Boris Petchersky (1938-); RUS   

Boris Petchersky was born in 1938 in Odessa. He attended the Central Musical School of the Moscow Conservatory, and graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Professor V.Shatskes. In 1961, while still a student at the Conservatory, he was a prizewinner at the Liszt and Bartok International Piano Competitions in Budapest.

Petchersky has performed with such conductors as M.Shostakovitch, I.Cherman, V.Dudarova, G.Provatorov, and others. He has also performed chamber music with such noted artists as E.Gratch, N.Shahovskaya, and M.Tolpygo.

Petchersky's compositions vary greatly. His works include a symphony; concerto for piano and orchestra; the "Classical Concerto" for violin, piano and chamber orchestra; the "Variations on a Theme by Boccherini" for cello and strings; three sonatas for piano, for violin, and for cello; two string quartets, a piano trio, and other instrumental, choral, and vocal compositions. Petchersky also writes music with children in mind. He has composed a ballet "Little Baba-Yaga" after the fairy tale of I.Proisler; a series of piano, violin and cello pieces; a sonatina for clarinet; a series of piano duets; and different chorus and vocal pieces - all written for and about children. An active member of the Committee for Children of the Composers' Union of Russia, he has organized and produced series of concerts for children that include his works, "Snowdrops" and "Dialogues."

Some of Petchersky's compositions are inspired by music of past masters, such as his series of twenty etudes written in memory of Czerny, whose own etudes are known to every pianist. His "Variations on a Theme by Rossini" is another composition dedicated to a composer of the past.

Petchersky is represented each year in by a premiere at the "Moscow Autumn" Festival, presented by the Moscow Union of Composers, and his "Symphony Capriccio" for piano and orchestra was performed in 1994 in Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall with I.Belokon as cello soloist; V.Dudarova conducted. At the 1995 International Duo Piano Composition Competition in Japan, his "What Did the East Wind Tell About?" was awarded the Grand Prize and the Kanebo Prize. At the same competition, his "Dances of Bird Yard" won the Medal of the Duo Piano Association, a special prize from the competition jury, and an award from the Yamaha Corporation.