The Six-Sided Dice of Soviet and Russian Music

www.nextusfestival.com [email protected]

Performers

Viktoria Slobodina - Soprano

Yu Chen - Piano

Ksenia Galitskaya - Artist

Programme

Alexander Dargomyzhsky - Natasha’s song "Po kamushkam.." from the opera “Rusalka”

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - "Skazhi o chem v teni vetvey" (Tell me, what in the shade of the branches)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - "Zvonche zhavoronka penye..." (More sonorous than the lark's singing)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Marfa's Aria "V Novgorode mi rjadom s Vanej zhili..." from the opera "The Tsar's Bride" (Act II)

Sergei Rachmaninoff - "Ne mozhet bit'!" (This cannot be!)

Lesia Dychko - "Vecher" (Evening)

Sergei Prokofiev - "Boltunja" (Chatterbox)

Programme Notes

Russian Soprano Viktoria Slobodina presents a guided tour traversing the length and breadth of Russian and Soviet music, all with the help of her six-sided dice! The programme comprises lesser-known arias and songs beginning in the Romantic Period and continues on a musical journey across the vast expanses of Russian and Soviet music. This online concert is filmed in cooperation with a professional artist (Ksenia Galitskaya) who made a six-sided art-dice that mirrors the different moods of different musical pieces.

Biographies

Viktoria Slobodina - Soprano Viktoria Slobodina is a young lyric soprano from Saint Petersburg, currently based in Vienna. She fell in love with opera when she was 8 years old when she bought an audio cassette with “The Snow Maiden” by Rimsky-Korsakov. She began her career as a singer quite late; guided by her passion and a sense of purpose, she made her dreams into reality. For the last four years, Viktoria has lived in Vienna and studied under Ukranian soprano Victoria Loukianetz. Among her other achievements, she has won a special prize at the “Vienna New Year’s Concert International Music Competition”. Before the crisis of 2020, Viktoria collaborated with the “Imperial Viennese Orchestra” where she performed as a solo singer at various concerts. Currently, she is finishing her education in the Franz Schubert Conservatoire. Maestro Bojidar Abrashev referred to her voice as being “full of real emotions”.

Yu Chen - Piano Yu Chen is the collaborative pianist of choice for world-renowned chamber singers such as Grace Bumbry, Thomas Moser, Sona Ghazarian, and Gotfried Hornik. Based in Vienna, he is in demand for concerts and recordings all over the world. His most recent solo album was nominated for three prestigious Opus Klassik awards in 2020: Newcomer of the Year, Instrumentalist of the Year, and Solo Instrumental Recital. Yu studied collaborative and solo piano at the Vienna University of Music and the Performing Arts. His professional start was heralded by international competition prizes in both specialties, such as first prize in the Wiener International Ignaz Josef Pleyel piano competition (2007), and the special prize for collaborative pianists in the Bulgarian International Violin competition (2007). Yu is presently working on his next album, while recording and touring regularly with "opera band" THE CAST.