20.09.2016
Shakespeare’s heroes in song
The season of vocal chamber concerts in the dress circle foyer is about to open. The first concert in the series will take place on 24 September and will feature music inspired by the work of William Shakespeare.
“We looked at three of the English playwright’s great tragedies — Hamlet, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet,” says pianist and vocal coach Natalia Dudik. "We have prepared two scenes from Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas which are very rarely performed. Boris Pinkhasovich will sing Hamlet’s drinking song, and Ekaterina Fenina will perform Ophelia’s mad scene — one of the most difficult roles there is for a coloratura soprano. Incidentally, in the first half of the 19th century, insanity was a popular theme in ballet as well as opera. Just think of Giselle, or Meyerbeer’s opera Dinorah, which is built entirely around the madness of the heroine.
"A number of composers have been inspired by the story of Othello, but for many people, the best known are works by Rossini and Verdi. Verdi’s opera Otello was one of his final masterpieces, and this is one of the works that we will present. Svetlana Monchak will sing the famous ‘Willow Song’ from Desdemona’s deathbed scene, while Boris Pinkhasovich will, for the first time in his career, sing Iago’s monologue.
“Musical interpretations of Romeo and Juliet are well known. Bellini, Berlioz, and many other composers have used this theme. But we have been motivated by other sources of inspiration. Firstly, Gounod’s French romantic opera. Boris Stepanov will sing the role of Romeo throughout the performance. He and Ekaterina Fenina will sing the young lovers’ first duet, when they meet at the ball. Later, when we get to Tchaikovsky’s music, Juliet will change. As we all know, unfortunately Tchaikovsky didn’t write a Romeo and Juliet opera, but his fantasy overture of the same name is well known. The lovers’ farewell, the balcony scene, their very first duet — this is all he had a chance to write about. Later on, the remarkable Russian composer Sergei Taneyev, working with Tchaikovsky’s sketches as a basis, completed the introduction and ending of the duet using themes from the overture. Boris Stepanov will perform this excerpt with Svetlana Monchak.
“And we could not leave out the ballet Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev. In this concert, the violinist Vladislav Gluz and I will play three excerpts from the ballet, rearranged for violin and piano.”
“We looked at three of the English playwright’s great tragedies — Hamlet, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet,” says pianist and vocal coach Natalia Dudik. "We have prepared two scenes from Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas which are very rarely performed. Boris Pinkhasovich will sing Hamlet’s drinking song, and Ekaterina Fenina will perform Ophelia’s mad scene — one of the most difficult roles there is for a coloratura soprano. Incidentally, in the first half of the 19th century, insanity was a popular theme in ballet as well as opera. Just think of Giselle, or Meyerbeer’s opera Dinorah, which is built entirely around the madness of the heroine.
"A number of composers have been inspired by the story of Othello, but for many people, the best known are works by Rossini and Verdi. Verdi’s opera Otello was one of his final masterpieces, and this is one of the works that we will present. Svetlana Monchak will sing the famous ‘Willow Song’ from Desdemona’s deathbed scene, while Boris Pinkhasovich will, for the first time in his career, sing Iago’s monologue.
“Musical interpretations of Romeo and Juliet are well known. Bellini, Berlioz, and many other composers have used this theme. But we have been motivated by other sources of inspiration. Firstly, Gounod’s French romantic opera. Boris Stepanov will sing the role of Romeo throughout the performance. He and Ekaterina Fenina will sing the young lovers’ first duet, when they meet at the ball. Later, when we get to Tchaikovsky’s music, Juliet will change. As we all know, unfortunately Tchaikovsky didn’t write a Romeo and Juliet opera, but his fantasy overture of the same name is well known. The lovers’ farewell, the balcony scene, their very first duet — this is all he had a chance to write about. Later on, the remarkable Russian composer Sergei Taneyev, working with Tchaikovsky’s sketches as a basis, completed the introduction and ending of the duet using themes from the overture. Boris Stepanov will perform this excerpt with Svetlana Monchak.
“And we could not leave out the ballet Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev. In this concert, the violinist Vladislav Gluz and I will play three excerpts from the ballet, rearranged for violin and piano.”
