Oleg Timofeyev, M.M.
Guitar

Oleg Timofeyev holds an M.A. in Early Music Performance from the University of Southern California (1993), and a Ph.D. in Performance Practice from Duke University (1999). Since 1983, he has been performing early music on original instruments of the plucked family (lute, guitar). In 1989 this interest brought him to the U.S. where he studied with Patrick O'Brien, James Tyler, and Hopkinson Smith.

Timofeyev's recording debut occurred in 1999 with a solo lute album (The Wandering Lutenist, Centaur 2409) and the groundbreaking The Golden Age of the Russian Guitar (DOR 93170). A reviewer for Guitar Player wrote: "The Golden Age of the Russian Guitar succeeds on many levels - emotional, technical, historical - and is essential listening for anyone who is passionate about guitar." The German magazine Gitarre & Laute granted this recording five stars out of five, while the British journal Classical Guitar stated that "Timofeyev emerges as a specialist player of the highest order." In 2000 Timofeyev recorded The Golden Age of the Russian Guitar, Vol. 2 (DOR 93203), which was received equally warmly. He has concertized widely in the United States and Europe.

To collect the scores for a forthcoming album of Russian women composers of the 18th century, Dr. Timofeyev coordinated a two-year-long search in the libraries of the world, ranging from Moscow to New York and from Copenhagen to Kiev. He is preparing several more discs of little-known Russian music of the 18th century for release with his group Talisman. As a recipient of a Fulbright award for the 2001-02 academic year, Timofeyev taught seminars in historical performance practice at the Maimonides Classical State Academy in Moscow and conducted research in Russian libraries and archives.

His recent projects include Guitar in the Gulag: the works of M. Pavlov-Azancheev, and Guitar Music by Georgian Composers, including the works of Niko Narimanidze, Tengiz Shavlokhashvili, and German Dzhaparidze.