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Valery
Tarakanov was born in 1934. Both his
parents were scientists specializing in medicine; they were great music-lovers
and it was a family tradition to play classical music at home. Valery Tarakanov
graduated from school with a Gold medal. Later, he studied at the Moscow State
University Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty (graduated with distinction in
1956). He followed the postgraduate course at the Mathematics Institute of the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Since 1961, Valery Tarakanov works in the same
Institute; at present, he is one of the leading scientists at the Institute,
doctor of mathematics, the author of several monographs and more than 150
scientific works.
Mr. Tarakanov's musical talent led him to the Vladimir Stassov music School
where he studied as a violinist and later to the Ippolitov-Ivanov Musical
College. Later on, he improved his skills, taking lessons from many prominent
piano and music theory professors. He was especially interested in composition
and studied with famous composers Andrei Volkonsky, Eduard Khagagortyan and
Edisson Denissov. His brother, Mikhail Tarakanov, an eminent musicologist, also
had important impact on his creative life. Among those who played significant
part in Valery Tarakanov's musical development was, surprisingly, his
mathematics professor Igor Schafarevich, an outstanding scientist, member of the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The composer himself thinks that he awes to
academic Schafarevich his ability to feel the logic of musical form, construct
and organize the music (an absolutely necessary part of composing, which does
not affect the emotional side).
The name of Valery Tarakanov is well known in the musical world. His
compositions – the opera "Antony and Cleopatra", Vespers, Liturgy, violin and
cello concertos, vocal cycles, romances and works for choir - are performed in
the important concert halls of Moscow and other Russian cities. Many popular
radio stations – "Orpheus", "Radio of Russia" and others, include them in their programs. Among the performers – most eminent Russian musicians, orchestras, choirs: the choir of the Academy of the Choir art, "The Seasons" Chamber orchestra, the soloists of the famous "Moscow trio" – Alexander Bonduriansky, Vladimir Ivanov and Mikhail Utkin, Mikhail Tolpygo and many others. Since 1995 Valery Tarakanov is a member of the Composer's Union of Russia; he participates
in its musical and social activities.
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