Double Basses

Ivan Ivanchik

In the orchestra since 2023

Ivan Ivanchik began studying the violin at the music school in Tukums (Latvia). He graduated from the Kostroma Music College, and has been studying at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the double bass class of Professor Nikolai Gorbunov and in the optional composition class of Professor Yuri Vorontsov.

In 2020, he won the First Prize at the All-Russian Olympiad of students of music colleges of the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory. In 2024, he won the Second Prize of the International Competition-Festival ‘Colours of Music’ (Moscow).

In 2020, he collaborated with the Ad Parnassum chamber orchestra conducted by Valery Popov. Since 2022, he has worked in the Concert Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Studio of the Moscow Conservatory under the direction of Anatoly Levin.

Since the same year, he has been performing as a guest artist with the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Kalitsky and the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 2023 he became an intern of the musicAeterna Orchestra.

He has been composing music since 2020. He has composed 3 symphonies and several other orchestral works, music for the play ‘Six Reasons’, the ballet ‘The Black Knight’ (unfinished), chamber music, and works for electronics. His suite for string orchestra ‘Ballad’, ‘Silentium’ for string orchestra, and the Second Part of the Trio for double bass, viola and piano were performed at concerts. He took part in the All-Russian Competition for Young Composers ‘Score’ (2021) and the Myaskovsky International Competition for Young Composers (2023).

WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO THE WORLD OF MUSIC?

When I was a child, my mother was fond of opera, and there was always music at home. One day, while she was watching a recording of a concert on TV, I saw a close-up of the violinists and said, 'Mom, I want to play the violin, their fingers are running like spiders!' So I was taken to a music school to study the violin. Later my interest in the violin waned, as did my willingness to practice. Fortunately, I had a wise teacher, Irina Beresneva, who advised me to switch to the double bass.

WHO HAS HAD AN IMPACT ON YOU AS A MUSICIAN?

I was lucky to have great teachers. I started studying with Sergey Rumyantsev, and thanks to him, I fell in love with the double bass wholeheartedly. He treated each student in a fatherly manner, with great involvement. At college, our music literature teacher, Akhmad Ukurchinov, often talked to us about art, history, and politics, because everything is connected in art. He was strict and demanding, but we adored him. In Moscow, I studied with Nikolay Gorbunov, a wonderful musician who guided my musical thought from excessive emotionality to more subtle levels.

IF YOU DIDN'T BECOME A MUSICIAN, WHO WOULD YOU BE?

Since childhood, I have been fascinated by natural sciences: biology, chemistry, and physics. If things had turned out differently in my life, I probably would have become a nuclear physicist. It seems to me that this science opens the gates to a completely different world, and there are many parallels with music.

HOW DID YOU BECOME A MUSICAETERNA MEMBER?

I'm a big fan of Mahler. Summers in Kostroma are very pleasant. One day I was sitting on the embankment, listening to Mahler's Symphony № 2 for what felt like the hundredth time, and at that moment I had a strong feeling that everything would turn out fine. The next day, I received a call from the musicAeterna Orchestra. I couldn't believe it! There's a lot of routine in academic music, but in musicAeterna you always feel like you're doing something historically significant. When we play, I feel really alive. Two years later, it was announced that we would be playing the Symphony № 2, so another cherished dream came true.

WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO IN YOUR FREE TIME?

I listen to different music. The first thing that comes to mind is Russian rock, heavy rock. I love jazz — both playing and listening. I enjoy listening to electronic music or hip-hop once in a while. Actually, I'm currently writing music myself, I devote a lot of time to this process and plan to study composition in the future. As a result, I've started paying less attention to other people's creative work. I often re-listen to what I've composed. I also like sitting in silence to attune to my inner world.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU IN LIFE?

Probably the most important thing is love — for people and for music. Sometimes you feel like a mechanical toy that's running out of its winding. Love in the broadest sense is a key that can restart the gears, set you in motion.