“The feeling of happiness is given to a person precisely through the opportunity to share, to get out of the limits of your “I” and feel that you can make someone happy.”
Vladimir Spivakov

The events taking place today have lead the world community to take a different look at the usual state of affairs. Something that seemed important and indestructible only yesterday, has lost its significance today, and something else, that seemed secondary and ordinary, has acquired tremendous meaning.

The chamber orchestra created by Vladimir Spivakov bears the name of Moscow from the day of its foundation. In the difficult time of perestroika, during the period of forced emigration of the orchestra to Spain, the musicians received an offer, supported by generous financial guarantees, to stay there forever. “There was only one condition, which was not possible for me to fulfill: to rename the orchestra to the Barcelona Virtuosi. In over 40 years of history, we have visited hundreds of cities around the world and played thousands of concerts for millions of listeners. At each performance, the audience greeted us and, together with us, the capital of our beloved country, ” recalls Maestro Spivakov.

The orchestra gladly participates in significant events for the city. Unfortunately, visiting public and festive concerts is not available to all our fellow citizens for various reasons. Just as most listeners do not think about what is happening backstage, so a prosperous person rarely notices that there is a completely different life next to them. Thinking about this, the director of the orchestra, Nikita Lebedev, came up with the idea of a socio-cultural initiative “Virtuosi for MOSCOW”, which was immediately supported by the artistic director of the orchestra, Vladimir Spivakov. As part of the project, an annual series of charity concerts is held in public and private organizations of the capital, aimed at supporting vulnerable groups of the population.

For the “Moscow Virtuosi”, not only professionalism and skill, but also human qualities, high ethics of relations have always been and remain in the first place in importance. Therefore, the project “Virtuosi for MOSCOW” can rightfully be considered the social mission of the orchestra.

The first performance as part of the socio-cultural initiative took place on March 23, 2021, in the cultural and educational space “Favor”. The concert was a gift for the women participating in the “Save a Life” charity program (an aggregator of assistance to families in Russia; since 2015, the programme has been providing psychological, legal, food, clothing and other assistance, providing temporary housing, retraining and employment for pregnant women and families in need with kids).

Since then, the musicians have performed at the Central Clinical Hospital of St. Alexis, the Moscow House of Public Organizations, the Gerontological Center “Konkovo” and the Morozov Children’s City Clinical Hospital.

The orchestra regularly performs at the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad in support of the wards of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy. The permanent host of these events is People’s Artist of Russia Ilze Liepa. The amount collected from the sale of concert tickets in favor of the monastery’s wards amounted to about 1 million rubles.

On May 15, 2023, at the Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, a concert was held under the direction of Maestro Spivakov with the participation of the artist of the Youth Opera Program of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia Lilit Davtyan (soprano). All funds raised (about 2 million rubles) were sent to support the Elizabethan Orphanage for girls with Down syndrome and children with disabilities.

Over the three seasons of the initiative’s existence, 12 concerts were held.