Tamara Volskaya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tamara Volskaya is a performing musician whose principal instrument is the domra. She is a Merited Artist of Russia, a Laureate of the USSR competition, and a Professor at the Mussorgsky Ural State Conservatory of Yekaterinburg, Russia.
She also performs on the mandolin. She is a recognized authority in the mandolin world, a regular guest artist and instructor of the Classical Mandolin Society of America conventions and a member of the board of the BDAA - Balalaika and Domra Association of America and Canada. She regularly appears as a domra and mandolin soloist with orchestras across the US, the former USSR and Canada, and has performed in Europe and Japan. Tamara’s most recent achievements include a performance at Avery Fisher Hall at the “Mostly Mozart Festival” with Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and at Merkin Hall as a soloist with chamber orchestra “Bachanalia” under Nina Beilina. In January 2004 she was a soloist in the concerts with the Seattle Chamber Orchestra performing two concertos for the mandolin by Vivaldi and by Pergolesi. In March 2004 Tamara completed a concert tour to Russia where she performed a world premiere of the new concerto for domra or mandolin by modern Russian composer Yefrem Podgats.
Tamara teaches as well as performs. She organized and headed the Folk Instrument Faculty at the Conservatory’s School for Gifted Students in Russia. Many of her students have won international and national competitions. She has conducted numerous master classes on the domra and mandolin worldwide, and is the author of several scholarly works on the domra.
In America, Tamara worked to popularize Russian Folk instruments in the cultural world of New York City. Together with her husband, Anatoliy Trofimov, she organized “Russian Carnival”, a Russian folk instruments ensemble. The ensemble’s highlight of 2004 was its performance at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the “Russian Splendor” program.
Tamara’s repertoire, both on domra and mandolin, spans a wide range of musical periods and styles, from classical to modern, as well as folk music based on Russian, Flamenco, Gypsy, Jewish, and American themes. It includes the great violin classics such as “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” (Saint-Saëns), “Zigeunerweisen” (Sarasate), as well as Vivaldi’s Concertos, “Russian Dance” from Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky), “Rhapsody in Blue” (Gershwin) and selections by Scarlatti, Beethoven, Chopin, Kreisler, Shostakovich.
