Tango for You Again

Alexander Souptel was born in Southern Russia in 1948 to a family of musicians, including his father, who was a conductor. He picked up the violin at the age of five and learnt the piano for seven years. He enrolled at Gnessin State Musical College, completing his high school studies in 1967 before graduating in 1972. In 1980, he served as leader of the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra (known today as the State Symphony Capella of Russia) for 10 years, under then principal conductor, Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Souptel was recognised as a "rare and excellent concert master and soloist" by Rozhdestvensky. 1982 saw his first violin poetry recital with the orchestra led by Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Aman Agajkov. In 1986, he earned the Russian Honorary Artist medal. In Moscow, he actively performed as a leader as well as a soloist with various renowned orchestras. Souptel led the Moscow Symphony Orchestra before he served as concertmaster of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra from 1993 to 2013. Today, he holds many performances and nurtures young musicians at Virtuosi Music Centre.

Aya Sakou is a graduate of the Toho Gakuen School Of Music and the Musikhochschule Winterthur-Zurich where she obtained diplomas in teaching and performance on the piano and harpsichord under the guidance of Konstantin Scherbakov. She has won first prize in several competitions including the Pitina Yuping Pianist Competition, the South Japan Piano Competition and the National Music Competition of Japan. As a chamber musician, she has been a member of the Tastro Quartet touring in Europe and Japan. She has participated in festivals such as the Yoshiwa Music Festival in Japan and the Vendsyssel International Music Festival in Denmark. She also frequently performs as a chamber musician with musicians from major orchestras including the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the Tonhalle Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, she has given many recitals in Europe and Japan and has been invited to perform concertos with the Fontinu Chamber Orchestra and the Swiss Chamber Orchestra. BBC radio broadcasted two of her recitals between 2004 and 2005. She has frequently been invited to perform as an orchestra musician with the Kagoshima Chamber Orchestra, the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

For the last three decades, Guennadi Mouzyka has been the one name in Singapore synonymous with the double bass.

The Straits Times critics observed the qualities that set Guennadi apart:

" ... If one had to single out the most exceptional players, it would be Guennadi Mouzyka, who set the third movement's funeral march off with the most endearing tone I have ever heard from a double bass..."

"... Double bassist Guennadi Mouzyka, the Principal from SSO, gave his ungainly instrument the sweetest of voices...".

As an orchestra musician he has performed under the baton of Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Evgeny Svetlanov, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Neeme Jarvi, Eliahu Inbal, Charles Dutoit, Edo De Waart, Andrew Litton and Gustavo Dudamel just to name a few.

Mouzyka has established himself not only as a Singapore Symphony Orchestra musician, but also as a recitalist. His solo repertoire includes works ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. He has premièred in Singapore compositions Natural by Tan Chan Boon and Inner Voice by Anne LeBaron. He also represented Singapore in the world premiere of Anna's Promise by Andres Martin—a 50-minute score for orchestra, solo bass, narrator and background visuals. Anna's Promise premiered in 33 countries with 33 leading double bass players in Winter 2016/ Spring 2017.

As a chamber musician Mouzyka has performed with Yo- Yo Ma Silk Road Ensemble, T'ang Quartet, The Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic and collaborated with Shlomo Mintz, Qian Zhou, Alina Ibragimova, Qin Li-Wei, Jeff Bradetich, and Nobuko Imai.

Mouzyka was born in Russia and studied double bass in Moscow with well-known teachers V.Shulepina, M.Fokin, G.Favorsky and E.Kolosov. He started his career as solo bassist for the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in 1979. Upon graduating with Honours from Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory in 1982, he worked for renowned Russian orchestras, The USSR Ministry Of Culture State Symphony Orchestra under G.Rozhdestvensky and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. With these orchestras he performed in many countries across Europe, America and Asia and can be heard on recordings by the Russian label, Melodia.

Mouzyka is an Artist Faculty in Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. He regularly conducts double bass masterclasses in Europe, Asia and the United States and his past students hold active positions in the profession, performing and teaching throughout the world.