Michael Lazarevich "Misha" Geller (Russian: Михаил Ла́заревич Геллер) (23 July 1937 in Moscow – 17 December 2007 in Vught) was a Russian viola player and composer.
Moscow years (1937–1978) Geller was born in Moscow in 1937 in a Jewish family. He started to play the violin at the age of 7, but later on he developed a passion for the viola. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1963 as a viola player and composer. He studied composition with Professor Evgeny Golubev and Alfred Schnittke (orchestration).
As a viola player he was awarded the Gold Medal at the International Competition in Helsinki (1962). In 1966 he was a founding member of the Composer's Union String Quartet, together with Alexander Arenkow (violin), Dimitri Ferschtman (cello) and Sergei Pischugin (violin). When Russian string quartets have achieved international recognition they are given the name of a great Russian composer. The group won the First Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Liège, Belgium in 1969 and the name Glinka was bestowed on them. With the Glinka Quartet Geller performed in many countries around the world, made a large number of records and recorded for radio and television.
From 1968 up until his emigration in 1978 he was a member of the Union of Soviet Composers. He obtained commissions from the Russian Broadcasting Corporation to compose for the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and other symphony orchestras and to create chamber music, vocal cycles and a filmed opera for television titled The Women's Revolt with the cast of the Bolshoi Theatre, conducted by Mark Ermler.
Especially acclaimed was his Sonata for Violin and Piano (1969), which was dedicated to its first performers: violinist (the Gold Medal winner of the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels in 1963) and Georgian pianist Tsiala Kvernadze (), laureate of the Vianna da Motta International Music Competition in Lisbon in 1964). This composition was published by the Union of Soviet Composers in 1976 and the record label Melodiya produced a record with this composition. Music critic N. Dolinsky is cited on the cover of the record: " …This composition is put together in a very modern fashion, as if written in a new language, full of expression and drama. The whole piece is constructed like a precise, graphical drawing, where every line, every hatching has its own distinct character… The monologues of the violin are particularly remarkable. They seem to fix your attention on the intense intellectual and creative process of the composer."
Life and work in the Netherlands (1978–1994) In 1978 Geller and his family moved to the Netherlands. From 1978–1980 he played with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra as their principal violinist.
In 1980 he became a member of the re-formed Glinka Quartet together with Dimitri Ferschtman (cello), Zino Vinnikov (violin) and Kees Hulsman (violin), which successfully performed and recorded around the world.
Geller gave solo performances as a viola player and played with many European Orchestras. His most memorable performances were of Mozart´s Symphony Concertante with the violinist Jean-Jacques Kantorow and of Berlioz´s Harold in Italy. The Rhein -Zeitung in Germany wrote about his performance there in 1982: He played with an exceptional delicacy of phrasing… conveying deep warmth and burning inspiration.
He took part in the performances of his own compositions, such as the duet for viola and cello Psalm Music for 8 Strings (D. Ferschtman, cello) with premiere at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 1979. The duet was also played by various European musicians and recorded in the Netherlands, Germany and France. Geller's performance of Fantasy for viola and piano (1980) was recorded with different pianists by several Dutch broadcasting organisations: KRO, VARA, AVRO.
1982 saw the premiere of his Dialogue for Viola and 12 instruments with the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, conductor Ernest Bour.
Geller composed for chamber ensembles, e.g. the String Quintet in commission of the Johan Wagenaar Foundation in the Netherlands (1984). His compositions were performed in the UK, Croatia, France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.
He held teaching posts at the University Colleges for the Arts in Amsterdam and Utrecht at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He served on the juries of several competitions such as The Julius Isserlis Scholarship of the Royal Philharmonic Society in England and gave Master Classes in Germany and the UK.
His successful career as a violist was abruptly ended by a sudden stroke. He was forced to stop performing, which led to his emotional decision to stop teaching as well.