Ural Philharmonic Orchestra
Ural Philharmonic Orchestra (UPO, in Russian Уральский академический филармонический оркестр, УАФО) is a full orchestra based in Yekaterinburg (former Sverdlovsk, Russia) and considered to be one of the leading orchestras in Russia. One of the oldest Russian orchestras, the Ural Philharmonic was founded in 1936, but it was hidden for the rest of the world until 1991 when it became well known in many countries.
It was formed by Mark Paverman, famous Russian conductor, in 1936 as the Orchestra of the Sverdlovsk Radio. The most prominent musicians of the Soviet Union – conductors, soloists and composers – worked with the Orchestra.
In 1992 it received the new name - 'Ural Philharmonic Orchestra'.
In 1995 it was given an "academic" title (this title is conferred to the best theater companies and orchestras of Russia). So its full name is the Ural Academic Philharmonic Orchestra.
The orchestra uniting a hundred of musicians is famous for its interpretations of classical as well as modern music. It gives 100 concerts every year. The UPO is the main resident orchestra of all the musical festivals of the Sverdlovsk State Philarmony.
In 2000-s the UPO gave some dozens of concerts in Germany, Austria, France, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and other countries and had many honourable mentions in the press (La Semaine, La Liberté, Sueddeutche Zeitung etc.).
In 2005 at the Arsenal Hall (Metz, France) the UPO with the famous pianist Boris Berezovsky recorded an album for a French producer Rene Martin.
The UPO is famous for his collaboration with Emil Gilels, Nikolai Petrov, Boris Berezovsky, Denis Matsuev, Gidon Kremer, Vladimir Spivakov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Natalia Gutman, Valery Gergiev and many others.
It is the only orchestra in Russia that gives more than 100 concerts annually. There are three main forms of the Orchestra’s activity:
- concerts and festivals of the symphonic season
- popular classics programmes of «table&chair setup»
- summer outdoor concerts
Nowadays the UPO has two conductors:
- Dmitry Liss - principal conductor of the UPO since 1995
- Enkhe (Enkhbaatar Baatarzhyvan) - conductor of the UPO (since 1991) and principal conductor of the Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra (since 1998)