Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble

Mark Pekarsky founded his Ensemble of Percussion Instruments in 1976. Before their sold-out debut concert at the Moscow House of Scientists, featuring Dmitri Shostakovich, Vyacheslav Artyomov, Carlos Chávez and Alan Hovhaness, Soviet listeners never heard chamber music for percussion as a leading instrument. Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble debuted with tremendous success in Europe at the 36th Berliner Festwochen festival in 1986. Presenting a program of Sofia Gubaidulina's Jubilatio, Artyomov's Totem, and Daily Routine by Vladimir Martynov, they became famous overnight, with triumphant reviews in press referring to Pekarsky's group as the "eastern competitors" to Les Percussions De Strasbourg (hugely popular in Europe at the time). Solo concerts at various festivals followed, such as Warsaw Autumn, Wien Modern, Sacro Art and International Junifestwochen in Germany, New Beginnings, Soviet Arts in Glasgow at the UK, Fete de la Percussion and Rencontres Internationales de Percussion in France. On the verge of their success, even Melodiya released 4190255 album in 1989. Usually, the ensemble features six members on various percussion and exotic/DIY instruments from Mark Pekarsky's extensive collection (anything from Tibetan two-headed damaru drum made of a human skull or Arabian darbuka to skilletophone built from various skillets organized by tone). The ensemble has an exclusive repertoire of over 300 compositions, and several generations of outstanding Russian composers wrote for Pekarsky and his group, including Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina, Edison Denisov, Viktor Suslin, Alexander Knaifel, Alexander Vustin, and Aleksander Raskatov. Current line-up: Mark Pekarsky, artistic direction, multi-percussion Andrey Doynikov, percussion instruments Andrey Vinnitsky, percussion instruments Dmitry Shchyolkin, percussion instruments Dmitry Vlasik, percussion instruments Anton Vashukov, percussion instruments