On June 21 in Tashkent, at the Alisher Navoi State Academic Big Theater, two major events took place at once – the first solo concert in Uzbekistan by the world famous bass Ildar Abdrazakov and the opening of the exhibition of the Russian National Museum of Music Sergei Rachmaninov – Fyodor Chaliapin: Parallels and Intersections. Both events were held within the program of the Russian Seasons international cultural project.
The performance of the Honored Artist of Russia, laureate of the Golden Mask Russian National Theater Award and two-time Grammy Award winner Ildar Abdrazakov in Uzbekistan is a great cultural event. Prior to the concert, the opera singer spoke about the upcoming performance: “The concert is taking place as part of the Russian Seasons, for which I am very grateful to the Ministry of Culture and all those involved in organizing this project. And of course, I am very glad that my friend, my colleague Denis Vlasenko is at the conductor’s stand.”
The bill of the evening featured the music of great Russian and European composers. The following were performed for the audience: Polonaise and Gremin’s aria from Eugene Onegin by P.I. Tchaikovsky, Aleko’s aria from Aleko and Vocalise by S.V. Rachmaninov, Overture to Le nozze di Figaro by W. Mozart, Don Basilio’s aria (La calunnia e un venticello) from The Barber of Seville by D. Rossini, Escamillo’s couplets and Intermission to the fourth act from Carmen by J. Bizet, Couplets of Mephistopheles from Faust by C. Gounod.
At the end of the program, Ildar Abdrazakov came out to the audience for an encore and performed the song Down the Petersky, the romance Black Eyes, Hodge’s aria from the opera The Tricks of Maysara by S. Yudakov.
The performance of Ildar Abdrazakov was accompanied by the Alisher Navoi Big Theater Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Denis Vlasenko.
The exhibition of the Russian National Museum of Music Sergei Rachmaninov – Fyodor Chaliapin: Parallels and Intersections, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of two famous Russian musicians, was conceived as a story about the lives of Sergei Rachmaninov and Fyodor Chaliapin, whose lives have many parallels.
The exhibits are divided into six sections: “Destines Differ”, “The Path to Music and Theater”, “At the Imperial Bolshoi Theater”, “At the Top of Olympus”, “Family Album” and “Far from the Motherland”.
The documentary videos are complemented by quotations from the memoirs and letters of musicians, as well as from articles by music critics dedicated to the work of Sergei Rachmaninov and Fyodor Chaliapin.
