The turn of the 19th–20th centuries in European music is an amazing time when a variety of styles and ways of expression meet and exist on equal terms in the same concert field. In a concert by the artists of the Anton Rubinstein Academy, this effect will manifest itself in the field of French classical song – mélodie.

Ranging from the late romantic songs of Camille Saint-Saëns, Gabriel Fauré and the almost forgotten composer of a tragic fate Henri Duparc to the impressionism of Claude Debussy, from the neoclassical graphics of Maurice Ravel to the sly games of Éric Satie, the French chamber vocal music at that time was especially difficult to perform, but not to perceive.

This subtle, charming musical world built on semitones and hints will be embodied in the form of a performance concert staged by Elizaveta Moroz. The artists of the Anton Rubinstein Academy tell an atmospheric story about love, beauty and transience, which will also include works by Debussy and Satie for piano and harp solo.

On the programme:

Henri Duparc (1848–1933)
L'invitation au voyage for voice and piano set to the verses by Charles Baudelaire (1870)
Soloist – Diana Nosyreva

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Chanson de la mariée, No. 1 from the cycle Cinq mélodies populaires grecques for voice and piano, folk poems, M. A 4 (1904–1906)
Soloist – Ksenia Dorodova

Maurice Ravel
Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera for voice and piano, M. 51 (1907)
Soloist – Yulia Vakula

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Guitares et mandolines for voice and piano set to his own verses (1890), version for voice, harp and flute
Soloist – Tatiana Bikmukhametova

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Nuits d'étoiles for voice and piano set to the verses by Théodore de Banville, L. 4 (1880), version for voice and harp
Soloist – Iveta Simonyan

Claude Debussy
Clair de lune, No. 3 from Suite bergamasque for piano, L. 75 (1890-1905)
Soloist – Kirill Pavlov, piano

Maurice Ravel
La flûte enchantée, No. 2 from the cycle Shéhérazade for voice and piano set to the verses by Tristan Klingsor, M. 41 (1903), version for voice, piano and flute
Soloist – Julia Vakula

Claude Debussy
Rondel chinois for voice and piano set to the verses by Marius Dillard, L. 17
(1881)
Soloist – Iveta Simonyan

Henri Duparc
Lamento for voice and piano based on poems by Théophile Gautier (1883)
Soloist – Diana Nosyreva

Maurice Ravel
Kaddisch, No. 1 from the cycle Deux mélodies hébraïques for voice and piano, traditional text in Aramaic, M. A 22 (1914)
Soloist – Ksenia Dorodova

Maurice Ravel
L'énigme éternelle, No. 2 from the cycle Deux mélodies hébraïques for voice and piano, traditional text in Yiddish
Soloist – Tatiana Bikmukhametova

Éric Satie (1866–1925)
Gymnopédie No. 1 from the cycle Trois Gymnopédies for piano, ES. 10 (1888), solo harp version
Soloist – Louisa Mintsaeva, harp

Claude Debussy
La Romance d'Ariel for voice and piano set to the verses by Paul Bourget, L. 58 (54) (1884)
Soloist – Iveta Simonyan

Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
Le temps des lilas for voice and piano set to the verses by Maurice Bouchor (1877)
Soloist – Diana Nosyreva

Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Après un rêve, No. 1 from the cycle Trois Mélodies for voice and piano set to the verses by an unknown author in French translation by Romain Bussin, Op. 7 (1877)
Soloist – Tatiana Bikmukhametova

Camille Saint-Saëns
Tournoiement (Songe d'opium), No. 6 from the cycle Mélodies Persanes for voice and piano set to the verses by Armand Renaud, Op. 26 (1870)
Soloist – Ksenia Dorodova

Claude Debussy
Beau soir for voice and piano based on poems by Paul Bourget, L. 6 (1880/1890–1891), version for voice and harp
Soloist – Yulia Vakula

The Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre Choir, conducted by Chief Choirmaster Valeria Safonova, presents a programme encompassing Russian music from Alexey Lvov to Georgy Sviridov.
The concert will feature mostly sacred music compositions. Next to fragments from Sergei Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, traditional Russian and Georgian chants are sung based on the same prayer texts. The programme also includes a spiritual chant by Baroque violinist and composer Alexey Lvov.

The secular works of Valery Gavrilin and Georgy Sviridov naturally merge into the sound palette of the concert. Their musical structure and soulful texts are filled with the same stingy but poignant colours, the same lofty aspirations that make up the essence of the compositions intended for performance in the church. It is no coincidence that the programme is titled after Sviridov's choir The Soul is Sad about Heaven.

On the programme:

Valery Gavrilin (1939–1999)
Bely bely sneghi | White, White Snows, No. 16 from choral symphony-performance Perezvony | Chimes for soloists, large choir, oboe, percussion, and reciter (1982)
Priidite, poklonimsya | O Come, Let Us Worship, a Georgian chant for a male choir

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)
Priidite, poklonimsya | O Come, Let Us Worship, No. 1 from Vsenoschnoye bdeniye | All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 (1915)
Bogoroditse devo radujsya | Hail Mary Full of Grace, a chant of the Voznesensky (Kremlin) Monastery for women's choir

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Bogoroditse devo radujsya | Hail Mary Full of Grace
Blagosloven yesi, Gospodi | Blessed art Thou, O Lord, No. 6 and No. 9 from the All-Night Vigil, Op. 37

Georgy Sviridov (1915–1998)
Dusha grustit o nebesakh | The Soul is Sad about Heaven set to the verses by Sergei Yesenin (1967)

 Alexey Lvov (1798–1870)
Vecheri Tvoyeya tainyya | The Supper of Thy Mystery, the hymn for the Holy Thursday Liturgy

Georgy Sviridov
U berega zelyonogo | Off the Coast of Green
Chasovaya strelka blizitsya k polnochi | The Hour-hand is Nearing Midnight...
Lyubov | Love, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 from the cantata Nochnye oblaka | Night Clouds set to the verses of Alexander Blok (1981)
Prechistaya Devo | O Most Pure Virgin, a traditional Christmas carol

Sergei Rachmaninoff
V molitvakh neusypauschuyu Bogoroditsu | The Theotokos, Ever-Vigilant in Prayer, choral concert, TN 61 (1893)
Tebe poyom | We Sing to Thee, No. 12 from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Op. 31 (1910)

The Uzorika vocal ensemble was founded in 2008, and it focuses on performing Russian sacred music from pre-Petrine era and juxtaposing it to European music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The ensemble has formed its own sound aesthetics based on the combination of academic professionalism with folk vocal culture. The timbre astringency and peculiar vocal techniques return the music created before the emergence of classical singing schools to its natural sound. The uniformity of the ensemble of female voices makes it possible to harmoniously perform works from those eras when men and women did not sing together in public. The ensemble constantly collaborates with musicologists specializing in medieval music, performing unpublished transcriptions and reconstructions, and pays special attention to the Word, which is of paramount importance in both European and Russian sacred music.

At the Diaghilev Festival, Uzorika will perform a programme dedicated to the spiritual chants of Russia and Europe of the 15th-17th centuries. In both cultures, this is the heyday of vocal polyphony. The European part of the programme consists of works written mainly during the Renaissance in the technique of strict style polyphony, which is both complex and transparent. After a century of fascination with exceptionally sophisticated compositional techniques, the composers, performers and listeners returned to the word, clarity and light.

Russian music is represented by the chants of the 17th century, an era of unprecedented stylistic diversity of liturgical music. In churches and at solemn festive liturgies, harsh dissonant masculine and lowercase polyphony was juxtaposed with the latest, European-influenced part-singing arrangements of Znamenny Chant and multi-part polyphonic concerts. In the 17th century, the harmonization of ancient chants reached its peak, but disappeared from liturgical practice during the era of Peter the Great's reforms.

Today, the hymnography of Ancient Russia is very rarely heard in churches and concert venues. Thus, the concert of the Uzorika ensemble, one of the few ensembles dedicated to the study of ancient Russian singing art, is an unusual, rare, and valuable listening experience.

The programme of the musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir soloists, conducted by Teodor Currentzis, consists of major works by two contemporary composers, Hungarian master György Kurtág and Estonian master Arvo Pärt.

György Kurtág is undeniably a major figure in European music of the 20th and the 21st centuries. Few of his contemporaries have managed to find the same degree of individuality of expression, as well as a similar balance of severe self-restraint and freedom in dealing with the entire legacy of European music from Machaut to Beethoven, and from Stravinsky to Stockhausen. György Kurtág's music is both expressive and ascetic, full of secret messages to friends and composers of the past, dramatic in a theatrical sense – that is the degree to which the gestures are so sharp and eloquent.

Among the composer's favourite genre titles are 'requiem', 'tombstone', 'dedication', 'farewell'. The work on the cycle Songs of Despair and Sorrow for choir and instruments was started in 1980 and completed only in 1994. Six poems by Russian poets from Lermontov to Tsvetaeva selected by Kurtág treat the same theme in different ways, but with equal desperation – a man (the author) in the face of impending non-existence. The score includes rare instrumental timbres – a celesta, two harmoniums, four bayans, and a huge percussion group.

Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classic of the 20th and the 21st centuries. Having abandoned the musical radicalism of his youth, the composer developed his own language, bringing him closer to the minimalists, but based on his own original compositional technique, which Pärt himself called tintinnabuli, 'the method of bells.'

Miserere for soloists, choir and instrumental ensemble is one of the composer's fundamental works. The half an hour piece, completed in 1989, dramatically juxtaposes the texts of Psalm 51 and eight stanzas from the medieval sequence hymn Dies irae (Day of Wrath). Psalm 51 is performed slowly and quietly by an ensemble of soloists, with pauses separating each word from another. The composer explained this principle as follows, 'There is one breath for each word, as though after pronouncing each word one has to gather one’s strength for the next word. It's a chain that intertwines breaths and exhalations, hope and despair.' In the furious middle part of the composition, the Dies irae section, Pärt creates the effect of 'structured chaos' using the medieval technique of prolation canon, where the same theme is carried out at five different tempos. Following the question from the seventh stanza of Dies irae, 'What then shall I, unhappy man, allege? Whom shall I invoke as protector? When even the just shall hardly be secure?', the penitential psalm continues. In the finale, the eighth stanza of Dies irae sounds – contrary to the centuries-old tradition, the composer interprets it as an answered prayer, a promise of reconciliation with God.

The concert of the musicAeterna soloists will feature chamber and instrumental music composed by three resident composers of musicAeterna and Dom Radio prior to their collaboration with musicAeterna.

The author of the idea of the concert, Andreas Moustoukis, decided to present to the public works for academic instrumentation – piano solo, piano trio, and piano quintet. The programme includes three compositions by Cyrille Arkhipov, as well as a piano trio by Alexey Retinsky, and a piano quintet written by Andreas Moustoukis in memory of Alfred Schnittke.

In such a strict field as modern academic music, not only radically different compositional strategies, stylistic and linguistic features of each of the authors become particularly clear, but also what unites them. The title of the programme contains a question that will help the audience to discover the subtle settings that bring the work of the three composers closer together, 'Does music sound when there is no one else in the room?'

On the programme:
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU (1683–1764)

Prelude

Scene of the earthquake and choir of Incas Dans les abîmes
Opera-ballet Les Indes galantes, RCT 44 (1735)
Act II ('Les Incas du Pérou'), Scene 4

Duet of Shepherdess and Mercury Suivez les loi with the choir;
Tambourin en rondeau
Opera-ballet Les Fêtes d'Hébé, ou Les Talents lyriques, RCT 41 (1739)
Act III (La Danse), Scenes 6 and 7
The soloists:
Iveta Simonyan, soprano
Yulia Vakula, mezzo-soprano

A fragment of the overture to a musical comedy
Platée ou Junon Jalouse, RCT 53 (1745)

Air of La Folie Amour, lance tes traits
Comédie lyrique Platée ou Junon Jalouse
Act III, Scene 4
The soloist:
Yulia Vakula, mezzo-soprano

Rigaudons I and II;
contredanse and arietta of Thespis Chantons Bacchus with the choir
Comédie lyrique Platée ou Junon Jalouse
Prologue, Scene 3

Choir of the Spartans Que tout gémisse, que tout s'unisse
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux, RCT 32 (1737)
Act I, Scene 1

Thunderstorm scene; entrance of Mercury
Comédie lyrique Platée ou Junon Jalouse
Act I, Scene 1

Arietta of Cindor Zéphyrs, calmez la terre et l'onde with the choir
Ballet héroïque Zaïs, RCT 60 (1748)
Act II, Scene 4
The soloist:
Jak Martirosyan, baritone

The first gavotte of Graces, Pleasures and Arts; Arietta of Amour Renais plus brillante; The second minuet and tambourine of Graces, Pleasures and Arts
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux, RCT 32 (1737)
Prologue, scene 2
The soloist:
Alexey Kursanov, tenor

Entrance of HébéConnoissez notre puissance;
Scene of the Hébé’s suite, Pollux and Hébé’s Servant
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act II, Scene 5
The soloists:
Tatiana Bikmukhametova, soprano
Jak Martirosyan, baritone

Passepieds of Happy Shadows I-II;
Ariette of The Other Happy Shadow Autant d'amours que de fleurs
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act IV, Scene 2
The soloist:
Ksenia Dorodova, soprano

Arietta of the Castor Séjour de l'éternelle paix
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act IV, Scene 1
The soloist:
Alexey Kursanov, tenor

Recitative and arietta of Phébé Castor revoit le jour, mercure le ramène / Soulevons tous les dieux
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act V, Scene 1
The soloist:
Yulia Vakula, mezzo-soprano

Arietta of Phani Viens, Hymen
Opera-ballet Les Indes galantes
Act II ('Les Incas du Pérou'), Scene 2
The soloist:
Iveta Simonyan, soprano

Duet of Amour and Hébé Traversez les plus vastes mers with the choir
Opera-ballet Les Indes galantes
Prologue, Scene 5
The soloists:
Iveta Simonyan, soprano
Diana Nosyreva, soprano

Arietta of Hébé Musettes, résonnez with the choir; musette
Opera-ballet Les Indes galantes
Prologue, Scene 2
The soloist:
Ksenia Dorodova, soprano

Trio of Phébé, Pollux, and TélaïreSortez, sortez, d'esclavage with the choir; the scene with monsters and demons
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act III, Scene 4
The soloists:
Tatiana Bikmukhametova, soprano
Yulia Vakula, mezzo-soprano
Andrey Nemzer, baritone

The First Gavotte of Graces, Pleasures and Arts;
ariette of Amour Renais plus brillante
Tragédie en musique Castor and Pollux, RCT 32 (1737)
Prologue, Scene 2
The soloist:
Alexey Kursanov, tenor

Minuets I and II; dances of madmen I and II
Comédie lyrique Platée ou Junon Jalouse
Act II, Scene 5

The Chaconne for Planets and Constellations;
the choir of stars Que les Cieux, que la Terre et l'Onde
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act V, Scene 7

ChoirTendre Amour
Opera-ballet Les Indes galantes
Act III. ‘Les Fleurs, Fête persane’. Scene 7

The programme is subject to change.

Naseer Shamma, an outstanding master of playing the classical Arabic oud, returns to the Diaghilev Festival with the ensemble. Together with colleagues from different cultural backgrounds, the musician will present his own compositions, which, like the members of the ensemble, easily cross the borders of countries and styles.

Naseer Shamma is one of the world's most famous solo performers on the al oud, an Arabic lute. He was born and educated in Iraq, but has long been a true citizen of the world. In her compositions, Shamma brings together classical Arabic traditions with the harmonies and rhythms of Spanish folk music and European classical music. His poetic pieces, often inspired by Sufi ideas, are full of thematic contrasts and incredible virtuosity. Expanding the technical possibilities of the oud, Shamma developed a new type of instrument with additional strings.

Together with Naseer Shamma, musicians who are close to him in performing skills and aesthetic beliefs will perform in Perm. Born to musical families with deep national roots – Jordanian singer, and flamenco guitarist Carlos Piñana from Cartagena, Spain – often penetrate into neighbouring musical territories in their own projects, ranging from European classics to Arabic pop music. Kurdish percussionist Hussein Zahawy owns traditional percussion instruments of many nations. He is convinced that the music of Kurdistan is part of a much wider musical world stretching from Southern Spain through North Africa, the Balkans, Greece, Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Iran all the way to India.

The concert programme is to be announced.

On the programme:
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU (1683–1764)

Prelude

Scene of the earthquake and choir of Incas Dans les abîmes
Opera-ballet Les Indes galantes, RCT 44 (1735)
Act II ('Les Incas du Pérou'), Scene 4

Duet of Shepherdess and Mercury Suivez les loi with the choir;
Tambourin en rondeau
Opera-ballet Les Fêtes d'Hébé, ou Les Talents lyriques, RCT 41 (1739)
Act III (La Danse), Scenes 6 and 7
The soloists:
Iveta Simonyan, soprano
Yulia Vakula, mezzo-soprano

A fragment of the overture to a musical comedy
Platée ou Junon Jalouse, RCT 53 (1745)

Air of La Folie Amour, lance tes traits
Comédie lyrique Platée ou Junon Jalouse
Act III, Scene 4
The soloist:
Yulia Vakula, mezzo-soprano

Rigaudons I and II;
contredanse and arietta of Thespis Chantons Bacchus with the choir
Comédie lyrique Platée ou Junon Jalouse
Prologue, Scene 3

Choir of the Spartans Que tout gémisse, que tout s'unisse
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux, RCT 32 (1737)
Act I, Scene 1

Thunderstorm scene; entrance of Mercury
Comédie lyrique Platée ou Junon Jalouse
Act I, Scene 1

Arietta of Cindor Zéphyrs, calmez la terre et l'onde with the choir
Ballet héroïque Zaïs, RCT 60 (1748)
Act II, Scene 4
The soloist:
Jak Martirosyan, baritone

The first gavotte of Graces, Pleasures and Arts; Arietta of Amour Renais plus brillante; The second minuet and tambourine of Graces, Pleasures and Arts
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux, RCT 32 (1737)
Prologue, scene 2
The soloist:
Alexey Kursanov, tenor

Entrance of HébéConnoissez notre puissance;
Scene of the Hébé’s suite, Pollux and Hébé’s Servant
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act II, Scene 5
The soloists:
Tatiana Bikmukhametova, soprano
Jak Martirosyan, baritone

Passepieds of Happy Shadows I-II;
Ariette of The Other Happy Shadow Autant d'amours que de fleurs
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act IV, Scene 2
The soloist:
Ksenia Dorodova, soprano

Arietta of the Castor Séjour de l'éternelle paix
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act IV, Scene 1
The soloist:
Alexey Kursanov, tenor

Recitative and arietta of Phébé Castor revoit le jour, mercure le ramène / Soulevons tous les dieux
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act V, Scene 1
The soloist:
Yulia Vakula, mezzo-soprano

Arietta of Phani Viens, Hymen
Opera-ballet Les Indes galantes
Act II ('Les Incas du Pérou'), Scene 2
The soloist:
Iveta Simonyan, soprano

Duet of Amour and Hébé Traversez les plus vastes mers with the choir
Opera-ballet Les Indes galantes
Prologue, Scene 5
The soloists:
Iveta Simonyan, soprano
Diana Nosyreva, soprano

Arietta of Hébé Musettes, résonnez with the choir; musette
Opera-ballet Les Indes galantes
Prologue, Scene 2
The soloist:
Ksenia Dorodova, soprano

Trio of Phébé, Pollux, and TélaïreSortez, sortez, d'esclavage with the choir; the scene with monsters and demons
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act III, Scene 4
The soloists:
Tatiana Bikmukhametova, soprano
Yulia Vakula, mezzo-soprano
Andrey Nemzer, baritone

The First Gavotte of Graces, Pleasures and Arts;
ariette of Amour Renais plus brillante
Tragédie en musique Castor and Pollux, RCT 32 (1737)
Prologue, Scene 2
The soloist:
Alexey Kursanov, tenor

Minuets I and II; dances of madmen I and II
Comédie lyrique Platée ou Junon Jalouse
Act II, Scene 5

The Chaconne for Planets and Constellations;
the choir of stars Que les Cieux, que la Terre et l'Onde
Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux
Act V, Scene 7

ChoirTendre Amour
Opera-ballet Les Indes galantes
Act III. ‘Les Fleurs, Fête persane’. Scene 7

The programme is subject to change.

Dolphin (Andrey Lysikov) has been a prominent figure in Russian music for more than 30 years, maintaining a willingness to constantly change the sound, style, and even the very form of artistic statement. His portfolio lists experiments with sound and words, concept albums, and projects that reveal themselves as sound worlds with their own atmosphere.

One of these parallel worlds is the electronic side project The Mechanical Dog. Here, Andrey Lysikov returned to the rhythms of electro, industrial, and early hip-hop music, to which he performed breakdance on the Arbat in the late 1980s and which was the beginning of his musical career. As part of this project, Dolphin has already released three full-scale albums of action-packed electronics with a cinematic atmosphere and dystopian overtones, and has also repeatedly become a headliner at major Russian electronic music festivals.