Simon Gourari

Simon Gourari ( Russian Семён Иосифович Гурарий , Semjon Iossifowitsch Gurari ), (born February 25, 1946 in Daugavpils , Latvian SSR , Soviet Union ) is a Russian - German writer , musician , educator and publisher . He is editor-in-chief of the almanac for literature and art “Dominante” and artistic director of the international piano competition “ Munich Piano Podium for Young People ”.

life and work

Simon Gourari is the child of furniture factory director Iosif Gourari and his wife Maria, née Weinman. He spent his childhood and youth first in Riga , then in Kazan . Under the guidance of his mother, a medical doctor who also worked as a writer, Simon Gourari dealt with music very early on. At the age of sixteen he began writing poetry and prose .

After graduating from music school in Kazan , he studied piano at the Kazan Conservatory with Emmanuil Monassohn and at the Moscow Conservatory with Jakow Flier . 1967 Prize at the All-Russian Chamber Music Competition in Moscow . From 1971 he led the piano master class at the Kazan Conservatory. In 1989 he became Vice Rector for creative work there. During his studies, but also in the following years, he attracted attention with many concert appearances. Works by controversial composers at the time were also premiered in Kazan - including Arnold Schönberg , Alban Berg , Anton Webern , Ernst Krenek , Edisson Denissow , Andrei Wolkonskij , Lorens Blinow , Arvo Pärt . He performed as a soloist with the Tatar Philharmonic under the direction of Natan Rachlin , Ilmar Lapinsch a. a. on. As a soloist , chamber musician and teacher, he and his students prepared more than a hundred historical programs with cycle concerts in various cities - such as “History of the Piano Suite”, “History of the Piano Sonata” (with Ludmila Didenko-Gourari), “ Mozart : 20 Sonatas "," Beethoven : 32 sonatas "," S.Rachmaninow : 5 piano concertos "," A.Skrjabin : 10 sonatas "," S.Prokofiev : 9 sonatas "," Piano music of the XX. Century ".

From 1974 to 1980 Gourari also studied literature at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow. Meanwhile he took up his literary work as a music critic and columnist in several Russian newspapers and magazines. In 1979 Gourari founded the "Bulak Theater" together with the director Simon Perel, which became an important center of alternative art in Kazan and also staged plays by Gourari. In 1984 Gourari's book "Dialogues on Tatar Music" was published. On Gourari's initiative, major art festivals of a new format ("Evening Kazan" under the auspices of the newspaper of the same name and "Piano Forum") were organized for the first time in Russia.

In 1990 Simon Gourari emigrated to Germany with his family and has lived in Munich ever since. In the 1990s he became the founder and artistic director of the Dialog-Neues Münchner Kunstforum eV association , as well as the initiator and artistic director of art festivals and art projects in various countries. In 1998 he and his wife Ludmila founded the international piano competition Münchner Klavierpodium der Jugend and chaired the jury for many years. He is the author of poetry, prose and drama, as well as editor-in-chief of the Almanac for Literature and Art Dominante . There have been numerous publications and performances of his plays in different countries.

Numerous students of Gourari have won prizes at prestigious competitions, including his daughter, the concert pianist Anna Gourari .

Single track

• Dialogues about Tatar music. Tatknigoisdat, Kazan 1984. BBK 85.23 (2P-Tat) 7.
• Poems. Verlag Otto Sagner, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-8316-1417-2 .
• Everyday music. Verlag Utz, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-8316-1416-5 .
• Stage plays. Mir Collection, New York 2010, ISBN 978-1-893552-75-3 .
• Alphabet of a legend. Verlag Otto Sagner, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-86688-415-1 .
• The suites were bustling. Verlag Otto Sagner, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-86688-463-2 .
• The sound / Звук. DOOC Publishing House, Moscow 2016, ISBN 978-5-9906507-9-4
• "Alphabet of a legend" dialogues / "Азбука легенды" Диалоги. Publishing house ACT, Moscow 2016, ISBN 978-5-17-097268-5
• Maja Plisetzkaja / Майя Плисецкая. AST Publishing House, Moscow 2016, ISBN 978-5-17-097268-5 , 2nd edition AST Publishing House, Moscow 2017, ISBN 978-5-17-103657-7
• Poetry / Поэзия. DOOS Publishing House, Moscow 2016, ISBN 978-5-9906507-9-4
• В поисках середины / Looking for the middle. VS Druck eK, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-00-042250-8

Web links

• Simon Gourari recites
• Almanac for literature and art "Dominante"
• Memories of Rustem Jachin , 2002, National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} annotation.
2. ↑ Munich Piano Podium for Young People - International Piano Competition. on: miz.org
3. ↑ Voices of Time Issue 4 and 5 ISBN 1-893552-79-9
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Семён Гурарий. Rodion Shchedrin and Konstantin Kedrow on Gourari (Russian)
5. ^ Adolf Karl Gottwald: A master pianist. In: SZ. No. 112. May 17, 1993.
6. ↑ Выпускники 1980. ( Memento of the original from December 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Website of the Gorky Institute Degrees 1980. 
7. ↑ Семен Гурарий. Gourari via Perel
8. ↑ Впервые в СССР "Пианофорум" In: Вечерняя Казань (Evening Kazan) November 18, 1988
9. ↑ Barbara Link: I was ready to fall on my face. In: Jüdische Allgemeine. February 9, 2006.
10. ↑ www.dialogkunstforum-muenchen.de website of the association
11. ^ Piano concert in the Buchheim Museum. In: Münchner Merkur. April 23, 2012.
12. ^ Lions Music Prize 2007 - for the instrument PIANO. on: lions-bayern-ost.de , March 11, 2007.
13. ↑ The anniversary program in the gallery. In: Donaukurier. July 21, 2006.
14. ↑ Kristina Gerhard: Non-commercial at a high level. In: Neue Musikzeitung. No. 10/12, 2012.
15. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. podium-fuer-junge-solisten.de 
16. ↑ Won main and seven special prizes. ( Memento of the original from December 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Wetterauer Zeitung. August 11, 2011. 
17. ^ German-Russian events. Culture Bavaria. on: kulturportal-russland.de , June 23, 2010.
18. ↑ Young master pianists at: Bayreuth.Bayern-online.de November 30, 2009