MOSCOW STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (MSSO)
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR – IVAN NIKIFORCHIN
MSSO was founded in 1943 by the Government of the USSR and is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in Russia. In September 2025 the orchestra opened its 83rd concert season.
Due to the variety of programs and the consistently high level of their performance, the orchestra has earned the respect and love of listeners in Russia and abroad. MSSO annually gives concerts at the leading venues of Moscow, actively tours in the regions, performs with invited Russian conductors and soloists, as well as with foreign maestros.
The orchestra actively participates in competitions for young performers and opens the way to professional development for young musicians. In 2024 and 2026 MSSO was an invited orchestra of the International Yamal Symphony Competition for Young Musicians. MSSO is a resident orchestra of the Partitura All-Russian Competition of Young Composers, which will be held in 2026 for the fourth time.
MSSO takes part in numerous festivals: ‘Hibla Gerzmava Invites…’ Music Festival, the Zaryadye Winter and Summer Music Festivals, and the All-Russian Philharmonic Seasons program of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. In 2024, the orchestra became a resident of the Territory of the World – Territory of Music Festival in Kaliningrad, took part in the X International Gavrilinsky Music Festival in Vologda, and in 2025 — in the V Cantata International Classical Music Festival, in 2026 — the XIII Transsiberian Art-Festival.
Lev Steinberg, People’s Artist of the USSR, conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre, became the first chief conductor of the orchestra. He led MSSO until the end of his life (1945). Then the leadership of MSSO was carried out by such famous Soviet musicians as Leonid Khudolei (1945-1948), Nikolai Anosov (1948-1951), Viktor Smirnov (1951-1953), Leo Ginzburg (1953-1955), Mikhail Terian (1955-1960), Veronika Dudarova (1960 – 1989), Pavel Kogan (1989-2022). Thanks to their collaboration, the orchestra has become one of the best symphonic ensembles in the country. In 2024 Ivan Nikiforchin, winner of the First International Rachmaninov Piano, Composer and Conductor Competition, winner of the Presidential Prize for Young Cultural Figures of the Russian Federation (for contribution to the development of Russian musical culture-2024), was appointed MSSO Artistic director.
MSSO is known for performing Russian and Soviet classics, including the premieres of works by Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Shostakovich and Glier. The orchestra’s hallmark is the grandiose monographic cycles of complete symphonic works by the greatest composers: Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, R. Strauss, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Bruckner, Sibelius, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Scriabin, Berlioz, Debussy, Ravel. The orchestra’s large-scale programs consist of symphonic, opera, and vocal-symphonic classics, works by contemporary composers, many forgotten and unfamiliar works, OSTs, and chamber music.
The orchestra has created a collection of recordings, including CDs and DVDs with studio and live performances, radio and television broadcasts. In 2023, MSSO participated in the recording of an Anthology of Rodion Shchedrin’s Choral Music dedicated to the composer’s 90th birthday. In 2024, the orchestra recorded the Symphonic Fairy Tale ‘Peter and the Wolf’ by S.S.Prokofiev and fragments of music from the ballet ‘The Golden Key’ by M.S.Weinberg. In August 2025 the Melodiya company released the album of works by Boris Tchaikovsky, recorded by MSSO and Ivan Nikiforchin at the Mosfilm Tone Studio, for the composer’s 100th birthday.
MSSO regularly appears on federal TV and radio, and its’ activities are widely covered by central and regional media of the Russian Federation.
MSSO constantly creates unique content for social media that is popular with users. MSSO never stops at what has been achieved and tirelessly strives for the peaks that have not yet been conquered.