasik, percussion instruments Anton Vashukov, percussion instruments

Members

	Mark Pekarsky perc, dr *1940 RU
	Dmitry Lazarev
	Nikolai L'govsky dr, perc
	Alexander Vinets
	Alexander Suvorov perc
	Владимир Голоухов vib, perc
	Konstantin Kolesnikov perc
	Valeri Fetisov
	Mikhail Zhukov perc, dr, xyl RU
	Kirill Denisov perc, dr
	Владислав Окунев perc
	Andrey Vinnitsky perc *1980 RU
	Ilia Vlasov perc
	Viacheslav Mushta perc
	Andrei Milovanov perc
	Maxim Mankovsky perc
	Andrei Alexeyev perc
	Андрей Дойников perc *1981 RU
	Дмитрий Власик perc *1981 RU
	Dmitry Shchyolkin perc *1979 RU
	Ignaty Matyukhov