Charismatic Siberian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky appears in recital with pianist Mikhail Arkadiev performing songs by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff on April 15
March 27, 2003 -
Ottawa, Canada -- The charismatic Siberian baritone Dmitri
Hvorostovsky, (pronounced Da-MEE-tree Vor-off-STOV-skee) one of the
world's leading baritones and a favourite of Ottawa audiences,
makes his National Arts Centre recital debut with his recital
partner, pianist Mikhail Arkadiev, on Tuesday, April 15 at 20:00 in
Southam Hall. For the occasion he has chosen an all-Russian programme
of nine songs by Tchaikovsky and nine songs by Rachmaninoff.
Tchaikovsky wrote more than one hundred songs, and in them
- according to his biographer David Brown - he "probed
directly into the human soul to expose its desires and passions, its
joys and sorrows, its tenderness and its vulnerability. ... He
favoured verses concerned with strong, personal feeling." Each of the
songs on tonight's recital exemplifies these qualities to perfection,
and in almost every song, there is a miniature piano preamble to set
the mood. The songs are:
"I wanted in one word"; "I opened the window" Op. 63, No. 2; "The
fearful moment" Op. 28, No. 6; "Why?" Op. 6, No. 5; "It was in early
spring" Op. 38, No. 2; "I bless you, woods" Op. 47, No. 5; "My
genius, my angel, my friend"; "Again, as before, I am alone" Op. 73,
No. 6; "Whether the day reigns" Op. 47, No. 6
Though Rachmaninoff is not as well known as a composer of art
songs, he nevertheless composed eighty of them, and like Tchaikovsky
he has a natural gift of melody - beautiful, long-breathed,
romantic melody, a quality for which he had no less a natural gift
than Tchaikovsky.
Hvorostovsky will sing nine of these spanning a 16-year period in
Rachmaninoff's life:
"In the silence of the night" Op. 4, No. 3; "Oh no, I beg you, do
not leave!" Op. 4, No. 1; "She is as beautiful as midday" Op. 14, No.
9; "When yesterday we met" Op. 26, No. 13; "Do not sing, for me, fair
maiden" Op. 4, No. 4; "He has taken all from me" Op. 26, No. 2;
"Christ is risen" Op. 26, No. 6; "A dream" Op. 8, No. 5; "A fragment
from A. Musset: Loneliness" Op. 21, No 6.
The internationally acclaimed baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky was
born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, and made his western operatic debut at
the Nice Opera in Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame. His career rapidly
expanded to include regular engagements at all major opera houses,
including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; the Berlin State
Opera; the Teatro alla Scala, Milan; the Vienna State Opera; the
Metropolitan Opera, New York; Chicago Lyric Opera; and the Kirov
Opera, St Petersburg. His most notable roles include Onegin in
Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Figaro in Rossini's Il
Barbiere di Siviglia, the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni,
and, most recently, the title role in Rigoletto (in
Houston and in Moscow). He has given many recitals, to great acclaim,
in most major international recital venues, including the Wigmore
Hall, London; Carnegie Hall, New York; the Teatro alla Scala, Milan;
the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, Moscow; and the Musikverein, Vienna.
He has also given recitals in Seoul, Oslo, Istanbul, Jerusalem and
Australia, South America and the Far East. He made his acclaimed
debut with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in 1998, returning in
2000. This is his National Arts Centre recital debut.
Dmitri Hvorostovsky's numerous recordings include recital and aria
discs. Complete opera recordings include Verdi's La Traviata
and Don Carlos; Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame and
Iolanta, and Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride. He has
also starred in Leporello, a film by Canada's Rhombus
Media based on Mozart's Don Giovanni, released in the autumn
of 2000.
Mikhail Arkadiev has been the regular musical partner of Dmitri
Hvorostovsky since March 1990, and the pair has performed all over
the world with great success. In 1994, the first album of
Hvorostovsky and Arkadiev performing songs by Tchaikovsky,
Rachmaninoff, Borodin,and Rimsky-Korsakov was issued by Philips
Classics. Their second album, Russia Cast Adrift, includes
music by Rachmaninoff and Sviridov. Mikhail Arkadiev began his
musical training at the age of 13 by himself, and in just three years
achieved significant results as a musician, pianist and composer.
Having had no formal musical education (unusual within the Soviet
education system), he entered the Music College of the Moscow
Conservatoire in 1974, from which he graduated in 1978 cum
laude. 1989 saw Mr. Arkadiev's first performances outside Russia,
in Germany.
Tickets for this Great Performers recital featuring baritone
Dmitri Hvorostovsky and pianist Mikhail Arkadiev on April 6 are on
sale now at $24.50, $38.00 and $48.00, with box seats at $56.50 (GST
and Facility Fee included) at the NAC Box Office (Monday to Saturday
from 10:00 to 21:00), and through Ticketmaster
(with surcharges) at 613-755-1111. Ticketmaster may also be accessed
through the NAC's web-site at www.nac-cna.ca.
Half-price tickets for students in all sections of the hall are on
sale in person at the NAC Box Office upon presentation of a valid
student ID card.
