Eduard Borisovich Fertelmeister (Gorky) is a Nizhny Novgorod composer, conductor and teacher, professor of the Nizhny Novgorod Glinka State Conservatoire, which he headed as rector from 1996 to 2017 before later becoming its president.[3]
Education and early creative work
Fertelmeister's early artistic impressions are linked to his time in the Boys' Choir Chapel. After the Gorky Music College he graduated from the Gorky Glinka State Conservatoire twice: in 1972, from the choral conducting faculty (class of Professor Ye. N. Garkunov), and in 1981, from the composition faculty (Arkady Alexandrovich Nesterov).[3] Already as a student he took part in the popular television ensemble "Rovesnik" (Peer) and wrote its first songs, then went on to lead the ensemble "Spektr" (Spectrum), which became a laureate of the All-Union television festivals of 1968 and 1970. At the same time he directed the vocal-instrumental Gorky University ensemble "Nezabudka" (Forget-me-not), the Composers' Union ensemble "Ekho" (Echo), and the Air Defence Troops artistic ensemble "Sokol" (Falcon).[3]
After graduating and completing military service, Fertelmeister combined teaching at the Balakirev Gorky Music College with the post of head of the musical section at the Young Spectator's Theatre (from 1975), which prompted him to start writing theatre music. In 1982 he was admitted to the Composers' Union and the USSR Union of Theatre Workers.[3]
Compositional work
Fertelmeister has written music for more than 100 drama productions. His major works include the musicals "The Song of Danko" ("Песня о Данко"), "The Devil Made Me Do It" ("Чёрт попутал"), "The Wild Dog Dingo" ("Дикая собака Динго"), the opera-musical "Coco Chanel: Pages of a Life" ("Коко Шанель: страницы жизни"), a symphonic suite for children, "William Shakespeare in Illustrations for Symphony Orchestra", the symphonic suite "Reb Tevye" ("Реб Тевье"), choral concertos and vocal cycles. Still during his conservatoire studies he wrote a Symphony, a String Quartet and a Sonata for violin and piano.[3] Distinctive features of his style are melodic expressiveness, harmonic coherence and an orientation toward a broad audience; the vocal quality he developed during his years in the choral conducting faculty shows through even in his instrumental genres.[3]
Teaching and administrative work
Since 1973 Fertelmeister has taught a choral conducting class: first at the Balakirev Music College, and from 1983 at the Choral Conducting Department of the conservatoire. His students include laureates of All-Russian and international competitions, professors and directors of choral ensembles in Russia and abroad.[3]
At the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatoire Fertelmeister held the post of vice-rector for academic affairs in 1994–1996, after which he was elected rector in 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011.[3] He thus headed the conservatoire from 1996 to 2017, succeeding Lev Konstantinovich Sivukhin in this post; since 2017 the rector has been Gurevich Yury Yefimovich), and Fertelmeister has become the institution's president.[1][2] As a conductor he regularly performs with choral and symphony ensembles.[3]
Sources
- nnovcons.ru — Structure (archived)
- NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Eduard Fertelmeister: "Music gives rise to mathematicians" Nizhny Novgorod News (archived)
- checko.ru — NIZHNY NOVGOROD GLINKA STATE CONSERVATOIRE — Nizhny Novgorod — INN 5260038527 — Rector Gurevich Yu. Ye.