Performer (violinist), teacher.
In 1971 he graduated from the Special Music School of the Leningrad Conservatory (class of M. M. Belyakov). In the same year he entered the Moscow Conservatory (class of David Oistrakh and O. V. Krysa), graduating in 1976, and then continued his studies in the assistant traineeship under V. A. Klimov.
He has been a laureate of the following competitions:
- All-Russian Competition for Performing Musicians (Moscow, 1969);
- Bela Bartok International Festival (Budapest, 1975);
- Viotti–Valsesia International Competition (Rome, 1990).
He has been engaged in teaching since 1993. From 1993 M. A. Gotsdiner was assistant in the class of A. E. Vinnitsky; from 1995 he has taught in the Violin Department of the Moscow Conservatory, becoming Professor in 2003 (since 2007 working in the Violin Department headed by Professor V. M. Ivanov). He also teaches in the Department of String, Wind and Percussion Instruments of the Faculty of Historical and Contemporary Performance at the Moscow Conservatory.
Since 1993 he has worked at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, and since 1994 at the State Specialised Institute of Arts and the Central Music School. He has taken part in the accreditation of the Music College in Maykop and the College-Lyceum of Music in Novosibirsk.
In addition to his work with students, M. A. Gotsdiner gives training courses and numerous masterclasses in Russia and abroad. Since 1994 he has given regular masterclasses in Finland, Scotland, Turkey and South Korea, worked in the OGI programme, directing a youth orchestra in Italy, and held masterclasses in Novosibirsk, Maykop, Tula, Moscow, Sochi, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Leninskiye Gorki, Vladikavkaz, Perm, as well as at the New Names Summer School in Suzdal and New Names of the Moscow Region in Nizhnevartovsk.
Among his students are laureates and diploma winners of international competitions, university teachers and members of leading ensembles, including R. Petrovsky; Russian and international prizewinner, Gnesin Academy teacher and soloist of the Roslavets Trio N. Baskova; international prizewinner and second violin of the Dominant Quartet E. Pogodina; principal second violin of the New Russia Orchestra under Yuri Bashmet A. Dyryl; Yerevan children’s music school teacher L. Harutyunyan; diploma winner of the Spring in Russia International Festival Sh. Aydin; diploma winner of the same festival and teacher at Anadolu University (Eskisehir, Turkey) G. Ege.
M. A. Gotsdiner serves on the juries of the following competitions:
- Gavrilin International Competition (Vologda);
- All-Russian «Magic Bow» Competition (Perm), as chairman;
- All-Russian Competition (Ryazan);
- Regional Competition of the North Caucasus (Maykop);
- «Open Europe» International Festival-Competition.
In parallel with his teaching, M. A. Gotsdiner has pursued an intensive concert career ever since completing the Conservatory:
- 1976–1985: concertmaster, soloist and conductor of the Renaissance Chamber Orchestra of the Tula Regional Philharmonic;
- 1985–1990: concertmaster of the USSR State Small Symphony Orchestra (artistic director Yuri Simonov);
- From 1989: first violin of the Amistad Quartet (renamed the Tchaikovsky Quartet in 1993);
- 1990–1994: member of the concertmaster group of the Russian National Symphony Orchestra under Mikhail Pletnev.
M. A. Gotsdiner appears regularly in concerts at the Moscow Conservatory, the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music and other venues. He was first violin of the State Tchaikovsky String Quartet of the Moscow Philharmonic Concert Association until 2006.
The quartet, with Mikhail Gotsdiner, Lev Maslovsky, Sergei Baturin and Rustam Komachkov, is widely known to music lovers. Their concerts consistently attract great interest, and the ensemble’s long-standing artistic work has been highly praised by the press, radio and television as that of one of Russia’s outstanding chamber groups. The quartet’s extensive touring has steadily expanded its audience both in Russia and abroad. It has received awards from the Moscow City Government and honorary diplomas from Mexico, France and Italy.
Publications:
- Short Essays on the Violin Art, Moscow, 2002;
- «On Teaching Blind-from-Birth Students to Play the Violin (From Personal Experience)», in: Scientific and Methodological Problems of Teaching at a Specialised Arts Institution, vol. 2, Moscow, 1999;
- «A Word about My Teacher», in: the same volume, Moscow, 1999;
- «A Festival of Music. Young Instrumentalists», in: Musical Art: Performance, Pedagogy, Musicology, collected scientific and methodological articles, Moscow, 2004.
Discography: he has recorded six CDs with the State Tchaikovsky String Quartet:
- Three Mozart quartets (Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, 1994);
- «Quartet Masterpieces: Encore» (Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, 1996);
- Tchaikovsky: Three String Quartets (Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, 1998, double CD);
- Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No. 2, Schubert: Quartet in G minor (op. posth.), Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, 1998;
- «Quartet Masterpieces: Encore 2», marking the 60th anniversary of Victory (Dom Zvukozapisi, 2005);
- Live recording from a concert in Finland: Brahms’s Violin Sonata No. 2 and Yuri Butsko’s Violin Concerto No. 3 (dedicated to M. Gotsdiner).
