Second Violins

Maria Okuneva

In the orchestra since 2023

She was born in 1996 in Omsk to a family of musicians. She graduated from the Academic Music College at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, completed the graduate programme and postgraduate studies at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory (2021, 2023, the class of Professor M.I. Keselman, the class of baroque violin by Associate Professor M.N. Katarzhnova). She participated in master classes by Zakhar Bron, Boris Kushnir, and Reinhard Goebel.

She is the award winner and laureate of such competitions as the International Violin Competition “Rodolfo Lipizer Prize” (Italy, 2019, diploma), International Violin Competition for the 90th anniversary of Eduard Grach (Moscow, 2020, IV prize), and All-Russian Competition for Symphony Orchestra Artists (Moscow, 2022, III Prize).

From 2021 to 2022 she was an artist of the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra.

WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO THE WORLD OF MUSIC?

My parents are both musicians. My father always dreamed of having a violinist daughter. I can't even remember when I started making music. I remember well that at the age of 5, when I was auditioning at a music school, I distinguished not just notes, but intervals and keys. She appeared on stage for the first time at the age of 7: she played Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in A minor. My mother is a pianist, but now she can probably give violin lessons herself, since she has been studying with me for so long.

WHAT MAKES MUSICAETERNA DIFFER FROM OTHER ENSEMBLES?

musicAeterna is one of those rare orchestras where musicians immerse themselves in the very essence of music. They don't merely play notes; they convey the deep emotions and the profound meaning that the composer infused into their work. Few people study the score in such detail as Teodor and his musicians can do. I would really like to play Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 with musicAeterna.

WHAT'S ON YOUR PLAYLIST?

I love rock music a lot. My favourite band is Led Zeppelin. But, of course, I also listen to classical music, my favourite violinist is Anne-Sophie Mutter. It seems to me that it is important to listen to such music in a calm environment, to specifically free up time, to turn on a good audio system. I don't like to read about a work in advance — it is important for me to keep my perception fresh. Only after the first listening can I look for information about what was invested by the author, what he intended.