Spring Is Coming. Pyotr Vostokov’s Big Jazz Orchestra

On March 23, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory welcomed Pyotr Vostokov’s Big Jazz Orchestra for a special spring concert dedicated to the great masters of jazz.

The programme featured iconic melodies by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Andrei Eshpai, Alexander Tsfasman, and Isaak Dunayevsky. Each of these composers elevated jazz to the level of classical music, creating instantly recognizable works and making a lasting contribution to the development of jazz around the world, enriching the genre with unexpected sounds and new meanings.

Pyotr Vostokov is one of the most talented musicians of his generation, whose career has risen rapidly to the highest levels of the international music scene. He discovered his passion for jazz at the age of 16, when he joined Vladimir Segal’s Youth Big Band at the Central House of Railway Workers’ Culture.

In 2009, Vostokov graduated from the Pop and Jazz Department of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, where he studied ensemble performance with Alexander Oseychuk and orchestral performance with Anatoly Kroll. In 2006, he became a graduate of the Russian-American educational programme Open World, as part of which he performed at the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival in the United States.

In 2010, together with singer Darya Antonova, Vostokov founded the Big Jazz Orchestra, of which he remains the Musical Director to this day.

With the Big Jazz Orchestra, he regularly takes part in major Russian and international festivals, including Jazz at the Hermitage Garden, Triumph of Jazz, Koktebel Jazz Party, and many others. The ensemble performs on the country’s leading philharmonic and concert stages, is a resident ensemble of Esse Jazz Club and Alexey Kozlov Club, and actively tours throughout Russia.

The Big Jazz Orchestra’s debut album was recorded in 2017 at the legendary First Sound Studio at Mosfilm.

Over the past several years, the orchestra has participated in the filming of major television and online projects, including The Big Musical, The Big Jazz, and LAB with Anton Belyaev. The ensemble has also recorded music for popular films and television series, including House Arrest and Odessa Steamer.