Conversations on Russian Music:
A four-part series of performances and discussions on musical masterpieces by Russian composers: Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
Presented by
Russian Connection / Russian Club @ MIT
and the Educational Bridge Project
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Part 2 : Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin"
Friday, December 4, 2009
7:30-8:30 PM
Killian Hall
Room 14W-111, at MIT Hayden Library Bldg
160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA
Entrance donation: $5
“Conversations on Russian Music,” offered by the Russian Club of MIT and the Educational Bridge Project, took off last month with Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, performed in Killian Hall by Maestro Uryash from St. Petersburg.
Part Two of the “Conversations” features two Moscow-born opera soloists, Zhanna Alkhazova and Anton Belov, whose international operatic careers are on the rise. Ms. Alkhazova, soprano, and Mr. Belov, baritone, will be performing the roles of Tatyana and Onegin in the three most important scenes of Tchaikovsky’s 1879 masterpiece “Eugene Onegin”: The Letter Scene, the Scene in the Garden, and the Final Scene.
Dr. Ludmilla Leibman, a Russian-born musicologist and the Executive Director of the Educational Bridge Project, will provide keys to understanding the musical development of the two characters, Tatyana and Onegin. She will also offer her views on the appreciation of situational symmetries that occur both in Pushkin’s poetry and Tchaikovsky’s music.
Bio:
* Zhanna Alkhazova:
Soprano Zhanna Alkhazova’s operatic credits include the roles of Dido (“Dido and Aeneas”), Berta (“Il Barbiere di Siviglia”), First and Second Lady (“Magic Flute”), and Sandman (“Hansel and Gretel”), among others. Ms. Alkhazova has performed with many American opera companies and internationally in Chiari, Italy; she also toured the Republic of Ireland as the soloist in Honegger’s “King David.”
A native of Moscow, Ms. Alkhazova graduated magna cum laude from Clark University with Bachelor’s degrees in Music and International Relations. She holds two Master's degrees, in International Development and in Vocal Performance (Boston University). Currently Ms. Alkhazova works in New York City with two Metropolitan opera coaches.
* Anton Belov:
Baritone ANTON BELOV’s recent operatic appearances include roles of Count di Luna (Il Trovatore) and Escamillo (Carmen) with Anchorage Opera, John Sorel (The Consul) and Doctor (The Nose) with Opera Boston, Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Don Giovanni and Ping (Turandot) with the Opera New Jersey, Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) with the Helena Symphony, Ping with the Connecticut Grand Opera, Malatesta (Don Pasquale) with Opera Providence, Silvio (Pagliacci) with the Belleayre Festival, Masetto (Don Giovanni) with Boston Baroque, and the title role in Delaware Opera’s production of Don Giovanni. A native of Moscow, Anton Belov holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from The New England Conservatory, an Artist’s Diploma and a Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School.
* Ludmilla Leibman:
Ludmilla Leibman – pianist, music theorist, and lecturer – developed her teaching career in two countries. In Russia she taught for thirteen years in the theory/composition department of her alma mater, the Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. In the United States, after receiving her doctorate from Boston University, she taught music theory there from 1998 to 2006. In addition, Dr. Leibman is the Executive Director of The Educational Bridge Project, an organization she founded in 1997 with the goal of providing forums for cultural exchanges between United States and Russia. The Educational Bridge Project was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 2006.
For more information, please contact Sergey Nikolenko.
Funded by a Director's Grant from the Council for the Arts at MIT.
