Clarinets

Georgy Mansurov

In the orchestra since 2012

Musician, multi-instrumentalist, composer.

In 2013, Georgiy Mansurov graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory. Since 2012, he has been a member of the musicAeterna orchestra directed by Teodor Currentzis.

Since 2016, Georgiy has been a student at Boris Yukhananov’s Individual Directing Workshop.

Georgiy Mansurov is the founder of THE SEMB, a performance & music ensemble. As part of it, he has completed a number of projects at the Moscow State Conservatory. Together with THE SEMB, he has performed on USA Independence Day at the Ambassador’s residence in Moscow and at the Bass Days festival.

Georgiy has completed a number of projects at the Diaghilev Festival in Perm both as an artistic director and as a composer. Those include the “Kali Yuga” performance in memory of Ravi Shankar (2013), a music/art project based on G. Corso’s poem called “The Bomb” (2014), the “Hypercube” musical mystery based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice (2015), the “Oath” music/plastic sketch based on fragments of the New Testament (2016), and the “Morgana” sketch based on “The Rose and the Cross” by A. Blok (2017).

Since 2018, Georgiy Mansurov has been the director of the performance section of “The Bridge”, a music festival by the Rostov Philharmonic Orchestra (artistic director: Valentin Uryupin).

As a musician, Georgiy has worked on music productions together with Romeo Castellucci, Peter Sellars, Robert Wilson, Theodoros Terzopoulos and Johan Simons.

Georgiy Mansurov has also participated in such festivals as the Salzburg festival, Ruhrtriennale, BBC Proms, and Musikfest Bremen.

WHAT CHANGES IN YOU WHEN YOU GO UP ON STAGE?

The creative process is rather complex and multi-faceted. On the one hand, when you go up on stage, you need to be as focused as possible and distance yourself from your everyday life. On the other hand, you are supposed to be emotionally engaged to the fullest extent. Finding and maintaining this balance is basically the most difficult part of on-stage performance. Getting too carried away and losing control is dangerous — but staying cold inside is just as unsafe. You have to pay attention to both sides. As you can see, it’s a complex but immersive process.

WHAT IS YOUR MAIN PROFESSIONAL INTEREST RIGHT NOW?

As an independent musician (as opposed to an orchestra member), I’m interested in experimental electronic music and old music. That’s quite a gap if you ask me. However, a musician isn’t the only thing I am. There are projects in which I’m the author, composer or director — that implies a completely different approach to creative work. Right now, it’s crucial for me to set my priorities right and to focus on the most urgent tasks. You know, at some point in your life you start giving away all the knowledge and experience you’ve gained: like a projector, you start shining a wide, bright ray of light. That light eventually turns into a laser beam that you can operate with power and precision. I’m going through this very period in my life right now: I’m focusing my knowledge and energy into this precise laser beam.

WHAT GIVES YOU INSPIRATION FOR YOUR CREATIVE WORK?

Life, first and foremost. Literature, art and philosophy are great sources, too. Poetry has a special place in my heart: Brodsky, Pushkin, Pasternak, Mandelstam. I believe poetry is a great stimulus for imagination. It is closely connected to music and to some sort of one’s inner adjustments.

IF YOU WERE TO CHOOSE ONE (AND ONLY ONE) MUSIC PIECE THAT WOULD BE LEFT FOR MANKIND TO LISTEN TO, WHAT WOULD THAT BE?

I’d go with Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier”. I believe that polyphony contains the code to all European music.

WHAT DO YOU THINK MUSICAETERNA WILL BE LIKE IN A FEW YEARS?

Over the decade that the orchestra has existed, we’ve gone a long way. We’ve learned to communicate, worked out our style, determined the sound and intonation we are aiming for, and understood how to achieve that. We are now ready to ascend to a new level of music-making where we will be one living organism instead of a group of musicians. I think it’s an incredibly intriguing moment in our history: we are starting to explore the new prospects that are just beginning to reveal themselves.