Gleb Karpushkin

(french horn)

About Gleb Karpushkin

Honored Artist of Russian Federation Gleb Karpushkin (b. 1967) is one of a few performers presenting French horn as a solo instrument. After graduating from the first in USSR music school specialized in wind instruments (studies with A. Bisembin) and the Central Music school of the Moscow Conservatory under A. Demin, he entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1985, to study with A. Demin and I. Lifanovsky. In 1988, he won the position of the principal horn with the State Symphony orchestra of the Minstry of Culture under the baton of G. Rozhdestvensky. The same year was marked by winning the First Prize at the All-Soviet Union Brass Competition. Mr. Karpushkin has worked with several of Russia's leading orchestras including the Great Tchaikovsky Symphony orchestra (V. Fedoseyev, conductor) and the Russian State Orchestra. Currently he is the soloist with the orchestra “New Russia” under the direction of Y. Bashmet.

The musical interests of Mr. Karpushkin are broad and reflect his interest in all kinds and genres of academic music-making. He dedicated many years to “Classic” ensemble of the Moscow Philharmony (a wind quintet and a pianist), and as a member of this group, he participated in many tours, festivals, recordings, performing in historic venues of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. In January of 2004, Gleb Karpushkin toured USA with solo recitals and masterclasses. His commercial recordings of standard horn concertos by W. Mozart, R. Strauss, and A. Goedike are in high demand. After his performance of the Horn Concerto by R. Gliere, a reviewer from “Music and Time” wrote: “Gleb Karpushkin charmed everyone with his musicality, refined lyricism, and brilliant command of the instrument”. His passion for the instrument and desire to broaden the repertoire keep the artist looking for more compositions, sometimes beyond traditional technical and expressive limitations of the horn.

Valery Beresin,
Professor and Head of the Performance History department of Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

Photos of Gleb Karpushkin

Photo credit: Andrey Mustafaev