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Alexey Shor
Alexey Shor
Born	20.05.1970; Kiev, USSR
Nationality	Maltese,American
Occupation(s)	Composer, mathematician
Website	http://alexeyshor.com/

Alexey Shor (born 1970, Kiev, USSR) is an American-Maltese composer, Composer-in-Residence for the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra Academy^[1] and the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra^[2].

Biography

Alexey Shor was born in Kiev in 1970. After the Chernobyl disaster, he moved to Moscow, where he graduated from a mathematical magnet school and studied at the Department of Mechanics and Mathematics at the Moscow State University.

In 1991, he emigrated to Israel with his parents. Subsequently, he moved to the US for his graduate studies and obtained a PhD in mathematics in 1996. He worked as a mathematician until 2016 (geometry, dynamic systems).^[3]

Since he was a child, Alexey loved classical music. He tried his hand at composing in 2012 and started writing short pieces as a hobby. One day his friend, viola player David Aaron Carpenter saw one of his scores on Alexey’s desk. He loved Shor’s piece. Together with the composer, and their common friend composer Oran Eldor, David made a video that soon had over 350,000 views on Youtube.^[4]^[5]

Since then Alexey’s compositions have been performed at some of the most prestigious concert halls, including Wiener Musikverein (Vienna), Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall (N.Y.), Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Great Hall of Moscow State Conservatory, Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg), State Kremlin Palace (Moscow), The Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Gasteig (Munich), Wigmore Hall (London), Teatro Argentina (Rome) and many others.

Mr. Shor’s scores are published by Breitkopf & Hartel and P.Jurgenson. ^[6]

CDs with his compositions have been issued by Warner Classics, DECCA, SONY Classics, Delos and Melodiya.^[7]

Concerts with his music have been broadcast on Medici.tv, Mezzo and Euronews. The Overture to his ballet “Crystal Palace” was performed at the 40th Gramophone Classical Music Awards ceremony in London.^[8]

Mr. Shor’s works have been performed by many internationally acclaimed soloists and ensembles, such as (in alphabetical order) Salvatore Accardo, Anna Aglatova, Boris Allakhverdyan, Boris Andrianov, Nareh Arghamanyan, Guy Braunstein, David Aaron Carpenter, Ray Chen, Veronika Dzhioeva, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Andrei Ioniță, Haik Kazazyan, Freddy Kempf, Khachaturian Trio, Denis Kozukhin, Ji Young Lim, Jan Lisitski, Shlomo Mintz, Andreas Ottensamer, Duo Paratore, Vadim Repin, Alexander Romanovsky, Karen Shakhgaldyan, Maxim Vengerov, Trio Wanderer, Ingolf Wunder, Nikolaj Znaider and many others.^[9]

Shor’s music was used as a soundtrack on the Fox Business channel and such websites as Bloomberg News, Yahoo, the Huffington Post, and the New York Times.

On 21 July 2017, there was a pre-premiere of the “Crystal Palace" ballet featuring operatic parts, set to Alexey Shor’s music. The ballet was directed by Ekaterina Mironova and conducted by Pavel Klinichev, with ballet-master Alexander Somov, stage design by Sergey Timonin and with Ivan Vasiliev, Maria Vinogradova, Anna Aglatova, Maria Allash, and Maria Poroshina as leading soloists. Several more performances were held throughout the world in 2018 The most high-profile premiere of “Crystal Palace” took place in Russia on 10 September in the State Kremlin Palace; the ballet was a resounding success.

Mr. Shor is the Composer-In-Residence for the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra Academy, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and Salomé Chamber Orchestra. In 2017-2021 he is also a Composer-In-Residence of the Malta International Music Festival and Piano Competition as well as the preliminary competitions leading up to the final competitions in Malta (in 2018 and 2021)^[10]. In 2018 he has been awarded an honorary professorship at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory.

Compositions

For Stage:

"Crystal Palace" - classical ballet with opera elements

For Violin or Viola with Orchestra:

Four Seasons of Manhattan - Suite for violin or viola and strings
Phantasms - concerto for violin and orchestra

Seascapes - concerto for violin or viola with orchestra

Well Tempered Chanson - suite for viola and orchestra

For Clarinet and Orchestra:

Verdiana - fantasia for clarinet and orchestra

For Orchestra

Images from the Great Siege - suite for a symphony orchestra dedicated to the Great Siege of Malta in 1565

For Cello

Musical Pilgrimage - concerto for cello and orchestra
Multiple short pieces

For Piano Trio

"Seven pieces for piano trio"

For Voice

Addio

Two Songs for My Kids

For Piano

Piano and Orchestra

"Travel Notebook" suite for piano and orchestra

Solo Piano

Childhood Memories

Travel Notebook

Images from the Great Siege

Piano Trio

Seven pieces for piano trio

Musicians about Alexey Shor’s works

“Alexey Shor is a well-gifted person! I would like to watch him develop and to hear more of his very interesting music.”

– Krzysztof Penderecki

“Amazing music, very melodic!”

– Maxim Vengerov

“We are of one blood, Alexey and I, because we are knights of the order of consonant music that is very melodious and harmonious. This is why everything he does it very close to my heart.”

– Georgs Pelēcis

“Music of Shor is like a feeling of overwhelming peace and harmony.”

– Giya Kancheli

“Alexey Shor’s music is very sentimental, melodious, and filled with love. The history and traditions of the Mediterranean have certainly had a great impact on his style and development as a composer as they are very close to his heart and of great interest to him. Shor’s music has some special features in its harmony, and a special emotional language. In particular, I very much love his piece ‘A Loss’ about the Azure Window. It is beautiful, moving and unusual…”

– Constantine Orbelian

“Alexey is one of those composers who bring light and warmth into our world even if they speak about things that are sad or sacral. He gives musicians the freedom they need and audiences a chance to hear his works anew each time they are performed. This is why, for the harp, one of the most expressive instruments, such music becomes a springboard for revealing its full potential.”

– Alexander Boldachyov

“I performed Alexey Shor’s music in Kazakhstan, Germany and Malta. Alexey Shor is a wonderful modern composer whose style is reminiscent of Rachmaninoff, Chopin. It was a pleasure to present the world premiere of Alexey Shor's work. I hope I will have a chance to present more of Shor’s works in Armenia.”

– Nareh Arghamanyan

“A Maltese composer hailing from Russia, Alexey Shor writes amazingly melodious music. It is all song: you do not need to strain your voice with odd intervals, complicated, un-songlike intonations and nondescript melodies. This music is beautiful. It has tenderness and lyricism, tears and smiles, the sun and the moon… Shor’s instrumental music is interesting and unusual.”

– Lyubov Kazarnovskaya

“I keep finding something new in Alexey Shor’s works. His music offers considerable room for imagination, as is particularly obvious in his ‘Travel Notebook' that Shor imbues with the idea of travelling or an impression from a particular place or city. This gives a great impetus to discovering something new in his music… ‘Travel Notebook’ has a combination of Romantic and Impressionist elements. I like this kaleidoscopic very much.”

– Filipp Kopachevsky

“Alexey Shor’s works are very comfortable to sing and their melodies are easily remembered. These are Mozart-like melodies: clear, transparent, moving. They touch your very heart and you leave the hall full of new emotions.”

– Anna Aglatova

“In Jerusalem, I conducted the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra performing his cello concerto ‘Musical Pilgrimage’ with Boris Andrianov as the soloist. I can say that Alexey Shor’s music was a wonderful find: it is very fresh and beautiful. His piece made a stunning impression on the Jerusalem audience, winning a standing ovation!”

– Dmitry Yablonsky

“Alexey Shor’s music is very pleasant, melodious, and noble; I would say, it is Europeanized: it is diverse and reflects the world today. Alexey is terrific at composing both solos for various musical instruments and works for orchestra, which are of great interest to me personally.”

– Dmitry Bashkirov

“Alexey Shor’s music is certainly wonderful! I can say that it is simple and easy listening, but at the same time, so bright and changeable: it can be quick and unbridled, and even fierce, sometimes it impresses with its calm, peace and tenderness…For example, Alexey Shor’s pieces from his suite “Childhood Memories” are amazing, inspiring nostalgic feels. Alexey Shor’s music is also picturesque, it has different connotations, sound and visual images such as drops falling from the roof, babbling creek…”^[11]

– Vladimir Ovchinnikov