Mikhail Bugaev

Dear students! Welcome to my online viola class.

I am Mikhail Bugaev, Principal Viola of Philharmonic Orchestra of Minas Gerais - OFMG (Brazil). I have a Doctorate in Viola Performance from Michigan State University, where I studied with Professor Yuri Gandelsman. Before that I earned BM and MM at Novosibirsk State Conservatory (Russia) in the class of Yuri Mazchenko.

Since 2001 and until 2009 I worked in Novosibirsk State Symphony Orchestra and Novosibirsk Kamerata. During those years I have toured in France, Belgium, Spain, and Japan, and had an opportunity to perform with wonderful conductors such as: Arnold Katz, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Thomas Sanderling, Lin Tao, Fabio Mastrangelo, Alexander Lyubimov, and many others. I had an opportunity to work with amazing soloists: Viktor Tretyakov, Natalia Gutman, Evgeny Buchkov, Vadim Repin, Anton Barakhovsky, Nikolai Petrov, Dora Schwarzberg and others.

From 2009 to 2018 I was studying and working in the United States. After completing my studies, I continued working in different orchestras: Lansing, Flint, West Michigan, Kalamazoo, and Traverse City Symphony Orchestras. I was a substitute member in Arkansas, Grand Rapids, and Minnesota Symphony Orchetras.

In 2018 I won an audition at OFMG and moved to Brasil. In 2021 I won the audition for Assistant Principal position, and in 2026 I won the audition for the Principal Position.

As a soloist I performed with Novosibirsk State Symphony Orchestra and Novosibirsk Kamerata, Michigan State University, Livingston Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of Minas Gerais.

As a chamber musician I have participated in concerts with Saint-Petersburg String Quartet, Lansing Chamber Music Series of Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Faculty Concerts at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, MSU chamber music concerts together with Yuri Gandelsman, Suren Bagratuni, Ilya Kaler, OFMG Chamber Series concerts, Festival Semana da Musica em Ouro Branco, Chamber concerts at the Foundação de Educação Artistica (Belo Horizonte, Brasil), Chamber concerts as member of OFMG String Quartet.

Currently, I teach in the orchestra Academy. My previous teaching experience include:

2009-2011 Teaching Assistant at Yuri Gandelsman Studio at MSU

2010-2018 Viola Instructor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp

Masterclasses at Interlochen Music Academy, Arkansas University, Camplinas, Uberlandia, Festival Semana Da Musica em Ouro Branco.

My teaching style is influenced mostly by my orchestra experience, and audition preparation experience. The job market for orchestra musicians was always competitive, but in the last 30-40 years the medium level of the candidates improved and the amount of the applicants grew. Each year more job seekers join, and the capacity of orchestras to provide those jobs is shrinking. Many musicians are looking for other opportunities in the field of music, or create their own opportunities while still pursuing orchestra career and preparing for auditions.

With many years of being that kind of musician myself, I feel that now I can help those who are preparing for auditions with a shortcuts and tips on practicing excerpts.

I have a deep knowledge on how to work on audition excerpts to achieve the best result at the moment. That includes not only technical skills required to perform, but also psychological preparation and stylistic and cultural framework to become a candidate that orchestra would be interested in hiring: the orchestra player who is not just bringing a professionalism and a high technical qualities, but also deep understanding of music, and ability to deliver the best result with a minimum instructions, which is an extremely important part of a modern full-time orchestra working environment.

If it is something you feel you need to improve your next audition, schedule your lesson and let me help you not just to prepare for the audition, but to teach you how to make the process of preparation and practicing more exciting, inspiring, and enriching for you as a viola player and a musician.

In case you seek guidance mostly with concert solo and chamber repertoire or you would like to improve your technique, we can work on that. I can give you instructions on interpretation, phrasing, and style, as well as detailed tips on how to work on technical difficulties, and will providing effective bowings and fingerings solutions, and will help you to bring out your own musical vision in an expressive way on the instrument.