Music Is My Muse Alex Goldstein says.

Alexander Goldstein after Rotissimo premiere at St. Petersburg State Academic Capella

Not everyone born into a music family dedicates their life to the temperamental and demanding field of music. Son of a Bolshoi Orchestra musician, Alexander Goldstein, an American-Russian composer, spent his formative years under the tutelage of many greats of the Bolshoi Orchestra. He studied music daily from age six through earning a master’s degree at Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow.

After graduation, Alexander was invited to work as a music consultant and composer for science documentaries at one of Moscow’s film studios. Several film scores later invitations flew in from other
studios, including the famous Mosfilm. Mr. Goldstein worked with many Russian directors, including Oscar winners; his scores were recorded by symphonic and pop orchestras in the 1970s and 1980s. Yet, in the USSR, the government tabooed introducing music from west of the Iron Curtain to ordinary citizens. Alexander was not a fan of Soviet pop music. He favored Louis Armstrong and The Beatles, and was the creator of one of the first rock bands in the USSR. His cultural pursuits left an impact on generations.

A rebel at heart, Mr. Goldstein used every opportunity to secretly inject foreign style into his work. His compositions gained popularity with all audiences, even though his Jewish surname precluded him from working in radio and TV, where he was told to take a pseudonym or participate without credit. Goldstein faithfully stuck to his last name. In 1972, Goldstein was invited by figure skating coach Yelena Tchaikovskaya to join her world champion team, paving the way to a special segment of Goldstein’s work – music for figure skating, gymnastics and artistic swimming.

Top: Steven Hoigberg, Alexander Goldstein, Carlos César Rodriguez,  Leonid Shushansky after premiere  of Introspective Trio May 4, 2019

Thousands of hopefuls have had their music program composed, edited or arranged by Maestro Goldstein, who helped get 40 Olympic medalists up on the podiums, and is always approachable for coaches and their trainees. As competitors become coaches to the next generations, Goldstein continues to help them create distinct music for programs and routines. He takes his master classes and SportMusic.com to many countries, and he was awarded the honor of Merit Coach of the Russian Federation.

After escaping to the United States during perestroika and the attempted 1991 Moscow coup d’état, Maestro Goldstein joined his long-term professional companion field of cinematography. By attending New York City media school where he mastered the emerging computer-based audio, video and graphics creation field. As a film director, he has received many international distinctions, including the prestigious Telly Awards.

Mr. Goldstein creates music in many genres from song to symphony. Over the course of his career, he composed music for 27 feature films, 2 silent film classics, approximately 300 documentary films, animations, radio, TV and stage shows, circus numbers, commercials and sports programs.

Some of his recent crossover-style music compositions, including: Trio on the Roof, In the Jewish Mood, and Neapolitan Symphony , were previously performed in Naples. Rotissimo, a Suite for Violin, Clarinet and String Orchestra, was performed at St. Petersburg State Academic Capella in Russia by 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition winner Sergei Dogadin and Julian Milkis.

Left: Sergei Dogadin and Alexander Goldstein after
concerts in St. Petersburg, Russia

Earlier this year Rhapsody on a Theme of Albinoni premiered with La Primavera Kazan Chamber Orchestra with soloists Rustem Abiazov, violin, and Mark Drobinsky, cello, in Lyon, France, and was subsequently performed in Montreux, Switzerland, and Kazan, Russia. Introspective Trio is a multimedia project with live musicians, prerecorded audio, and synchronized video created by Goldstein. It debuted in May in Arlington, Virginia by the National Chamber Ensemble, Leonid Shushansky, violin, Steven Hoigberg, cello, and Carlos César Rodriguez, piano.

Naples audiences will have a chance to experience it as part of the Opera Naples concert series at the Wang Opera Center on April 18, 2020 with Daniela Shterev violin, Antonio Innaimo, cello, and Carlos César Rodriguez, piano.