R. Bremner, I. von Held, A. Sychra, P. Pettoletti, V. Sarenko etc

Oleg Timofeyev – romantic 7-string guitar (USA)

Where did the Russian seven-string guitar originate, and why does it have such an unusual tuning? What connection did the instrument’s development have with the Third Partition of Poland in 1795? Why were the first seven-string guitar players in Moscow and St Petersburg not Russians, but rather Poles, Czechs and Germans? And how can the Ukrainian dance known as the kozak, or kozachok, help us understand the links between Russian and Polish guitar traditions?

At this concert, Oleg Timofeyev – musicologist, guitarist, composer and documentary filmmaker, and one of the leading international experts on this tradition – explores the fascinating history and musical world of the Russian seven-string guitar. His performance features music played on three historical instruments, the older of which dates back to 1761.

Oleg Timofeyev holds a master’s degree in early music performance from the University of Southern California and a doctorate from Duke University. He has received two IREX fellowships and two Fulbright research and teaching exchange grants, as well as the prestigious Noah Greenberg Award for his CDs Music of Russian Princesses at the Court of Catherine the Great. He has recorded more than twenty solo and ensemble albums featuring music for the seven-string guitar and has taught at universities and conservatories in the United States, Russia and Ukraine.

His publications include a book on Russian Romani guitar playing (Centerstream, 2018) and a critical edition of the collected works of Matvei Pavlov-Azantcheev (co-edited with Stefan Wester, DGA Editions, 2020). In 2023, Cambridge Scholars Publishing released his monograph, the first comprehensive historical study of the seven-string guitar.