EXPROMT-QUINTET
Andrey DEMIDOV, balalaika
Ilya MATVEEV, domra
Konstantin ILGIN, guitar
Sergey POGURTSEV, bayan
Guy DAVTYAN, double bass

Artists of the “Expromt-quintet” ensemble are highly talented musicians who master all styles of classical, romantic and modern music. My personal collaboration with this wonderful group (which has repeatedly performed “The Conjuration” from the Exotic Suite) has brought great creative satisfaction, and also had a special success with the public.
Sergei Slonimsky, composer

Inside the ensemble polyphony of St. Petersburg, “Expromt-quintet” leeds its own unique melody for many years. This melody is light and virtuoso, it pleases, delights and makes you wait for new programs, concerts, discs. The ensemble is lucky and loved by the public: the pleasure brought by youth, talent and tireless creative improvement is always rewarded a hundredfold.
Lydia Volchek, director of the International Conservatory Week festival

The Expromt-quintet occupies a special position in the musical world of St. Petersburg. The unique timbre of the ensemble, its “voice” characterizes the consonance of classical and Russian folk instruments, which are in the hands of highly professional musicians. The participants of the Expromt are graduates and currently are teachers of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov, within the walls of this oldest conservatory in Russia, the team was founded in 1999. In 2001 the ensemble won the first prize at the All-Russian Competition for Folk Instrument Performers, and then the first prize at the Open St. Petersburg Competition for Variety Artists.
The Expromt-quintet regularly performs on the stages of leading concert halls of St.Petersburg, recitals and performances of the ensemble took place on Grand and Small Halls of the St.Petersburg Philharmonic, Glazunov Hall of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, S.Prokofiev Hall and the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theater, on the stage of the Big Concert Hall, as well as many other prestigious concert venues in the city.

The geography of tours of the ensemble is wide, it includes many cities of Russia (Moscow, Tver, Chelyabinsk, Orel, Simferopol, Pskov, Veliky Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Vyborg and others), as well as many countries: Holland, Finland, Germany, Scotland, Italy, Denmark, Spain, USA, Estonia, Colombia, France, Switzerland.

The main directions of the ongoing creative search of the musicians of the group are: preservation and development of the best traditions of the academic school in the transcription of classical works, searching for new musical ideas in the sound of ethnic, popular pop and jazz themes, as well as fruitful cooperation with leading musicians of St. Petersburg, including: soloists of the Academic Capella of St. Petersburg Honored Artists of Russia Petr Migunov (bass), Oleg Trofimov (tenor), teachers of the St. Petersburg Conservatory Oleg Vainshtein (piano), Chingiz Osmanov (violin), laureate of international competitions, winner of the Live Sound show on the Russia-1 TV channel Albert Zhalilov (baritone).