Yuriy A. Sidorov

Performer, teacher.

He was born in 1958. In 1977 he graduated from the Music College in Marks (bayan class of V. V. Titov), in 1982 from the Gnesin State Musical and Pedagogical Institute (now the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music) in Moscow (bayan class of B. M. Yegorov), and in 1990 he completed a postgraduate assistant traineeship there under B. M. Yegorov.

Yury Alexandrovich Sidorov is one of the most prominent Russian and international exponents of the multi‑timbral free‑bass bayan, an Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation (1997), Professor of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music (2010) and laureate of the international Vogtland Music Days competition in Klingenthal, Germany (1979, Second Prize).

In 1979, while a second‑year student at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, he won a competition for the post of soloist and principal bayan with the N. P. Osipov National Academic Russian Folk Orchestra. Since April 1979 he has maintained an active concert career in Russia, the CIS and further abroad. His recitals have been successfully received in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia and South Africa.

In South Africa he has performed both in recitals and as soloist with the Johannesburg SABC Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of the Pretoria Opera and Ballet Theatre, playing N. Ya. Chaykin’s Concerto No. 1 for bayan and symphony orchestra and A. L. Repnikov’s Concerto No. 3 (in 1994 and 1997 respectively).

From 1987 to 1989, as a soloist of the Mosconcert Philharmonic Studio, he gave more than one hundred concerts across Russia, from Arkhangelsk to Chita. Since 1989, in addition to his solo career, he has been a member and soloist of the concert ensembles Russian Festival, Moscow Balalaikas and Philharmonia, as well as the duo Duosidorov with All‑Russian Competition laureate Irina Dyakonova (domra).

With the Russian Festival, Moscow Balalaikas and Philharmonia soloist ensembles he has given more than one thousand concerts in the United States (by invitation of Columbia Artists), Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Poland. Performances have taken place in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall (where he has appeared as a soloist, for example in Henryk Wieniawski’s Scherzo‑Tarantella, New York, February 1999), the Concertgebouw (with repeated performances of V. Gridin’s «A Cossack Rode beyond the Danube», Amsterdam, more than ten times between 1994 and 2012), the Gulbenkian Centre (Lisbon, July 1998) and Expo 1998 (Lisbon), where he performed together with People’s Artist of the USSR Zurab Sotkilava.

He has appeared with Russian folk orchestras in Moscow, St Petersburg, Cherepovets, Kazan, Yakutsk, Yaroslavl, Izhevsk, Tula and Kemerovo. In Moscow he has given more than one hundred concerts with the N. P. Osipov National Academic Russian Folk Orchestra, the State Academic Russian Folk Ensemble Rossiya named after L. G. Zykina and the State Academic Russian Folk Choir Boyan, performing at the Moscow International House of Music, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Columned Hall of the House of Unions, the Composers’ House and the Grand Hall of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. He has performed under conductors N. N. Kalinin, A. I. Poletayev, V. F. Gridin, V. A. Ponkin, B. S. Voron and others.

Yu. A. Sidorov has recorded dozens of concert programmes for LPs and CDs with the labels Melodiya (1987, 1989), Russky Disk (1991, 1992), SABANOU PRODUCTION (Switzerland, 1995, 1999), FIDELIO and KOCH INTERNATIONAL (1989, 1991).

These LPs and CDs, featuring both solo and ensemble performances, have been released in large print‑runs in Russia and abroad. In addition, around ten CDs have been recorded with conductor Marcel Ferguth (Netherlands) and the Philharmonia Soloists Ensemble and the Don Cossack Choir; their album «Russian Romance» was released in the Netherlands in 2011.

One of these solo CDs is included in the prestigious series «Stars of the Russian Bayan», which features Russia’s most renowned bayanists. Yu. Sidorov’s unique artistry has inspired composers Viktor Yegorov, Alexander Nagayev and Yevgeny Derbenko to create new masterpieces for bayan.

He was among the first performers of G. G. Shenderyov’s Concerto for Bayan and Orchestra «Volga Pictures», the first performer of Alexander Nagayev’s Variations for Bayan and Chamber Orchestra, Viktor Yegorov’s Slavic Triptych and «Bait», and Yevgeny Derbenko’s Sonata No. 1 in classical style, among others. These works were premiered in the Composers’ House Concert Hall and the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music Concert Hall during Moscow Autumn festivals. Yu. Sidorov has taken part in international festivals in Moscow («Bayan and Bayanists») and St Petersburg, performing music by bayan classics Georgy Shenderyov and Albin Repnikov.

Since 1988 he has taught at the Folk Instruments Department of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. He has trained dozens of highly qualified performers, including around ten winners and prize‑winners of major all‑Russian and international competitions. One of his graduates, Dmitry Dmitrienko, is now Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the State Academic Russian Folk Ensemble Rossiya named after L. G. Zykina.

With the Rossiya Ensemble he has appeared as soloist with orchestra in the concert programmes «Days of Russian Culture in Tajikistan» and «Days of Russian Culture in Moldova» (2011), performing in the largest and most prestigious halls in both countries. Yu. Sidorov is regarded as one of the finest interpreters of works by legendary Russian bayanists Ivan Panitsky, Georgy Shenderyov and Viktor Gridin.

For his performance of Viktor Gridin’s «Gypsy Rhapsody» for bayan and orchestra with the Rossiya Ensemble named after L. G. Zykina, he was awarded the Crystal Cup and Silver Diploma at the Twenty‑Eighth Musical Spring International Arts Festival in Pyongyang (DPRK), dedicated to the centenary of Kim Il‑sung’s birth.

In May 2013 he was awarded the medal «For Faith and Goodness».

He has significantly expanded the concert repertoire for bayan by creating concert transcriptions and arrangements and by orchestrating works for various ensembles. He is the compiler and editor of music publications in the series «The Bayan in the Concert Hall», «Students of the Gnesin Institute Perform» and «Selected Works for Chamber Ensemble».

His educational and public activity extends across many regions of Russia and abroad. He regularly serves on the juries of competitions and often chairs them as President.

At the international competition ACCOHOLIDAY in Kyiv, where he served on the jury and gave a solo recital, he was ceremonially admitted to the «Premier League of World Bayan and Accordion Players» and awarded a certificate naming a star «Yury Sidorov» in the constellation Lyra.

Yu. A. Sidorov’s performance style is distinguished by its large‑scale grasp of form and truly concert‑hall projection, combined with subtle tonal control, refined precision, brilliant virtuosity and sincere realisation of the composer’s intentions.

He is currently at the height of his creative powers.