Michael Kugel

Michael Kugel ( Ukrainian Михайло Бенедиктович Кугель / Michail Benediktowitsch Kugel ; born December 5, 1946 in Kharkiv ) is a Ukrainian violist and composer.

Life

Kugel was born in Kharkiv (USSR). He studied music at the Beethoven Music School in Kharkov, at the Music Academy in Kharkiv and later at the Leningrad Conservatory .

In 1975 he won first prize - shared with Zoltán Tóth - at the viola competition in Budapest, before Juri Baschmet, who was awarded second prize.

From 1975 to 1990 Kugel was principal violist with the Moscow Philharmonic, violist with the Beethoven Quartet and professor at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. In 1990 he emigrated to Israel and taught at the Rubin Academy.

Kugel has lived in Belgium since 1996, where he is professor at the Ghent Conservatory; he also teaches at the Maastricht Conservatory .

He has performed as a soloist with innumerable symphony orchestras around the world, as well as a conductor. Kugel took part in festivals in Lockenhausen, Lille , Passau , Jerusalem , Venice , Dubrovnik , Cincinnati and others. He was also a member of the jury at renowned viola competitions such as the Tertis and Primrose competitions.

Composing activity

Kugel enriched the viola repertoire with numerous transcriptions and his own compositions: a solo sonata for viola, a concerto for viola and orchestra, a suite for viola and piano dedicated to Shostakovich and others.

Recordings

Kugel recorded around 20 CDs and long-playing records, many of them with the viola d'amore.

Web links

• Works by Michael Kugel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Michael Kugel plays the Carmen Fantasy by Georges Bizet and Franz Waxman in his own arrangement for viola