Formed by the Council of Ministers of Ukraine in November of 1918, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (NSOU) is considered to be one of the finest symphony orchestras in Eastern Europe. The orchestra has given the premiere performances of works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Khachaturian, Lyatoshinsky, Valentin Silvestrov and Myroslav Skoryk.
A distinguished list of conductors has worked with the orchestra including Leopold Stokowski, Igor Markevitch, Kurt Sanderling, Evgeny Mravinsky, Kirill Kondrashin, Evgeny Svetlanov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Theodore Kuchar, as well as many pre-eminent soloists that include Arthur Rubinstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Emil Gilels, Gidon Kremer, Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras and Juan Diego Flórez, among others.
The orchestra has gained international recognition and critical acclaim, receiving two GRAMMY nominations, and has undertaken many successful concert tours in Europe, the US, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Vladimir Sirenko has been the orchestra’s artistic director and chief conductor since April 1999.
www.nsou.com.ua