SERGEY KUNGUROV                                return to main Siberian Highway page                  Home

Sergey Kungurov is an Udmurtian artist, composer, educator and ethno-instrumentalist who is recognized throughout the Udmurt Republic for reviving from extinction one of the most legendary of all the traditional Udmurtian musical instruments: the Krez. Since 1989, Mr. Kungurov has made and restored more that seventy Krezes, which are now being played by musicians in Russia, Finland, Germany, Norway, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Spain, USA, UK and Canada.
After finishing the St.Petersburg State Conservatoire in 1989, he authored a course on playing the Krez. He also started an experimental study of traditional Udmurtian instruments in the Udmurt Ministry of Culture Boarding School. From these beginnings as an educator he went on to organize dozens of seminars for music teachers from all over the Udmurt Republic, as well as numerous scientific conferences on various aspects of ethnomusicology.

Sergey Kungurov with Krez
· 1994, his music was used as a sound-track for the first Udmurtian movie, The Shadows of Alangasar.
· 1995, organized a program on traditional music for the Udmurt State Television Company.
· 1996, established the first professional Orchestra of Folk Instruments which included three Krezes. The main goal of the orchestra was to promote and to develop traditional music. From 1999-2003, soloists of the orchestra - Kungurov's pupils - won several prizes in national and Finno-Ugric festivals.
· 1999, Mr. Kungurov played the Krez in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow - it was the first time a Krez had ever been on its stage.
· 2003, won second place in Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod ( Wales)
From 2003 through 2004, in co-operation with Patrick Hazell from the United States, took part in series of cultural events in Udmurtia:
· master-classes on improvisation on traditional instruments for students from various musical institutions in the Udmurt Republic capitol city, Izhevsk ( November 2003)
· Fantasies in "Ethno Style" - a concert with the Tchaikovsky Chamber Choir, Patrick Hazell, and Nadja Utkina (November 2003)
· Izhevsk Valley Ambient Bell Project ( June 2004),
· Mikhail Kalashnikov 85th Birthday Jubilee ( November 2005), (This was a nation-wide celebration of the famous arms inventor who's main production facility is in Izhevsk)
· 2004, represented the Volga Region of Culture in an international cultural forum in France

Sergey Kungurov is the author of two instructional books about traditional instruments and also released a compact disc (CD) recording of traditional music in 2003. In 2004, electronic remixes of Kungurov's performances on the Krez were made by local musicians and released on (CD) in Izhevsk. At this time (2005), Mr. Kungurov is a professor of traditional instruments in the Institute of Arts and Design at the Udmurt State University, and is a member of the Russian Association of Conductors.