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Электронное приложение к журналу «
Международная жизнь
»
Author : E. Pyadysheva
Assistant Professor, Executive Secretary of International Affairs, Candidate of Science (History)
DECEMBER 1991 is one of the most controversial periods in our
country's recent history. Some people consider it a tragic time - the
vast Soviet Union, a great power and our great home, ceased to
exist. For others, it was the start of a new, free, democratic life with
new opportunities and prospects.
At that time, a quarter of a century ago, the State Committee for
Television and Radio (Gosteleradio) decided to reform the huge
system it presided over by splitting it into independent television
and radio channels. That was how the classical music service was
transformed into what became our country's only specialist radio station for classical music,
Radio Orpheus. The story of the station's name reflected the spirit of those times. Its author
still works for the radio. From two names put before Gosteleradio's top brass - Garmoniya (Har-
mony) and Orpheus (Orpheus), - they chose the latter, gender being the stated reason (garmoniya
is a feminine noun in Russian).
Due to its professionally selected repertoires (or playlists in radio speak), Radio Orpheus has a
large spectrum of listeners, whose preferences range fromWagner and Mozart to Duke Ellington
and Alexey Kozlov.
One reason for Radio Orpheus's top class repertoires iss that it chooses from Russia's best or-
chestras, ensembles, and choirs overseen by the Russian State TV and Radio Music Center.
Radio Orpheus also represents Russia in UNESCO. It takes part in juries of the International
Rostrum of Composers, an international competition under the aegis of UNESCO.
Radio Orpheus is a dynamically developing station, which uses cutting-edge technology. Very
soon, it will post videos of all its programs online. It stores recordings of concerts and perform-
ances by musicians of the Russian State TV and Radio Music Center on its website,
http://www.muzcentrum.ru By the way, you would definitely enjoy watching videos of jubilee
concerts that took place at the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions in Moscow early in
December.
One reason for Radio Orpheus's top class repertoires is that chooses from Russia's best orches-
tras, ensembles, and choirs.
It has also transpired that there is no library like that anywhere in the world. Nor does anyone
else have unique multimedia projects such as Reviving the Legacy of Russian Composers, which
owes its emergence to research and educational work by the management of the station and the
staff of its library.
Radio is, of course, an information and entertainment genre.
But Radio Orpheus is also an educational broadcaster. Its listeners will develop a sense of pride
Radio Orpheus, Russia's First Classical Music Broadcaster, Turns
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