Yuri Tkanov was born in 1960. He received his higher education at the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1985 and completing the assistant traineeship in 1987 under Professor Fyodor S. Druzhinin, followed by postgraduate studies in 1988 under Professor Vladimir Yu. Grigoryev.
In 1989 he won the international competition in Caltanissetta (Italy).
Since 1989 he has taught at the Moscow Conservatory (Associate Professor from 1994, Professor from 1999). He performs extensively and successfully in Russia as well as in Italy, France, Greece, the Czech Republic, the USA, Korea, Taiwan and other countries.
Since 1991 he has collaborated with the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic.
Yuri Tkanov was the first violist to have his own solo subscription series at the Philharmonic (1997–2005). Critics have praised his playing for its magnificent tone of “incredible beauty and power”, phenomenal virtuosity, vivid emotionality and depth of interpretation.
In 1998 he was awarded the honorary title «Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation».
He maintains close artistic ties with many Russian composers, including V. Ryabov, A. Schnittke, T. Khrennikov and A. Eshpai, and has given the first performances of works by L. Bobylev, Yu. Butsko, G. Voronov, F. Druzhinin, A. Kulygin, M. Kravchenko, S. Pavlenko and S. Turneev.
He has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Union of Composers «For Cooperation and Contribution to the Development and Promotion of Contemporary Music».
Yuri Tkanov’s repertoire encompasses virtually the entire viola literature, and he is also the author of numerous transcriptions that have entered both concert and teaching repertoire.
Selected published arrangements (Kompozitor Publishers):
- «Suite in Ancient Style» for viola and orchestra (2000);
- Piano reduction of the Viola Concerto (2000);
- Alfred Schnittke, «Chamber Symphony» for viola and orchestra (2000, 2009);
- Suite from Stravinsky’s ballet «Petrushka» for viola and piano (2002);
- Sonatas by S. Rachmaninov, C. Franck, T. Khrennikov and A. Schnittke (2002);
- Dmitri Shostakovich, Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra op. 107‑a (2005);
- Sergei Rachmaninov, «Symphonic Dances» for viola and piano (2009);
- «Gershwin Fantasy» for viola and orchestra (2009).
Yuri Tkanov is deeply involved in scholarly and methodological work. In 2018, at the request of Irina A. Shostakovich, he reconstructed the score of a newly discovered work by Dmitri Shostakovich, the Impromptu op. 33 for viola and piano. In 2022, for the 90th anniversary of Fyodor S. Druzhinin, he prepared for publication a complete edition of Druzhinin’s works, and he is currently working on an academic edition of J. S. Bach’s cello suites arranged for viola.
He regularly gives masterclasses in Russia and abroad, serves as a member and chair of juries at performance competitions and chairs state examination boards.
Among Professor Tkanov’s students, laureates of international competitions include Honoured Artist of Russia Anton Kulapov, soloist of the Moscow Virtuosi State Chamber Orchestra and Associate Professor at the Schnittke Moscow State Institute of Music; Mikhail Kovalkov, principal viola of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and teacher at the Moscow Conservatory; Anna Sazonkina, Mosconcert soloist and teacher at the Moscow Conservatory; Olga Zhmayeva, soloist of the Concertino Ensemble and principal viola of the Bolshoi Theatre; and Alexei Simakin, teacher at the Academic Music College of the Moscow Conservatory.
Since 2023 Yu. A. Tkanov has also been Professor in the Violin and Viola Department at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. Over the past year his students Milos Korac (1st prize, «Viva-music all world» Competition, St Petersburg), Zhang Kailin (5th prize, 9th Yuri Bashmet International Viola Competition Viola Masters, Moscow), Timofey Levchenko and Tatyana Filonenko (1st prizes, «Bridge of Friendship» Festival-Competition, Moscow 2024) have become competition laureates.
Selected literature:
- Elena Dmitrieva, «The Violist Yuri Tkanov», Moscow: RGB «Pashkov Dom», 2004, 64 p.;
- Evgenia Mikhaleva, «Yuri Tkanov. Creative Parallels», monograph, Moscow: Pero, 2020, 384 p., ill.
