Consistently classic
Maestro Yuli Turovsky talks pop versus classical music, and what it is to be real
by Johnny North
“When I was still in Soviet Union, I played in the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, which was one of the best orchestras in the world at that time,” said 72-year-old Yuli Turovsky, who was born and raised in Moscow.
“When I immigrated I was thinking of creating my own and that’s what I did.”
Turovsky, who’s been playing music since he was seven years old, immigrated to Canada in 1983. Since then, he’s been all over the world performing and recording chamber music, either solo or with his 15-member string orchestra, his “baby,” I Musici de Montréal.
Turovsky formed his orchestra by recruiting his students from Université de Montréal and his daughter Natasha. Following the success of the first three records, Turovsky started performing concert series—25 years later he’s still at it.
“I think it’s been the same for the last 300 years, with little variations. Unfortunately, chamber music and classical music get a reputation that it’s for the elite, which is wrong. You don’t need special education or a special degree to understand classical music. All you need is to listen with open ears.”
Turovsky performs different forms of baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary music in over 100 concerts a year. He has released over 40 albums with IMM, which have been distributed in over 50 countries. While Turovsky enjoys playing the work of neo-classical composer Dmitri Shostakovich, he also enjoys branching out and playing not-so well-known 20th century symphonies and Canadian composers.
Turovsky believes that because jazz and pop music come from classical music the genres should not be seen as polar opposites.
“They both have the same rules to move people. The classical music that is still playing today is very accessible and it’s of very high quality, which is not always the case with pop music […] people see what is real, what is fake and what is original.”
IMM recently finished off two of their concert series in Montreal: Eat, drink and be merry! and Oxen invades Paris! Turovsky was pleased with the latter as exploring the theme of “Paris” allowed him to explore the classical and romantic periods with different twists—Jean Cocteau’s ballet Le Boeuf sur le toit was modified from the United States prohibition setting.
“We took his story and made our own,” said Alexandre Marine, stage director for Oxen invades Paris!, who was invited by Turovsky. “We had eight actors from École national de cirque and two professional ones, Maria Monakhova and Vitali Makarov. Since there are no words, they tell the story by using their circus skills.”
“He told me ‘prohibition, it’s too far from us, it doesn’t click,’” said Turovsky. “So he suggested a finer idea: ‘It’s a bordello that becomes a hospital.’”
There is no average concert for IMM. If they’re playing, they’re giving you their best. Turovsky doesn’t hold back whether they’re playing Place des Arts or in a small village.
“It’s the same thing for us no matter where. People came for certain emotions to feel with us. It’s our habit to give those emotions.”
The next concert series for Turovsky and IMM is entitled Democracy in action! starting on May 7. In this series, fans can vote at imusici.com/en/cv6.php to create their own program for the evening. The concert will be held at Salle Claude-Champagne, 220 Vincent d’Indy. Tickets are $17 for students.
The Link Volume 31 Issue 01