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The Pearls of Russian Songs

 

artist is represented by Herman Braun FoundationIrina Dolzhenko
Inessa Galante

Tuesday, 2011 August 16th, 6 PM

Dzintari Chamber Music Hall

 

The Pearls of Russian Songs

 

Inessa Galante (soprano), Irina Dolzhenko (mezzo soprano), Anatoly Safiulin (bass), Inna Davidova (piano)

 

Program: Guriliyov, Varlamov, Glinka etc

 

Listen to the pearls of Russian songs and romances and learn a secret of the Russian soul!

 

Nature endowed, Inessa Galante’s voice has an unusually warm timbre. With years it has got more dramatic, however, retaining its heartfelt sincerity and ability of soaring.

She performs on the greatest opera stages of Germany, France, USA and Israel. She is invited to sing in the most prestigious concert halls of Switzerland, Belgium, Luxemburg, Australia, South Korea, France and Holland. Frequently she sings in such famous London venues as the Barbican Hall, the Wigmore Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. In 2001 she gave a charity solo concert in Kensington Palace , accepting the Royal Family invitation. Her appearances on the Royal Swedish Opera stage are to be mentioned.

The singer has a vast opera and chamber music repertoire. The characters of Puccini’s and Verdi’s operas (Mimi, Violetta, Liu, Gilda, Leonora, Butterfly, Manon Lescaut) are among her favourites.

Since 1989 Inessa Galante is a star of CAMPION RECORDS, having 10 CDs under this label (she was also awarded Gold, then Platinum discs for the continuing sales of her CD Debut). The disc “Arietta” was recognized by BBC to be the best in the nomination of classical music. The disc of opera arias by Tchaikovsky (BMG, the Royal Opera orchestra, conductor Neeme Järvi) was considered to be exceptionally brilliant. The disc “Arias from Verdi’s late operas” won the GRAMOPHONE magazine editor choice. Worldwide sales of all CDs featuring Galante have exceeded 200,000.

Inessa Galante has cooperated with such famous conductors as Yehudi Menuhin, Kent Nagano, Myung-Whun Chung, Valery Gergiev, Antonio Pappano, Steven Mercurio, Miguel Gomez-Martinez, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Neeme Järvi, Eri Klas, Vassily Sinaisky etc.

Inessa Galante takes part in concerts and projects of the Herman Braun Foundation. Since 2005 she is a patroness of the International Music festival SUMMERTIME. In 2007-2008 under the label of the Carmina Baltica the singer recorded Mozart’s Requiem (arr. Andres Mustonen) and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with prominent Latvian musicians.  In Latvia and abroad Inessa Galante appears in concerts with her concertmistress Inna Davidova.

The singer bears the Order of the Three Stars and she has been awarded the Latvia Grand Prix in music as well.

 

Once you hear the singing of Irina Dolzhenko, you never forget the velvet sound of her voice, which enraptures the audience with its unusual beauty and richness. Undoubtedly, the modern Russia’s opera art may boast with Mrs. Dolzhenko’s mastery. Nevertheless, at first everyone admires the singer’s luxurious timbre and natural ability to penetrate into the core of music and only then praises her professional skills.

Irina was born in Tashkent. She started to play the piano and to attend a children’s vocal studio in her early childhood. At the age of 16 she got down to singing seriously. She studied under professors L.Tammel (Tallinn) and R.Yusupova (Tashkent). While being a student of the Tashkent Music Academy, Irina was singing at the Tashkent Opera theatre. After graduating from the Academy she was invited to Moscow, holding the position of a soloist in two companies – in Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre and the Musical Theatre for Children and Youth. Since 1996 she has been a soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre.

Her repertoire embraces almost all leading mezzo and contralto parts in the operas of Russian and Western composers, such as Eboli (“Don Carlos”), Fenena (“Nabucco”), Amneris (“Aida”), Azucena (“Il Trovatore”), Ulrica (“Un Ballo in maschera”), Preziosilla (“La Forza del Destino”), Maddalena (“Rigoletto”), Ms.Quickly (“Falstaff”) by Verdi; Adalgisa (“Norma”) and Romeo (“I Capuletti e i Montecchi”) by Bellini; Santuzza (“Cavalleria Rusricana”) by Mascagni; Princess de Bouillon (“Adriana Lecouvreur”) by Cilea; Carmen (“Carmen”) by Bizet; Suzuki (“Madama Butterfly”) by Puccini; Cherubino (“Le nozze di Figaro”) by Mozart; Jezhibaba (“Rusalka”) by Dvorak; Ratmir (“Ruslan and Lyudmila”) by Glinka; Pauline (“The Queen of Spades”), Olga (“Eugene Onegin”), Ioanna (“The Maid of Orleans”), Morozova (“The Oprichnik”) by Tchaikovsky; Lyubasha (“The Tsar’s Bride”), Amelfa (“The Golden Cockerel”) by Rimsky-Korsakov; Marina (“Boris Godunov”), Marfa (“Khovanshchina”) by Mussorgsky etc. She created the role of Viola in Eduard Kolmanovsky’s opera “The Twelfth Night”.

Mrs. Dolzhenko performs the mezzo parts in the large compositions with orchestra, such as Requiems by Mozart, Verdi, Dvorak, Stabat mater by Dvorak, Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Gloria by Vivaldi,  “The Damnation of Faust” by Berlioz, “After Reading a Psalm” and 1 symphony by Taneev, “Alexander Nevsky” by Prokofiev, “Moscow” by Tchaikovsky, 9 symphony by Beethoven, 2 symphony by Mahler etc.

The singer improved and polished her art in Italy under M.Sigele and G.Luccetti and in France under famous opera diva Regine Crespin.

She often goes abroad on tours. As one of the finalists of the International Belvedere Singing Competition 1993 in Vienna, she was invited to perform Olga in "Eugene Onegin" at the Vienna Chamber Theatre and Cherubino in "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Mozart Festival in Schonbrunn. Ms. Dolzhenko appeared as Marina in "Boris Godunov" at the opening of the new Tel Aviv Opera House and as Maddalena in "Rigoletto" at the same theatre later on. Her appearances include Hanna in Rimsky-Korsakov‘s "The May Night" at the Wexford Festival, Adalgisa in "Norma" at the Royal Opera Stockholm, Ulrica in "Un ballo in maschera" at Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Amneris in "Aida" in Buenos Aires and Preziosilla in "La Forza del Destino" at Savonlinna Opera Festival (Finland).

Since 1999 she has been collaborating actively with the Latvian National Opera (the roles of Amneris and Ulrica). In 2003 Mrs. Dolzhenko participated in the LNO performance of “Aida”, which was shown on Russia TV for 12 million spectators.   

Mrs. Dolzhenko performed with such outstanding conductors as G.Rozhdestvensky, V.Fedoseyev, M.Ermler, M.Pletnyov, V.Yurovsky, V.Gergiyev. The famous stage directors B.Pokrovsky, G.Friedrich invited Mrs.Dolzhenko to take part in their productions.

The interpretation of Mrs. Dolzhenko is notable for its depth and passion. Her musical taste is flawless. The same qualities are appreciable in the field of chamber music, yet the musical passion becomes gentler. At the same time every intonation, a turning of the head or a wave of the eyelash is filled with the innermost feeling.

In 1992 the first recital of Irina Dolzhenko and pianist Inna Davidova took place in Riga. Their performance of the romances by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Glinka is considered to be especially poignant and moving. This collaboration is to be continued successfully.

 

Russia is known to be rich with many of glorious bass singers. But a rare bass singer reaches the highest point of vocal art and gains the world fame, not starring at the opera stage, but only performing chamber music and large-scale works.

The art of Anatoly Safiulin combines his individual voice timbre with the natural gift and the big experience of a musician. His superb vocal mastery, his fascinating dramatic instinct and the stunning ability to transmit the fineness of different musical styles is incomparable. One may say that the artistic personality of Mr. Safiulin is created by music itself – by Russian folk songs and romances; original chamber music programs of Russian and Western composers’ works and by large-scale compositions as masses, requiems, cantatas, oratorios and symphonies. He is considered to be the true Russian singer of European culture. Whatever the music is, Mr. Safiulin enjoys the auditorium with the profundity of his soul, his intellect and inimitable character.

Anatoly Safiulin was born in Moscow. In 1977 he graduated from the Russia Academy of Music, where he studied the solo singing under professor G. Aden, one of the most celebrated Russian vocal teachers, who had trained himself in Italy. Professor G.Aden revealed to his student the secrets of vocal art, holding the natural beauty of the voice. Throughout many years Mr. Safiulin was being a soloist of The Moscow State Philharmonics. He has the honorary title of the People’s artist of Russia. Since 2002 he has been living in Germany. Mr.Safiulin is convinced that a singer may prolong his artistic life by means of teaching young artists; therefore he has been practicing pedagogical activities.

Anatoly Safiulin is a guest soloist at many prestigious music festivals. To quote just some examples: The Russian Winter and The Moscow Stars in Moscow, The White Nights of St. Petersburg, The Edinburgh Festival, The Prague Spring, All the World Stars in Verbier, The Bilbao Festival. Hommages to Shostakovitch in Germany and Switzerland, The Festival of Russian Music in Stockholm, The Kiev Autumn, The Bratislava Autumn, The Bela Bartok Festival of contemporary Music in Hungary, festivals of Russia music in Italy, France, Austria, Japan, festivals of church music, etc. He has been touring intensively all around Russia and performing in London, Paris, Rome, Milan, Florence, Vienna, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich, Glasgow, Geneva, Chicago, New-York, Montreal, Ottawa, Tokyo, Istanbul, Tel-Aviv, Singapore etc.

In London Mr. Safiulin appeared in the role of Salieri for the first time since great Shalyapin had performing it. That was the semi-performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Mozart and Salieri at the Royal Festival Hall. Princess Diana, who honoured the concert with her presence, gave the singer an audience expressing her gratitude.

During the last decade the bass performed hundreds of large-scale works with the orchestra: requiems by Cimarosa, Mozart, Verdi, Dvorak, Brahms, Faure, Britten; masses by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert; cantatas by Bach, Honegger, Shoenberg, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Schnittke, Schedrin; symphonies by Mahler, Shostakovitch, Lazarev.

The top of Mr. Safiulin artistry is chamber music. It’s impossible to count his original programs. With great ardour he promotes the new music of his compatriots. Many composers of XX century, such as Georgy Sviridov, Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Yuri Levitin, etc, entrusted him the first public performances of their music. Quite many works have been dedicated to the bass. The magazine “Sovetskaya muzyka” defined him very precisely as “a devoted knight of modern music”. There is no problem for Mr.Safiulin in the level of difficulty of a new work or in the term to get it ready to perform. He considers, that “the more difficult is the work, the more interesting is to know the result”

Such well-known pianists as Nikolay Demidenko, Victoria Postnikova, Igor Hudoley, Alexandre Bahchiev and organists Oleg Yanchenko, Olgerts Cintins were among the concertmasters of Mr. Safiulin.

Mr.Safiulin collaborated with more than 150 conductors, for example with such outstanding maestros as Igor Markevich, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Evgeny Svetlanov, Kurt Masur, Gennady Rizhdestvensky, Valry Gergiev,Saulius Sondeckis, Yehudi Menuhin, Arvids Yansons, Mariss Yansons, Krzystof Penderecky, Mikhail Pletniov, Liana Isaakadze, Dzhansug Kahidze…

The singer has recorded more than 25 CDs.

Mr. Safiulin’s relations with Latvia have had the long history. He performed in Riga for the first time in 1981 taking part in Verdi’s Requiem with Galina Kovalyova, Irina Arkhipova, Karlis Zarins (Arvid Yansons conducted). He was the frequent guest soloist at the concerts of the State Academic Choir “Latvia”. In 2003 he sang the bass solo in the performance of the 14th Symphony by Shostakovitch with the Chamber Orchestra Kremerata Baltica (artistic director Gidon Kremer) in Germany and Italy.

Since 1997 Mr. Safiulin has been working with Inna Davidova. The first concert of the Hermanis Braun Foundation took place in 1998, February the 13th. That was the solo concert of Mr. Safiulin. Every concert program Inna and Anatoly come up with is inimitable. Their debut program Romances of Glinka and Rachmaninov was followed by Tribute to Shaliapin, Romances of Russian Composers based on the poems of Poushkin, Don Quichot and Mephistopheles, The Ancient Russian Romances and Romances by Taneyev and Arensky. The duo of Mr. Safiulin and Ms. Davidova was performing in Riga, Moscow and Israel.

 

Inna Davidova, the pianist-concertmistress and the director of Herman Braun Foundation, was born in 1961, September 27, in Siauliai (Lithuania). Since 1968 she has been living in Riga. Mrs. Davidova graduated from Latvian Jazeps Medins College of Music (prof. Joy Lifshitz), Latvian Academy of Music (1987, prof. Valentina Brovak; postgraduate as a concertmistress, 1994, prof. Inta Villerusa).

The basic artistic features of Ms Davidova are delicacy and stylistic certainty.  She prefers to work with vocalists. Many well-known singers, such as Inessa Galant, Inga Kalna, Antra Bigaca, Elina Garanca, Egils Silins, the Lithuanian singer Jolanta Stanelite, with whom Ms Davidova became a prize-winner at the International Vocal Competition in Tokyo, and the Russian singers Tatyana Monogarova, Irina Dolzhenko, Anatoly Safiulin, can be listed her best co-workers. She also gives concerts with the clarinetist Marcis Kulis.

Ms Davidova has always been seeking for the uncommon and the unknown ways in the field of vocal chamber music. Every her concept has its own dramatic core and is elaborated in the inner logical development. The programs are characterized by the pianist’s imagination and deep knowledge of the subject. Such programs as Wolf’s and Medtner’s songs with Goethe poetry (A.Bigaca, I.Davidova, 1995, Riga), Mendelssohn’s, Schumann’s and Brahms’ vocal duets (I.Kalna, A.Bigaca, I.Davidova, 1997, Riga), Forgotten pages – Taneyev’s and Arensky’s romances (A.Safiulin, I.Davidova, 2000, Riga and Moscow), Musical revelations –  Spohr’s, Meyerbeer’s Creutzer’s, Cornelius’ Tate’s pieces for mezzo, clarinet and piano (A.Bigaca, M.Kulis, I.Davidova, 2002, Riga), Russian Composers’ Romances: Glinka, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky (I.Dolzhenko, I.Davidova, 2004) and Pearls of Vocal Romanticism: Schubert, Wolf, Richard Strauss (Egil Silins, Inna Davidova, 2005) are especially noticeable and outstanding.

The pianist performs in Latvia and abroad (Russia, Denmark, UK, Italy, Japan, Canada, USA, Israel, Slovenia, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan).

Inna Davidova bears the Order of the Three Stars (2008).


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16.08.2011  18:00
Dzintari Concert Hall

The Pearls of Russian Songs
Listen to the pearls of Russian songs and romances and learn a secret of the Russian soul!

 

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