Andrei Volkonsky

Prince Andrei Mikhaylovich Volkonsky (also Andrey, André, Mikhailovich, Michailovich, Volkonski, Volkonskiy) (; 14 February 1933 – 16 September 2008) was a Russian composer of classical music and harpsichordist. He was a key figure in Early Music Revival in Russia. Biography A descendant of Volkonsky, Russian aristocratic princely family in exile, he was born in Geneva in 1933. As a child he played his improvisations to Sergei Rachmaninoff. Then he studied piano at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève with Johnny Aubert and with the legendary Dinu Lipatti. The Volkonsky family resettled in Moscow in 1947. From 1950 to 1954 he studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Yuri Shaporin, but was expelled for breaking some minor disciplinary rules. In 1956 Volkonsky began the career of a harpsichord and organ player. He pioneered performing renaissance and baroque music, which had hitherto not been played in the USSR. In 1965 he founded an ensemble of early music, called “The Ensemble Madrigal”. He was among the first Soviet composers who began experimenting with twelve-tone and serial techniques. An early work in this style was his piano suite “Musica Stricta” (1956). His works greatly