Alexander Frautschi
Alexander Frautschi (1954 – 2008) – one of Russia’s best guitar players and teachers. The first Soviet guitarist to earn international reputation, to tour in the West, and to win in international guitar competitions. Although Frautschi’s official education includes studies with several teachers, the most important impact came from his father, Kamill Frautschi, whom Aleksander always regarded as his most important teacher. Since 1980, Aleleksander Frautschi taught at the Gnessin Academy of Music. Among Alexander’s own students – more than 20 winners of international competition, including Evgeny Finkelstein, Dimitri Illarionov, and others.
Evgeny Finkelstein
A student of both Kamill and Alexander Frautschi, Evgeny Finkelstein is an outstanding Russian master of classical guitar, especially praised for his interpretation of Russian music. His major musical theme is the guitar music of contemporary Russian composers like Nikita Koshkin and Gennadi Belyaev with their uncanny expressive quality, their exciting dynamics and sharp contrasts. Evgeny Finkelstein has given concert performances in top venues in Russia including the Moscow Conservatory Concert Hall and the Great Chapel Hall in St Petersburg. He has also played in concerts in Vienna, Berlin, Oxford, and many more in England and around Europe.
Viacheslav (Slava) Golikov
Viacheslav (Slava) Golikov started studying violin from the age of 7, but from the age of 14 concentrated on guitar. He graduated from the Maimonides Classical Academy as a student of Alexander Frautschi, but already at that time he also began to study with Kamill Frautschi privately. Golikov performs as a classical guitarist as well as an interpreter of jazz. As a classical performer, he has won several national and international guitar competitions.
Teodor Gladkov
The well-known and well-published writer and journalist Teodor Gladkov (b. 1932) graduated from Moscow University Philosophy Deprtment. Since 1955 Gladkov published his articles in the Soviet mainstream journals. Among his numerous books on the early history of NKVD (precursor of KGB) there are two books on Artur Frautschi (better known as “Artuzov,” the father of Kamill). Gladkov’s first book is called *I Cannot But Believe Him* and due to censorship constraints makes no mention of Artuzov's persecution and death. However, his newer book *The Reward for Commitment: Execution* was published after Perestroika and contains the full account of the tragic history of the Frautschi family.
Antonio Gramsci
The grandson of the influential Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci and the son of the clarinetist and early music specialist Giuliano Gramsci, Anton Gramsci grew up in Moscow. He graduated from Moscow University as a biologist, but performance of early music on a variety of instruments remains his passion. Interested in Renaissance plucked instruments, for a short period he studied guitar with Kamill Frautschi.
Father Alexander Antonov
Father Alexander Antonov received his first education from the Baumann College of Engineering in Moscow. Parallel to this he took guitar lessons from Kamill Frautschi, who forever shaped his musical and aesthetical views. In the mid-1980s, Alexander studied composition at the Kiev Conservatory. During the early Perestroika, he found his real spiritual calling and studied to become an Orthodox priest. For a number of years, Father Alexander has been living in a small village near Konakovo, committed to the spiritual needs of his small community.
Vladimir Skubenko
Vladimir Skubenko is known today mainly as a violin builder, although he also makes cellos, violas, and other string instruments. Since the late 1980s he lives in Prague. He was a childhood friend of Alexander Frautschi, and also maintained a friendship with Kamill throughout his life. Vladimir’s vivid memories of Kamill first inspired the idea for this documentary.
