Efim Jourist (13.01.1947 - 13.01.2007)

button-accordion/bayan Throughout the world people think of the accordion as an instrument heard almost entirely in folk music. In Russia the bayan, or button-accordion, has been responsible for a distinct sound development and a culture of virtuosity. Efim Jourist has dedicated himself to both playing the instrument in both the classical and modern modes.

Born in 1947 in Russia, Jourist was very soon recognized there as an outstanding talent. As a student at Chmelnik, he won the first prize for folk instrument in an all-Ukraine contest. From 1966 he studied at Gorki Conservatory and it was there that he made the acquaintance of the well-known composer Nicolai Tschaikin, who had an immense influence on his development as a bayan player and a composer. After graduating he became a soloist in the Philharmonic Orchestra of the city of Krasnojarsk, touring the whole Soviet Union as well as Europe, Australia, Latin America and the USA.

For some years now, Efim Jourist and his wife have lived in Hamburg. He has given numerous solo performances all over Germany. Meanwhile, he has enjoyed growing success with his Efim Jourist Quartet. Comprising bayan, violin, guitar and double bass, this plays Russian concert tangos which are compositions and arrangements by Efim Jourist himself. Jourist and his quartet have meanwhile appeared at music festivals such as Ludwigsburg, Rheingau, Bad Kissingen, in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg, at the Expo Hanover and at the Delft Chamber Music Festival.

Efim Jourist set poems by the young Bertolt Brecht for a programme with Ulrich Tukur at the Hamburger Kammerspiele and also conducted the ensemble. During the Hamburg Music Festival 2000, Jourist was featuring in a solo programme in the Hamburger Musikhalle.

Efim Jourist is the composer of various works for bayan and symphony orchestra that he has played with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony in a televised concert and with the MDR Radio Chamber Orchestra at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. He made his debut in France with the Orchestre de Picardie in December 1998. He played his „Carmen Fantasy“ with the RTL Orchestra Luxembourg at the Saar Music Festival, with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the Rhineland-Palatinate State Philharmonic Orchestra. Further engagements brought him together with the Munich and Nuremberg symphony orchestras.