Mark Pekarsky

Mark Pekarsky (b. 1940) is a Russian percussionist, conductor, founder of Mark Pekarsky Ensemble of Percussion Instruments, musical educator and professor of Moscow Conservatory. He graduated from the Gnesin State Musical Institute in 1969, and has been actively performing on various percussion instruments for the most part of his life. Since 1997, he works as a professor at Moscow Conservatory, and also teaches at Gnesin School. Pekarsky worked with Madrigal ensemble from 1965 to 1990, and organized his highly successful Percussion Ensemble in 1976. As a solo percussionist, he played with Dresden Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, The Turin Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Minsk Chamber Orchestra, The Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and many other ensembles. He organized many unique events and art festivals: In The Beginning Was The Rhythm (1991) featuring world-famous khomus (Yakut jew's harp) performer Ivan Alekseyev, performance Listening Attentively to Mayakovsky (1995) for the centennial jubilee celebrations of a legendary poet in Rome, workshops on Sofia Gubaidulina's percussion compositions in Switzerland and Japan in 1997, Opus XX festival in Latvia (1998), international festival Pekarsky Percussion Days in Moscow (since 2003), Musical Landscapes festivals at DOM Cultural Centre (2005-2006).