We should promote our talents in world arena - violin virtuoso Marat Bisengaliev

tells about his concert, his plans for future and development of classical music in Kazakhstan, China and India.

According to M. Bisengaliev, this was his first visit to the capital of China. "In 1993 I was in Hong Kong when it was still a British colony. There I performed together with the Moscow Symphonic Orchestra. The last year I visited Shanghai. But it so happened that henceforth I will visit China and its capital city Beijing quite often, because Madame Guo Shan, President of Beijing-based Alliance of Asia-Pacific Region Orchestras appointed me the member of the Alliance. In this regard, as a member of the Directors' Board, soloist and director, I have many plans connected with China", he says.

M. Bisengaliev considers that China and India are the places of future development of classical music, because, as he says, "here you can see the thirst for classics". In particular, four times a year the musician spends in Mumbai (India) where he founded a professional Symphonic Orchestra of India at the invitation and under the patronage of the Indian National Centre for the Performing Arts. Creation of an orchestra of such kind in 2006 opened new horizons for the future of the Indian musicians. "India and China possess huge potential to turn into the centers of classical western music despite their national peculiarities", M. Bisengaliev notes.

To date China numbers more than 200 symphonic orchestras. Probably, it depends on the communistic approach focused on quantity but not quality. "China is "hungry" for classical western music. It works for quantity, but in accordance with the law of dialectics, quantity changes into quality. Gradually, China will reach a new level in this sphere; a new generation will come and then something new will appear. Today there are enthusiasts only, the next generation will be another one", he thinks.

India, former English colony, has quite another culture. England did not leave its western musical legacy to India. "Probably, today India experiences the period when its government and businessmen start realizing the importance of development of the classical music in the country. The economic development of this country makes the middle class of India feel interest in western culture. In this view I would like to note Indian art patron Jamshed Bhabha who built a concert hall and founded the first symphonic orchestra in India in order to ask this orchestra to play Beethoven's symphony No9 for him!", the Kazakh musician highlights.

"In India we use the method of Suzuki. In whole, my mission is to develop classical music in the country, in order to let the Indian children play the violin. In 15 years we will receive the first results", he resumes.

Touching upon the development of classical music in Kazakhstan M. Bisengaliev says our country has both positive and negative sides in this field. "We need time and we should understand: we should change our approach, like in India, to this problem, in order to establish a world-level symphonic orchestra. Quality is a prior issue for the Indians - the National Orchestra must rank among the leading world orchestras. I had founded such orchestra in Kazakhstan, but it broke up for certain reasons", he tells.

In his opinion, Kazakhstan is lucky to have the "Russian school" that has traditions and necessary material-technical base. "But the problem is that we do not allow our talents to reach the finish line. They obtain good academic education here. But we are lack of commercial component; we should promote our talents in the world arena. Regular friendly international exchanges do not give positive results, since this is a quite different level of cooperation. Now I would like to use my position of the member of the Alliance of Asia-Pacific Region Orchestras to bring the Symposium to Kazakhstan, to show our talents. I am working on this project in Mumbai. The abovementioned orchestra is going to perform in February. I also plan to implement this project in Kazakhstan and I hope our authorities will be interested in it", M. Bisengaliev says.

"Classical music is for those who are 'hungry' for high music. This is what I do", he notes.

Speaking about his plans, M. Bisengaliev said he was going to play for Prince Charles and Camilla at the Buckingham Palace together with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. "This is a very prestigious concert for England. If I were an Englishman I would say my dream came true. Playing for the future King means that I am almost a court musician", he jokes.

"On February 4 I will perform in Almaty at the VII Asian Winter Games. I am a nomad and regular trips, flights are quite normal for me. Music is in my nature, this is all what I strive for. I cannot sit in one place long. This year I am moving to France with my family", the musician says.

Upon completion of the talk, M. Bisengaliev wished Kazakhstanis success in the forthcoming Games and said: "The Aziada should give a strong impulse and open new potential of Kazakhstan in winter sports. I hope Kazakhstan will demonstrate itself as a powerful sports empire".

Thank you for the interview!