Rastrelli Quartet

A singularly unique ensemble, the Rastrelli Cello Quartet has been thrilling audiences with their renderings of non-traditional programming since 2002. Kira Kraftzoff, Kirill Timofeev, Misha Degtjareff and Sergio Drabkine formed the ensemble with a mission to perform music “between the genres,” and their widely varied programs mix comfortably works by Bach, Saint-Saens and Tchaikovsky with that of George Gershwin, Dave Brubeck and Leroy Anderson. The name of the Quartet is taken from the eighteenth-century architect Bartholomew Rastrelli, who designed the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the home city of three of the four Quartet members.

The Rastrelli have performed in many of Europe’s great concert halls, including the Gasteig in Munich, St. Petersburg’s Philharmonic Hall, Bulgaria Hall Sofia, the Liederhalle Stuttgart and Philharmonic Hall in Minsk. In addition to concert tours in Europe, the USA and Russia, the Rastrelli performs at such summer music festivals as the Beethoven Festival Bonn, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Darmstadter Festspiele, Oberstdorfer Musiksommer, Hohenlohe Kultursommer, Rheingau Musikfestival, Ohridsko Leto (Macedonia) and the Meadowlark Music Festival.

In addition to its European performances in the musical capitals of Russia, France, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Ireland and Switzerland, the Quartet embarks in the 2011-12 season on a 28-city tour of the the U.S. midwest, and to prestigious American venues in California and New York, as well as in Puerto Rico.

The Rastrelli Quartet currently has five recordings (Rastrelli, Volumes 1-5) on the Amphion, TonArt and Manchester labels, as well as a 2008 release with music by Piazzolla entitled “Cello in Buenos-Aires.”
In 2009, the Rastrelli Quartet’s CD “Cello in Classic” was nominated for a Russian Grammy and was given a second prize award.