Bassoonist Andrei Muravev and pianist William McNally present a program of Vivaldi, Saint-Saëns, and Piazzolla live from the Chicago Cultural Center.
Andrei Muravev is an acclaimed solo, orchestra and chamber music bassoonist. He is currently a member of the Chicago Sinfonietta orchestra and active educator in Texas. Originally from Russia, Andrei holds degrees from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Ball State University, and Indiana University and was a regular member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (one of the nation’s premier training programs for emerging professional musicians in USA). He collaborated and toured with many major orchestras around the world such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St-Petersburg Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theatre, San Antonio Symphony, and Grand Rapids Symphony. Recently, he participated in a four week-long concert tour around Japan with the New York Symphonic Ensemble. Andrei Muravev is a winner of numerous national and international competitions for woodwind instruments and appeared as a soloist with symphony orchestras in the US, Russia and Japan.
The New York Times calls him “a hot item” and “powerful.” William McNally is the reigning two-time winner of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, and three-time winner of their New Rag Contest. His CD release with works by Brahms, Reger and Busoni was lauded as “effortless…fascinating…mercurial… and intelligently curious.” Concerts in McNally’s 2017-18 season include performances in Maryland, Massachusetts, Texas, Mississippi, and Illinois. He completed his doctorate at CUNY’s Graduate Center, where he studied with Ursula Oppens and wrote a ragtime-focused dissertation. He joined the faculty of Texas State University in 2016. For more information, visit his website.