Russian musician and composer
Arkady Shilkloper (; born 17 October 1956) is a Russian multi-instrumentalist (horn, alphorn, flugelhorn, corno da caccia, didgeridoo, shofar, and others) and composer, currently living in Berlin. He is known as one of the best jazz performers on horn and alphorn.
Biography.
Shilkloper was born in Moscow and started playing alto horn at the age of six and switched to horn in 1967. At the age of eleven he entered the Moscow Military Music School. After two years of military service (1974–76), he studied at the Moscow Gnessin Institute (Gnessin Russian Academy of Music; 1976–81). At the same time he began his career in the orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre (1978–85) and also began his first jazz activities.
In 1984, he formed a duo with his colleague from the Bolshoi Theatre, bassist Mikhail Karetnikow, with whom he recorded the LP "Move". (Melodiya, С60 26043 003). From 1985 to 1989, he played with A. Kirichenko and S. Letov in the band Tri-O (LP "Three Holes"). At the same period he was a member of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.
Since 1986, he has collaborated with pianist Mikhail Alperin. Their first album, "Wave of Sorrow" (1990), was the first Russian album on ECM. Later, Shilkloper participated in three more Alperin recordings for ECM: «North Story» (1997), «First Impression» (1999) and «Her First Dance» (2008).
In 1990, the Alperin-Shilkloper duo invited Sergey Starostin, a Moscow Conservatory-educated clarinetist and a researcher of Russian authentic folklore music, which results in the creation of "Moscow Art Trio". The trio tours regularly, though its members now live in three different countries; it was one of the most interesting and well-known Ethno Jazz groups from Russia. In Russia, their albums were released by Boheme Music; in Europe by Jaro.
In 1990, Shilkloper visited US for the first time. According to Leonard Feather from the "Los Angeles Times", "the Soviet horn virtuoso was one of four Jazzmen from the Soviet Union who arrived here last week to take part in the 23rd annual University of Idaho Jazz Festival at his home town's namesake city. Shilkloper, 33, on his first visit to the United States was the artistic sensation of the four-day event."
Since 1995, Arkady Shilkloper plays in "Pago Libre" with Austrian violinist Tscho Theissing, Swiss pianist John Wolf Brennan and Austrian bassist Georg Breinschmid (since January 2012, new member on double bass: Tom Götze from Dresden).
Since 1998, Arkady has played the alphorn. His "Pilatus", "Presente Para Moscou" and "Zum Gipfel und zurück" albums feature a lot of his alphorn playing. In 1998–2002, Shilkloper performed with Europe's leading big band, the Vienna Art Orchestra. In 2000, Arkady put together the "Mauve Trio" with "Alegre Corrêa" (guitar) and Georg Breinschmid (double bass). Their debut album "Mauve" (Quinton Records, 2002) was awarded the prestigious Hans Koller Prize of Austria as the "CD of the Year".
In 2004, he gave the first performance of the Concerto for Alphorn and Orchestra of Daniel Schnyder, a work commissioned by the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad. In 2012, he started a collaboration with overtone singer Christian Zehnder and John Wolf Brennan.
In 2015, Jazzahead presented his duet with the young Ukrainian jazz pianist Vadim Neselovskyi.
In 2019, the Advisory Council of the International Horn Society in recognition of significant contribution to the science and art of the Horn designated Arkady Shilkloper as an Honorary Member of the International Horn Society.
Shilkloper has mastered extended techniques for both the horn and the alphorn. According to Leonard Feather, his control of the horn and his creativity have set a new standard.