29.01.2019
“Just yesterday we met...”
On 19 February, as part of the Mikhailovsky Theatre at the Hermitage series, Boris Pinkhasovich will give a solo recital entitled „Just yesterday we met...“ in the Large Italian Skylight Room.
The Mikhailovsky Theatre soloist, a frequent guest of the best opera houses in Europe, is currently preparing for a long-awaited meeting with his admirers in his native city of St. Petersburg. Pianist and vocal coach Natalia Dudik, a professional colleague and old friend of Pinkhasovich’s, is working with him on the concert programme.
„I remember when we first met,“ says Boris Pinkhasovich. „I had just started work at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, and had been given the role of Marcello in La bohème. Natalia was the vocal coach, and at the very first rehearsal she gave me quite a telling-off for singing mezza voce. That was a real lesson for me.“
„We actually met much earlier,“ Natalia Dudik corrects him. „In 2008, when Boris was studying at the Conservatory, I came to listen to a student production of Carmen. Even though Mariss Jansons was conducting, the students weren’t singing particularly brilliantly. I don’t know what made me stay for the second act; for singers who are just starting out, this is actually rather a difficult opera. The only singer who stuck in my mind was a skinny, red-haired guy who sang Le Dancaïre, a small part. My husband, an opera critic, wrote in his review that the most impressive performer was a student nobody had heard of, Boris Pinkhasovich. We gave our first solo recital together five years ago, so I think enough time has passed for us to be ready for another. It’s such a shame how rarely we manage to perform together, so we are very much looking forward to the upcoming evening at the Hermitage — especially as, this time, the recital will be accompanied by the Mikhailovsky Theatre orchestra.“
„Our aim is to come up with a programme of much-loved and rarely performed works. There will be the prologue to Francis Poulenc’s opera The Breasts of Tiresias (Les Mamelles de Tirésias), for example. Among the pieces that are particularly dear to audiences’ hearts are George Sviridov’s romances, although Natalia took some persuading to come round to those,“ laughs Boris Pinkhasovich. „I’m joking, of course. She is a top-tier professional; she’s worked at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at the Israeli Opera... A solo concert like this one will be a real boon for the St. Petersburg public, especially as I’m off on a long, two-month tour of Europe afterwards.“
The Mikhailovsky Theatre soloist, a frequent guest of the best opera houses in Europe, is currently preparing for a long-awaited meeting with his admirers in his native city of St. Petersburg. Pianist and vocal coach Natalia Dudik, a professional colleague and old friend of Pinkhasovich’s, is working with him on the concert programme.
„I remember when we first met,“ says Boris Pinkhasovich. „I had just started work at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, and had been given the role of Marcello in La bohème. Natalia was the vocal coach, and at the very first rehearsal she gave me quite a telling-off for singing mezza voce. That was a real lesson for me.“
„We actually met much earlier,“ Natalia Dudik corrects him. „In 2008, when Boris was studying at the Conservatory, I came to listen to a student production of Carmen. Even though Mariss Jansons was conducting, the students weren’t singing particularly brilliantly. I don’t know what made me stay for the second act; for singers who are just starting out, this is actually rather a difficult opera. The only singer who stuck in my mind was a skinny, red-haired guy who sang Le Dancaïre, a small part. My husband, an opera critic, wrote in his review that the most impressive performer was a student nobody had heard of, Boris Pinkhasovich. We gave our first solo recital together five years ago, so I think enough time has passed for us to be ready for another. It’s such a shame how rarely we manage to perform together, so we are very much looking forward to the upcoming evening at the Hermitage — especially as, this time, the recital will be accompanied by the Mikhailovsky Theatre orchestra.“
„Our aim is to come up with a programme of much-loved and rarely performed works. There will be the prologue to Francis Poulenc’s opera The Breasts of Tiresias (Les Mamelles de Tirésias), for example. Among the pieces that are particularly dear to audiences’ hearts are George Sviridov’s romances, although Natalia took some persuading to come round to those,“ laughs Boris Pinkhasovich. „I’m joking, of course. She is a top-tier professional; she’s worked at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at the Israeli Opera... A solo concert like this one will be a real boon for the St. Petersburg public, especially as I’m off on a long, two-month tour of Europe afterwards.“
