Sergei Poltavsky is one of the greatest
solo violists performing the viola d’amore and an outstanding chamber
musician of the younger generation. In 2001 he entered
the class of Roman Balashov at the Moscow Conservatoire,
Viola Faculty of Yuri Bashmet. In 2003 he was a prize-winner
at the International String Musicians’ Competition in Tolyatti.
Having graduated with distinction from the conservatoire, in 2006
he became a prize-winner at the Yuri Bashmet Competition.
Poltavsky has also appeared as a soloist with chamber ensembles
at various festivals in Russia and abroad, among them December
Evenings, Ars Longa, Homecoming, Viva Cello and the Vladimir
Martynov Festival (Moscow), Diaghilev Seasons (Perm), Music
Days (Montenegro, Kaрtel Novi), Novosadsko Muziиko Leto (Serbia)
and Art November.
The musician’s circle of interests is incredibly broad and varied,
ranging from baroque music for the viola d’amore to works by Vladimir
Martynov, Georgs Pelзcis, Sergei Zagny, Pavel Karmanov, Dmitri Kourliandski and
Boris Filanovsky. Poltavsky has worked with ensembles including
the Academy of Early Music, Opus Posth and
the Ensemble of Contemporary Music. In November 2011 he
took part in the Sofia Gubaidulina Festival at which he performed
the Russian premiere of the piece Two Paths
at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire.
Poltavsky has appeared with orchestras including The New Russia
ensemble, the State Chamber Orchestra of Russia, the State
Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Moscow Soloists, Musica
Aeterna and The Seasons. In chamber ensembles, he has collaborated
with Tatiana Grindenko, Vladimir Spivakov, Alexei Lyubimov, Alexei Goribol,
Polina Osetinskaya, Maxim Rysanov, Julian Rachlin, Alena Baeva, Elena Revich,
Alexander Sitkovetsky, Roman Mints, Boris Andrianov, Alexandre Bouzlov, Andrei
Korobeinikov, Valentin Uryupin, Nikita Borisoglebsky, Gaik Kazazian, Alexander
Trostyansky and Rodion Zamuruev among others.