“The quality of musicianship is at the highest level.” – Bob James
“…a beacon of light for true music.” – Dave Liebman
“…amazing. His double-bass playing has the fluidity of a fretless electric bass player. Goloubev is set to reach a much wider audience.” – Ian Patterson, All About Jazz
“Yuri’s voice is so distinctive; what he does with his instrument is a unique thing.” – Gwilym Simcock
“…the prodigiously skilled and musical bassist Yuri Goloubev…an alertness and watchfulness in his gaze and his every gesture – it’s mesmerizing to watch.” – Sebastian Scottney, London Jazz
An artist like Yuri Goloubev is a true rarity and exception in the music world. Getting his first acclaims performing at the world’s most important venues for many years with the likes of Rostropovich and Bashmet, Galway and Quasthoff and recording for such labels as EMI and SONY Classical (including a Grammy nomination), in 2004 he moves over to Milan, Italy where completely devotes himself to jazz music reaching the same top level in this genre performing at various important festivals as Montreux Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz, London Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz, Festival of Perth, Jazzahead and many more, recording for such important labels as ACT and Universal.
Yuri Goloubev was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1972. After many years of a splendid career in classical music, since his moving to Italy in the end of 2004 dedicates himself to performing and composing jazz that he had been playing and composing alongside with his classical activities and considers as his true call. In his “adopted home”, Italy, performs and records with such important figures of Italian and European jazz scene as Enrico Pieranunzi, Paolo Fresu,, Rosario Giuliani, Glauco Venier, Francesco Bearzatti, Tullio De Piscopo, Claudio Fasoli, Giovanni Falzone, Guido Manusardi, Fabrizio Bosso, Gabriele Mirabassi and many others, as well as with some of the important international jazz artists as Kenny Werner, Bob James, Chihiro Yamanaka, Anne Ducros, Jason Rebello, Franco Ambrosetti, Klaus Gesing, Gwilym Simcock, Tim Garland, Iain Ballamy, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Stan Sulzmann, Rick Margitza, Martin France, Julian Arguelles, Bill Smith participating in such festivals like Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Umbria Jazz (Italy), London Jazz Festival (England), Bangkok Jazz Festival, Jazzahead! (Germany), North Sea Jazz (Holland), Loulé Jazz Festival (Portugal), Brecon Festival of Jazz (England), Festival of Perth (Australia), Boheme Jazz (Russia), St.Petersburg Jazz Spring (Russia), Saalfelden Jazz Festival (Austria), Jazz Carnival (Ukraine) – to name just some.
Winner of the All-Soviet Union Music Schools Students competition (1st Prize, 1990) and the New Names Foundation Grants (1992, 1993), Yuri Goloubev received his Bachleor of Music Degree from the Central School of Music by Moscow Conservatoire in 1990, and then his Master’s Degree in double bass as a soloist, chamber musician and educator from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1995 (studies with Evegeny Kolosov and Rinat Ibragimov), where he had also studied composition with Albert Lehman. In 2002, he became the youngest bass player ever in the history of both USSR and Russia to be awarded the prestigious title of the Honored Artist of Russia by President Putin.
After his engagements as Principal Bass with “Ensemble XXI” Chamber Orchestra (1990-91) and as section bass with Bolshoi Opera in Moscow (1991-92), in 1992, he becomes Principal Bass with one of the world’s most noted chamber orchestras – Moscow Soloists directed by Yuri Bashmet, and remains on this post till the end of 2004. In this way he collaborated with some of the most famous musicians of the classical scene amongst which are Gidon Kremer, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Barbara Hendricks, James Galway, Lynn Harrell, Thomas Quasthoff, Vladimir Spivakov, Maxim Vengerov and many others. During his career, has been appearing on the stages of a great many important venues including Carnegie Hall (New York), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Musikverein (Vienna), Salle Pleyel (Paris), Royal Albert Hall (London), Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), Sydney Opera House, Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels), Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Megaro (Athens), Gewandhaus (Leipzig) and in such festivals as Bath Music Festival (England), Omaggio a Roma (Italy), Casals Festival (Puerto Rico), Festival of Perth (Australia), Prestige de la Musique (France), Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland), Hong Kong Festival of the Arts, has performed with such orchestras as Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro alla Scala and Orchestra Filarmonica Toscanini and conducted workshops in Ireland, United Kingdom, USA, Croatia, Italy.
Yuri Goloubev has written a number of jazz and chamber music works as well as transcriptions and arrangements published in Russia, Germany and United States and recorded over 100 albums, including a few CDs as a band leader and composer. Some of these recordings have been featured by various airlines (Air France, Lufthansa, Swiss, Emirates, British Airways...) in their in-flight entertainment programs.
Various influential media (such as “Harper’s Bazaar”, “Corriere Della Sera”, “La Stampa”, “Jazzit” and others) have published feature articles on Yuri Goloubev.
From 2007 till 2009, he has been a jazz faculty member of Centro Professione Musica in Milan (CPM), in 2010 has been appointed the Jazz Double Bass Professor at Trento Conservatory (Italy).
Currently, Yuri resides in the United Kingdom, where from 2015 teaches at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (Cardiff) – alongside with continuing his career as a recording and performing artist.