During the Easter Festival (May 7), when on the stage of the Surgut Philharmonic the artists of the Mariinsky Theater performed Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin” (lyrical scenes in concert performance), during a break between the acts I was able to talk with the director of the program and accompanist, People’s Artist of Russia Larisa Gergieva (as you understand, the sister of maestro Valery Gergiev). She was very interesting to me artistic director Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers (see Vestnik No. 19 of May 9 and No. 20 of May 16). It’s amazing how much these talented people, brother and sister, do for culture - both Russian and global.
It is much easier to discern a precious rock in an unprocessed stone than to hear a voice and see acting abilities in an as yet unrevealed stone. young artist. Larisa Gergieva is a sensitive teacher and accompanist, whose complex and painstaking work at the Academy of Young Singers is to see, hear and allow the vocal and acting talent of an aspiring artist to reveal itself. The result of this grandiose and meticulous work is appreciated by music lovers around the world: Mariinsky troupe Everyone associates, first of all, with beautiful voices.
Larisa Abisalovna Gergieva is the artistic director of not only the Academy of Young Singers of the Mariinsky Theater, but also the State Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania (Vladikavkaz). She has outstanding musical and organizational qualities, is one of the best world-famous vocal accompanists, director and jury member of many prestigious international vocal competitions. Among her students are 96 laureates of all-Union, all-Russian and international competitions. She prepared more than 100 opera performances for different theaters peace.
Since the reason for Larisa Abisalovna’s visit was the Easter festival, I began the conversation with a question related to this topic, namely:
- Why is Surgut included in the happy cities where the Easter festival takes place?
Well, why not?.. The Easter festival travels around the country, constantly expanding its geography and scale. And this time, in my opinion, more than 50 Russian cities, big and small, covered. This cannot but please and is very impressive. Thanks to this festival, residents of small or very remote cities from St. Petersburg and Moscow have the opportunity to listen to a concert, opera or some rare symphony programs with our famous orchestra. Or chamber programs with amazing works- both unfamiliar and hits of Russian and Western European music, which is what happened now when we traveled to Altai, to the cities of Siberia with chamber programs that I am in charge of. They arouse great interest among music lovers, and allow young soloists to get acquainted with the country. I teach them to sing equally well, to give their all, in Paris, and in London, and, say, in Kemerovo, Barnaul and Tomsk... First of all, in our country, for their audience. IN Soviet time When I was young, cultural ties between cities and republics were closely monitored by the state. The artist simply had to go on tour, represent his theater or philharmonic society. Were very intense creative connections. After for a long time nothing was done. And now theaters are having a hard time finding the opportunity to go on tour. Thank God that there is an Easter festival, thanks to which the country's audience and music lovers have the opportunity to listen to academic music.
- IN Lately here, in Surgut, cultural life stirred up again thanks to the opening of the new Philharmonic building...
By the way, I am pleasantly surprised by the state of your Philharmonic. There are a lot of dilapidated philharmonic societies in the country, where things are not going so well and the inside is not so cozy. And you have such a wonderful room!
- How do you like our viewer?
Viewer?! The viewer is not bad. But it can also be hot. Apparently the climate has an effect (laughs).
- Larisa Abisalovna, in general, in your opinion, how do local music lovers perceive the operatic work today?
I think it's wary. Maybe the viewer is not yet very prepared to perceive academic music. We need to introduce more people to opera, because there are certain traditions. For example, where to applaud and where not to applaud. You need to know the arias. For this, the ear must be trained. The public also needs to be educated. There is only one conclusion: bring such performers and such music as often as possible, and I think everything will be fine.
- Did you like our city?
I didn’t see him at all because I arrived at night and barely had time to sleep... I hope not last time I’m in Surgut and I’ll still have time to get to know him better. When you come to an unfamiliar place, you want to find out why it is so special. Although the fate of the artist is such that it is not always possible to do this. But I try, there are cities that you know. For example, if I take my artists to London, I tell them that it is impossible not to visit there and there, even if we only have one day of tour. I really hope that you also have such sights that you just need to see. Since Surgut has now joined the Easter festival’s orbit, I think it makes sense to plan next year the arrival of our theater here with a chamber program.
- Larisa Abisalovna, you travel all over our country, and abroad, looking for singing “diamonds”, tell me, are there many beautiful voices in Russia?
In Russia there is, yes. But we need to work with them, polish them, polish them. A lot of kids just need to be developed spiritually, introduced to culture in general. Well, probably encourage reading. Now is the time for young people who don’t read very much. We need to tear them away from their phones and computers. They should listen a lot. How others sing, how orchestras play. What they write about music. There are such guys who come from the provinces and at first get lost in St. Petersburg, but then settle in well and achieve a lot. If they are hardworking, if they fanatically want to become singers, then they find their place in the sun. But it's hellish work. This is a profession that... depends a lot on the person himself, but also depends a lot on others: teachers, conductors...
- And from luck?
Yes. In addition to your voice and acting skills, you also need to have charisma and stable health. And be confident. And if this is not the case, then you shouldn’t study vocals professionally, because you won’t be able to withstand the competition.
- Do you think it is important for a vocalist to graduate from higher education? educational institution related to music?
There are cases when young people studied at my academy without special education. One boy came after graduating from flight school, now he is the leading soloist of our theater and often sings at the New York Metropolitan Opera House. I spent several years at the academy. And if you graduated from a conservatory, for example, even better. It all depends on what kind of teacher. With teachers, too, everything is not as good as we would like; there are not many worthy ones.
Sometimes it happens. But, in principle, a person learns a lot on his own. It is only necessary that there be someone nearby who will guide you the right direction. At some point in your life you need to study very closely with a talented teacher. At the same time, a singing age has come, everyone sings - both old and young, everyone takes lessons, even private ones. But it's good. Let them sing better. They get involved in the beautiful, rather than driving around the streets and doing whatever the hell they are doing. I travel around the country a lot, and I manage to meet talented people in the outback, in provincial towns. And some go through a certain path of development and become good vocalists, real professionals.
- Can those whose vocal abilities are not very good, but whose technique is amazing, become great artists and singers?
No, no, they will always lose to the one with nature. Yes, you can learn to sing correctly, you can sing culturally and technically. But if there are no natural data, there is nothing special to count on.
GERGIEVS (GERGITÆ). Khudal, Gergi, Kaptu and Adyrkha (option: Mysyk) were brothers. They lived together, but when they all started families, they decided that they would look for a place in the sun separately.
One of the brothers, Gergi, settled in the Alagir Gorge, in the mountain village of Khod. Aul was considered a place of God's rest. From Gerga came the surname Gergiev (Dzherdzhit, Gergita).
The following surnames maintained family relations with the Gergievs (according to different lists): Katukovs, Tedeevs, Tedtoevs, Badrievs, Khodovs, Khuadonovs, Dzansolovs, Gadaevs, Dzugkoevs, Hallaevs, Khudalovs, Kataevs, Adyrkhaevs, Misikovs, Edzievs, Edzoevs, Khabaevs, Dulaevs, Ezeevs ,Gateevs et al.
IN late XIX- early 20th century the population of mountain villages began to move to the flat parts of Ossetia. Many residents of the village of Khod also left their homes and moved to the villages of Kora-Ursdon, Sindzikau, Khristianovskoye (Digora), Dur-Dur, Alagir, Ardon, Zmeyskaya, Stavd-Dort, Seker, Lesken, Elkhotovo, Vladikavkaz, etc.
Among the settlers was the family of Gamadzhi Gergiev with four sons: Zaurbek, Dzabo, Smali, Khadzhimat, and daughter Darda. Gamaji chose the village of Seker, Iraf district, as his place of residence. Subsequently, in the 20s. XX century, the descendants of Gamadzhi moved to the village of Dur-Dur.
Today the Gergievs are proud of their sons and daughters, who have glorified not only their family, but the whole of Ossetia.
Dzabo Gergiev and his children are remembered with kind words in Dur-Dur. During Civil War Dzabo and his brothers actively helped the partisans. Later they built new life, participated in the Great Patriotic War. He raised his eight children to be worthy people.
A book, “The Power of Unity,” was written about Dzabo’s glorious deeds.
Who doesn’t know the famous conductor, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, People's Artist Russia, People's Artist of Ukraine, People's Artist North Ossetia, winner of a number of awards state awards many countries, artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (b. 1953).
Keeps up with his illustrious brother and People's Artist Russia, People's Artist of Ukraine, People's Artist of North Ossetia Larisa Abisalovna Gergieva (b. 1952). She is the artistic director of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers theater, general director traditional International competition young opera singers them. N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov and the competition named after. P. G. Lisitsian, artistic director of the Summer Academy of the Mariinsky Theater in Mikkeli (Finland), artistic director of the Vladikavkaz Opera and Ballet Theater and jury member of many international competitions.
Creative evenings by Larisa Gergieva will be held in Moscow and St. Petersburg for one week. Her name is familiar even to the “general public”: maestro Gergiev, Valery Abisalovich, artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater - brother Larisa Abisalovna. But dedicated people, familiar with the world of music, understand: Larisa Gergieva herself is a phenomenon, a unique talent. Artistic Director of the Academy of Young Opera Singers at the Mariinsky Theatre, best concert Master of the World according to the BBC, organizer of several prestigious international vocal competitions... On the eve of creative evenings dedicated to the 50th anniversary creative activity, she shared with RG the secrets of her profession - the most mysterious in the world of music. She told why she and her brother were not accepted into a music school at one time, and explained how the voice affects character.
Larisa Abisalovna, how did it happen that from a family that had nothing at all to do with professional art, two came out at once? famous musician- you and your brother?
Larisa Gergieva: We never really had professional musicians in our family. But my mom was very good at it national instrument, like an Ossetian accordion. And my father - he was a military man, a colonel, very handsome, tall, charismatic person- danced beautifully. And when we wandered around military camps (this, by the way, explains the fact that we were all born in different places: me in Moldova, my brother in Moscow, my sister in Ossetia), my father and mother always took part in amateur art competitions and took first places everywhere .
Before going to bed, instead of detective stories and romance novels, I read claviers. This is my favorite read
And when dad retired, we settled in Vladikavkaz. The time came to go to first grade, and my mother began to think about where to send us. By the way, our neighbors were the first to notice our abilities - a musician from an orchestra lived nearby, he strongly advised our parents: “They sing here, and very clearly, enroll them in a music school!”
We passed the entrance exams and failed miserably. Both: me and Valery. Then in Vladikavkaz there was only School of Music, she enjoyed incredible popularity, there was a boom in the city: everyone wanted to teach children music. But we didn’t have any connections. Nevertheless, the neighbors insisted, they auditioned us again, and Valeria (boys are always in short supply in such establishments!) was accepted, but I was not. I cried bitterly, but together with my brother, holding hands, I went to this school. How the eldest (we are the same age) wrote down his homework (usually the children’s parents did this). Apparently, having appreciated such zeal, I was soon enrolled in school too.
Everyone who is taught music went through a period in childhood: I don’t want to study, I’ll quit. Even Mozart's father forced...
Larisa Gergieva: Never! We were never forced. It seems to me that in order for the desire to do what one loves not to disappear, a person must be lucky twice: with parents and teachers. We were lucky with our parents: they paid so much attention to everyone! We studied at best school city (at one time Evgeny Vakhtangov and Pavel Lisitsian, the great baritone, studied there Bolshoi Theater, the first Soviet singer to perform on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera).
By the way, who would have thought that in the near future fate would bring us together. We were flying to some competition on the same plane (he was on the jury, I was the accompanist of the tenor), I approached Pavel Gerasimovich and very timidly admitted that we were fellow countrymen. He was happy, animated, and remembered a lot about his childhood.
At the end of the trip, I told him: look, someday I will do vocal competition your name. He didn’t believe it: “What are you talking about?” But today this competition is alive, it has already been held four times, the last time 11 countries took part in it. And Pavel Lisitsian managed to live up to it.
Is it true that you always carry a photo of your first teacher with you in your purse?
Larisa Gergieva: Is it true. Zarema Andreevna Lolaeva is the first Ossetian professional pianist, founder of a performing school. A very demanding, demanding person. She had absolutely nothing to do with each student. individual approach. And she quickly realized that the piano was too small for Valery. She brought him to conductor Anatoly Arkadyevich Briskin. I don’t know a stricter teacher. To play out of tune, to make some mistake in performance - for him it was akin to a crime. He was furious. Or, naturally, he could cry from frustration. He suggested that Valery and I play a lot of four-handed games, especially symphonic works: For my brother, as a future conductor, this was important. Once, I remember, we somehow didn’t prepare Brahms enough, and Briskin locked us out of class. When we brought these symphonies to shine, the building was already closed. And we climbed out through the window: Valery always had many friends, they were waiting for him outside and helped us get out.
By the way, Briskin studied with Valera every day - although the subject “symphonic conducting” was not in the program. But seeing the incredible abilities, he understood: he couldn’t abandon the student.
Is this how your profession was determined?
Larisa Gergieva: Mom wanted her only son to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an officer. But everything was determined when my father died. He left very early - at 49 years old. We were at that age - 7-8th grade... I immediately went to school, and Valery said that he wanted to study music. Mom agreed. She generally said: “Everything will be as Zarema Andreevna Lolaeva says.” She was an expert in our specialties.
Aren't you offended that your profession - accompanist - is so quiet and not in plain sight? That you always have to live, as it were, in your brother’s shadow?
Larisa Gergieva: I disagree. Yes, the conductor is in charge of everything. But if I come to some theater on opera performance, then after 10-15 minutes I can tell who prepared this opera - a good accompanist or not. What a hand. The accompanist, who is entrusted with making an opera, is responsible for everything: he selects the cast, organizes the training process (and for this you need to know everything very well yourself). Then comes the painstaking, exquisite work of learning: you are here for the vocalists and a doctor, a teacher, a nanny, a friend, a psychologist, a teacher, and a military commander. A singer must know everything about his character: the era, historical details, literary context, who he was friends with, who he fell in love with... Do you know what lists of books I make for my singers? And then you continue to conduct this opera, you are the organizer of the process. If you fail, they ask you very harshly first of all. With all the consequences.
And your younger brother asks you that?
Larisa Gergieva: At work we are not related at all. But I have never encountered such situations: I prepare everything carefully.
Another difficulty in staging operas today is that, according to modern requirements, all performers must be approximately the same age as their heroes.
But since I run the Academy of Young Singers, I try to make sure that all my girls and boys are beautiful, so that they understand the style of the time. It’s one thing to sing a Bach cantata, another thing to sing the Silver Age. Oh, what happened to us recently - it’s terrible! I'll tell you now. The recent premiere of "The Diary of Anne Frank": every breath and flutter of eyelashes is rehearsed. The performance runs from incredible success. And suddenly I receive a text message: “How can this be? Your performer is walking barefoot down the steps - and she has a red pedicure.” The singer was apparently so worried before the premiere that she lost sight of it. And the singer is wonderful. My fault: I didn't track it.
I know that before going to bed, instead of detective stories and romance novels, you read claviers.
Larisa Gergieva: Sheet music, yes. This is my favorite reading.
How many operas do you know “from” to “to”?
Larisa Gergieva: If we talk about those that I cooked and staged - more than a hundred. But there are still different editions - sometimes it’s almost various works. And if we talk about those claviers that I know in order to learn them, that I can understand, talk about them - there are probably two hundred names. But these are big operas.
Your theater has several cycles of wonderful productions. Let's say, "Little Operas for Children", where, along with modern masterpieces, for example, Sergei Banevich's opera "Scenes from the Life of Nikolenka Irtenyev" based on the story "Childhood" by Leo Tolstoy, there are also half-forgotten works - say, Sergei Prokofiev's opera "The Giant", which the composer wrote at the age of 9. Or the project “Our 20th Century” - it consists entirely of operas by Soviet composers, little represented on today's stage. Or your mono-operas. Composer Leonid Klinichev wrote a triptych based on the poetry and prose of Russian poetesses “Marina”, “Anna” and now - “Zinaida”...
Larisa Gergieva:"Zinaida" just came out.
What motivates you to undertake these projects? Are you too lazy to encourage composers to write new operas?
Larisa Gergieva: No, I'm not lazy. One of the reasons is so that my guys from the Academy of Young Singers (and there are already about two hundred of them) can sing EVERYTHING. In all singing languages, in all genres. Chamber opera has always been very interesting to me: and now, when we have so many wonderful venues in the theater, it would be a shame not to take advantage of them.
To keep the desire to do what you love, a person must be lucky twice: with parents and teachers
In “Zinaida” I proposed to make a piece of the relationship between Gippius, Merezhkovsky and Filosofov, this mysterious triangle. I asked the very talented director Alexey Stepanyuk to direct it. His rehearsals turned into some incredibly intense lectures on history. Silver Age. I am proud that my idea forced young people to turn to the work of this wonderful poetess.
And the children's theme occupies me very much. We're doing Britten's Chimney Sweep right now. It's difficult, but very interesting. I have such a character: if I am infected with some kind of “microbe”, I must definitely bring this matter to the final goal.
No, first you find allies in the “disease.”
Larisa Gergieva: This is true. Now, for example, I am obsessed with the idea of making a play about the wonderful Russian military leader, General Abatsiev. A man of extraordinary courage, he began as Skobelev's adjutant. This is the most famous Ossetian, the hero of many wars, by 1918 he received all the military awards there are: more than forty foreign orders, all four of Vladimir, the Order of the White Eagle... After the revolution he emigrated to Belgrade, where he found a place in the university library . I dream about him at night...
If we talk about the fiftieth anniversary of your creative activity, explain, have you been giving concerts since you were 15?
Larisa Gergieva: At the age of 15, Lolaeva took me by the hand to the singer Viktor Konstantinovich Dzutsev and said: “I want you to try yourself as an accompanist.” And he was such a real bass of ours opera house. We began to rehearse, he began to tell me some of the subtleties of the craft. By the way, he said: “On stage, you never know where it will take me - you must anticipate my desire to catch my breath...” I ask: “Who is the leader in our group - you or me?” “Of course I am,” he replies. “But then,” I say, “I will lag behind.” “Okay,” he says, “you lead, but do it in such a way that I think that I’m leading.” Since then, this has become my main principle in working with singers.
Larisa Gergieva: I was very lucky because the Lord God gave me friendship with such people. Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova is the bearer of some incredible singing culture, a living encyclopedia of everything about vocals. Everything was correct with her, perfected to the smallest detail. And Elena Obraztsova is a complete antipode. She never repeated anything, she always sang in a new way. Once we performed with her without any rehearsals at all, 15 minutes before the concert we arrived on stage from different tours. We tried a piece of one aria, then another, she said: that’s it, that’s enough, you don’t even need to rehearse. And you know - it was the best concert of my life. I organized a competition for Elena Obraztsova’s anniversary (my gift to her for her 60th birthday). Now it has passed for the tenth time. I remember how from Leipzig, a few weeks before leaving, she sent me an SMS: “Larissa, don’t give up the competition!” This was her will.
Galina Gorchakova - timbre of extraordinary beauty. Mighty, the most beautiful voice. Olga Borodina... And you learn something from every singer.
Larisa Gergieva: Don’t forget that my husband Hrayr Hanedanyan is a tenor! But in principle - yes, tenors always have such parts - increased exaltation, hot feelings. And mezzo-soprano heroines are always with passions; they cannot be gentle creatures. Bass are often infantile and mature at a late age.
But here’s what occupies me: in my opinion, the voice is the highest award that God can bestow on a person. And when the singer leaves, where does he go? It can't be that this divine voice disappeared forever. He probably inhabits one of the next generations... He flies away and returns to another.
Creative evenings with Larisa Gergieva are held throughout the week in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Her last name is familiar to everyone: Valery Gergiev, artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater - Larisa Abisalovna’s brother. But people familiar with the world of music know: Larisa Gergieva herself is a phenomenon, a unique talent.
On February 27, the founder and permanent director of the Academy of Young Opera Singers of the Mariinsky Theater, People's Artist of Russia, celebrates her 65th anniversary and 50 years of creative activity Larisa Gergieva. Best accompanist world according to the BBC, organizer of several prestigious international vocal competitions Larisa Abisalovna is widely known as a world-famous teacher who has raised a galaxy of stars opera stage. She developed her own unique system, Gergieva’s system, which allowed her to train almost 100, and to be precise, 96 laureates of All-Union, All-Russian and international competitions.
Musical romance happened to Larisa Gergieva not the first time. However, like famous brother. Dad was a military man and the family traveled a lot around the world before settling in Vladikavkaz. When it was time to go to first grade, the musician neighbors, who noted the abilities of Larisa and Valery, advised their mother: “They sing with you, and very clearly, enroll them in a music school!”
At that time there was the only music school in Vladikavkaz, it was incredibly popular, there was a boom in the city: everyone wanted to teach children music. The brother and sister passed the entrance exams and both failed miserably. Both Valery and Larisa.
At the insistence of the neighbors, the children were auditioned again and Valery was accepted, but Larisa was not. She cried bitterly, but when classes began, she and her brother, holding hands, went to this school. She listened to everything that was taught in class and wrote down his homework. Apparently, appreciating such zeal, Larisa was soon also enrolled in school.
We studied at the best school in Vladikavkaz. At one time, Evgeny Vakhtangov and Pavel Lisitsian, the great baritone of the Bolshoi Theater, the first Soviet singer to perform on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, studied there, Larisa Abisalovna recalls today.
Years will pass and she will personally meet Lisitsian and promise him to organize a vocal competition in his name in his homeland in Vladikavkaz. And he will keep his word.
To keep the desire to do what you love, a person must be lucky twice: with parents and teachers.
She always carries a photo of her first teacher, Zarema Andreevna Lolaeva, in her purse. It was she who first realized that the piano was too small for Valery and brought him to conductor Anatoly Arkadyevich Briskin.
Zarema Andreevna understood everything about Larisa, and at the age of 15 she led her by the hand to the soloist of the opera house and said: “I want you to try yourself as an accompanist.”
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An accompanist is the most mysterious profession in the world of music. But it seems that Larisa Gergieva solved this mystery back then, 50 years ago, when she gave her first concert on stage with a vocalist. She was only 15, but even then she felt the voice like no one else, predicted everything, right down to the singer’s desire to catch his breath.
The famous accompanist, artistic director of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers and the National State Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania Larisa Gergieva is celebrating a double anniversary - 65 years and half a century of creative activity. A Culture correspondent spoke with Larisa Abisalovna.
Gergieva: First of all, I celebrate a creative and, to a lesser extent, personal anniversary. 50 years in the profession, in art - for me this is the most important milestone. The same spring days it was my first time participating in solo concert professional bass. I was still just a college student, a first-year student. It was then that my interest in vocals began. Of course, I have performed before - in an ensemble with instrumentalists, and with good ones, but I have never felt such joy. It was a real shock. I experienced no less pleasure when, after classes with the singers, I came into the hall and for the first time heard a ready-made opera, which I had learned with them from beginning to end.
culture: Perhaps at first you dreamed of becoming a pianist?
Gergieva: No, I immediately focused on acting as an accompanist. I thought it was much more interesting than solo performances. I was in love with the voice, and I just wanted an ensemble with a singer. Of course, I heard all sorts of things: that the profession is thankless, not very noticeable. But, as it turned out half a century later, it is not so inconspicuous. I do my job and have fun. The complexity of the work of an opera accompanist and vocal teacher the fact is that no one teaches this. You have to figure it all out yourself. And I want to tell my young colleagues: you can’t become an accompanist just because your career didn’t work out. Solo career, - you will suffer all your life. You need to love singers, voices, music. Then it's yours. You are a nanny, a teacher, a psychologist, and most importantly, a friend.
Already in early years, at school in Vladikavkaz, I had a craving for studying new works and composer names. The desire to understand the profession and self-education means a lot. I sat by the radio and listened to the concerts of Dolukhanova, Arkhipova, Obraztsova. My ideal was the legendary Gerald Moore - I was guided by his art and ability to interact with the singer. On stage, an accompanist experiences no less emotions than a solo pianist. I remember my feelings when I received applause at La Scala after our concert with Olga Borodina.
culture: It’s not easy with singers, they’re all different...
Gergieva: Naturally. With Obraztsova, for example, we never rehearsed for a long time, we’ll try something, and the rest was born spontaneously, already on stage. Arkhipova was completely different: in the most insignificant miniature everything was polished to shine, to perfection. Communication with any vocalist, even an incompetent one, provides a lot for professional growth. And there is considerable joy when something starts to work out and you see the result of your work.
culture: Falling in love with the voice came immediately. Did the theater captivate you just as quickly?
Gergieva: I came across the stage when Valery and I were doing an internship in Vladikavkaz, at the local musical theater. It was there that I realized: I need to prepare the game in such a way that everything is learned more than one hundred percent. The singer has so many tasks on stage that musical material should be brought to automaticity. Plus I liked the new challenge. Many years later, I came to this theater as artistic director: the company was on the verge of closure, and I managed to revive it to life. We created such complex and rare operas for Russia as “Manon Lescaut”, “Fedora” by Giordano, “Agrippina” by Handel. It was there that I had my first directorial experience - I directed “Troubadour”. Now we are becoming a branch of the Mariinsky Theater. I think this will be beneficial musical culture Ossetia and the Caucasus region. All these years, young Mariinsky students have been singing on the stage of the Vladikavkaz Theater, but now cooperation will reach a fundamentally different level.
culture: How does your main brainchild, the Mariinsky Theater Academy, live?
Gergieva: This season we have 36 new titles, they are performed at the Mariinsky Theater for the first time. As part of our subscriptions, we have the opportunity to introduce St. Petersburg music lovers to the rarest works: “Lucrezia Borgia” by Donizetti, “Cinderella” and “Werther” by Massenet, “Capulets and the Montagues” by Bellini, “The Thieving Magpie” by Rossini, “The Swallow” by Puccini, “Siberia” Giordano. Chamber works include Butsko's "Notes of a Madman" and his "White Nights", "Van Gogh's Letters" and Grigory Fried's "Anne Frank's Diary". We actively recall completely forgotten operas - “Grigory Melekhov” by Dzerzhinsky, “Not Only Love” by Shchedrin.
They staged a whole series of children's works, not only classics, but also completely new opuses, written especially for us. Children's subscriptions are especially important - this is a concern for the formation of a new public, the education of true music lovers and theatergoers who will come to our theater. At such performances there is often interaction, little viewer can communicate with the artists, touch the scenery, touch the amazing and wonderful world behind the scenes. Behind all this is the enormous work of young, talented, truly daring soloists.
We now have a whole scattering of star voices, they are involved and in demand. I personally am very attracted to large ensemble operas, because this is an excellent opportunity for young people to express themselves and grow in a very diverse repertoire. In general, life at the Mariinsky Theater is very rich - hardly any other theater in the world is in full swing with the same intensity. We trust young people, give them a lot to do, immediately and actively include them in creative process, and the result is colossal qualitative growth, voices and artistic personalities blossoming. With such a busy schedule, however, we never interfere with their tours at other venues. This enriches both the artist and the theater.
I see my purpose in raising children. In addition to vocals and opera, I teach them about life. You need to have great patience and treat them like a mother, hear them, develop the best. Meet different tempers, different psychotypes - you need to find an approach to each. In 2018, the Academy will be 20 years old, and I can say without false modesty that a lot has been done, we have launched many real interesting quarries, this is an absolutely successful experiment that took place.
culture: What problems do modern youth have, and what do you struggle with first?
Gergieva: The main problem is that they are in a hurry. Nothing comes instantly. There are, of course, miracles: bright talents emerge and progress quickly, but this is rather an exception. A singer must have time to mature, to gain experience. But our guys need everything at once. I would like to wish them more patience and understanding regarding their capabilities. Listen to the advice of experienced and senior people, teachers and coaches. Don't start too early dramatic repertoire, work on styles, competently build a development strategy. Accumulate - not only in vocal-technological terms, but also in general cultural terms.
Photo at the announcement: Alexander Nikolaev/Interpress/TASS
