Natalya A. Khondo

A composer, member of the Union of Composers of Russia, and member of the Board of the Moscow Union of Composers.

Awards:

• laureate of the 4th All‑Russian Orchestration Competition dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Sergei Prokofiev and the 110th anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich (Moscow, 2016);
• laureate of the 8th International Competition for Performers and Composers «Romanticism: Origins and Horizons» in memory of Yelena F. Gnesina (Moscow, 2016);
• diploma‑winner of the All‑Russian Composers’ Competition in memory of Boris A. Tchaikovsky (Moscow, 1996).

She is a regular participant in many music festivals, including «Moscow Autumn», «Music of Russia», «Constellation of Masters», and others.

She has served on the juries of the 19th and 21st Open Young Composers’ Competitions «Creativity of the Young» (Penza, 2011, 2013), the 1st Moscow Competition for Russian Folk Instrument Orchestras (Moscow, 2015), the 5th and 6th All‑Russian Orchestration Competitions within the 15th and 16th All‑Russian Festivals‑Competitions of Contemporary Music for Russian National Orchestra «Music of Russia» (Moscow, 2017, 2018), and the 4th International Grand Video Competition «Grand Music Art» (Moscow, 2018).

She was born in Simferopol, Crimea. She graduated from the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music in 2000 and completed her assistant‑traineeship there in 2002 in the class of Kirill Yevgenyevich Volkov, People’s Artist of Russia, State Prize laureate, member of the Petrov Academy of Sciences and Arts (St Petersburg), member of the Union of Composers of Russia, and Professor. She also undertook international advanced studies at Centre Acanthes in Avignon, France, under Helmut Lachenmann (Germany).

N. A. Khondo has taught at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music since 2002: from 2002 in the Orchestral Conducting Department; from 2011 in the Opera and Symphonic Conducting and Orchestral Conducting Departments; and since 2012 in the Opera and Symphonic Conducting, Composition and Orchestration, and Orchestral Conducting Departments. Since 2008 she has also taught in the Centre for Professional Retraining and Advanced Training.

Her students include laureates and diploma‑winners of various all‑Russian and international competitions, and their compositions and orchestrations have been performed in concerts in Russia and abroad (France, Ireland, Estonia, Belarus, Kazakhstan).

N. A. Khondo is the author of the scholarly article «The Kind Tradition of the Gnesin House», published in the journal Scientific Notes of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, 2018, No. 1 (24), pp. 92–104, and of the teaching aid «Practical Orchestration Exercises for Symphony Orchestra Instruments» (Moscow: Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, 2018, 32 pp.).

Other publications by N. Khondo include:

• N. A. Khondo, «The Great Silent One», piano piece, in: Around the World at the Piano. Piano Music of the 20th Century, Grade 5, ed. S. A. Chernyshkov (Moscow: Klassika‑XXI, 2003), pp. 70–72;
• A First‑Grader Musician’s Diary, compiled by N. A. Khondo (Moscow: Klassika‑XXI, 2005, 88 pp., ill.);
• N. A. Khondo, «Eight Eighths», concert piece for bayan and Russian folk instrument orchestra, in: Many‑Faced Russia, anthology for orchestras and ensembles of national instruments of the peoples of Russia, ed. A. I. Tsep (Moscow: Metodika, 2007), pp. 130–163;
• N. A. Khondo, Music of the Rain, suite for piano four‑hands (Moscow: Klassika‑XXI, 2009, 16 pp.).

In addition, N. A. Khondo has served as production editor, literary editor, music editor, and proof‑reader for over one hundred books, scores, periodicals, and educational, methodological, didactic, and visual teaching materials published by the Klassika‑XXI Publishing House.

As a composer she has written symphonic and chamber works, piano pieces, music for folk instruments and Russian folk orchestra, vocal cycles to poems by Marina Tsvetaeva, Maximilian Voloshin, Veronika Tushnova, choral works, and children’s songs to texts by contemporary poets.

Natalia Khondo collaborates with ensembles such as:

• the N. P. Osipov National Academic Folk Orchestra of Russia under People’s Artist of Russia, Government Prize laureate V. P. Andropov;
• the N. N. Nekrasov All‑Russia State Television and Radio Company Academic Folk Orchestra under A. V. Shlyachkov;
• the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music Concert Russian Orchestra «Academia» under Honoured Artist of Russia B. S. Voron;
• the Gnesin Academy and Gnesin College Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra «Dusha Rossii» («Soul of Russia») under V. M. Shkurovsky;
• the Gnesin Academy Bayan and Accordion Orchestra under O. V. Tarasov, Honoured Worker of General Education of Russia and Honoured Worker of Culture of Moscow;
• the N. I. Budashkin Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra of the Moscow State Institute of Culture under Honoured Artist of Russia Yu. M. Tkachenko;
• the State Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra «Metelitsa» (St Petersburg) under Honoured Artist of Russia I. M. Tonin;
• the Kaliningrad Regional Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra under A. A. Stepanenko;
• the E. Trishin Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra of the Kaluga Regional Philharmonic under A. N. Lavrentyev;
• the Belgorod State Philharmonic Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra under Honoured Worker of Culture of Russia Ye. A. Aleshnikov;
• the Tambov Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra «Rossiyane» under Honoured Artist of Russia Yu. N. Khramov;
• the Penza College of Arts Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra under O. A. Lyalina;
• the municipal Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra «Russkiye freski» of Oktyabrsk, Samara Region, under S. Yu. Kovaleva;
• the Governor’s Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra (Cherepovets) under Honoured Artist of Russia G. I. Perevoznikova;
• the Ural State Russian Orchestra under Honoured Artist of Russia L. P. Shkarupa;
• the State Concert Orchestra of Yakutia under Honoured Artist of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) N. V. Bazaleva;
• the L. L. Ivanov Orchestra of Folk Instruments of the Mogilev Regional Philharmonic (Belarus) under Honoured Artist of Belarus N. M. Aldanov, and others.

Performers of her music include:

• the «Yaroslavia» Philharmonic Choral Chapel under V. V. Kontarev;
• the balalaika sextet of the N. P. Osipov Orchestra under Honoured Artist of Russia I. I. Senin;
• the duo «Solo na dvoikh» (A. Skroznikova, domra; Ye. Mochalova, domra);
• the duo «Russky aktsent» (N. Dmitrienko, domra; D. Dmitrienko, bayan);
• the duo «Nota Silver» (M. Lugovskaya, domra; S. Lugovskoy, bayan);
• Alexander Gorbachev (balalaika);
• Elena Donskaya (balalaika);
• Vladimir Makhan (domra);
• Mikhail Burlakov (bayan);
• Sergei Shmelkov (bayan);
• Alexander Sevastyan (bayan), among many others.

Works by Natalia Khondo are performed in concert programmes throughout Russia (Moscow, St Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Krasnodar, Simferopol, Tver, Kolomna, Tula, Kaluga, Bryansk, Belgorod, Lipetsk, Tambov, Penza, Syzran, Oktyabrsk, Samara, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Dzerzhinsk, Cherepovets, Vologda, Syktyvkar, Ukhta, Kirov, Perm, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Zlatoust, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yakutsk, Aldan, Magadan) and abroad (Canada, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine).