- Dear Dmitry Yurievich, brief biographical information You can be found on the Internet, but let’s start again from the very beginning: with your family, with childhood. How and where did your introduction to the world of music, vocals, and opera theater begin?
I was born and raised in Sverdlovsk. My parents, and all my relatives in general, are entirely physicists and mathematicians. Mom is a teacher of higher mathematics at Ural State University state university, dad is a physicist, was the director of a large research institute, uncle is also a physicist, aunt is an algebraist, brother is the head. Department of Mathematics at the Academy, now in Yekaterinburg. The cousins scattered all over the world are all mathematicians.
So I am the only exception, as they say, in the family not without... a musician!
But at the same time, everyone studied music in childhood: both dad and brother. But somehow I “stayed late” in this. He graduated from music school with a degree in piano, and entered GITIS to study at the Faculty of Theater Studies. And then my pianism turned out to be very useful, I lived with it, accompanying the vocalists. That is, it was a kind of “barter” - I learned vocals from friends and acquaintances and “repaid” them by playing arias, romances on the piano, and learning new works with them. I really wanted to sing myself in my youth, but my parents, being serious people, advised me to get a more reliable specialty first, so I graduated from college as a theater specialist, specializing in opera, and then graduated from graduate school.
Alas, I have not met a real vocal teacher who would believe in me and give me a start. Perhaps there were not enough personal qualities for a career as a singer-soloist, and thank God that I realized this in time. Everything that is not done is for the better. In general, I began to sing decently quite late, by the age of 30. By that time many people already knew me opera world in a different capacity. The situation was delicate - in the Union of Theater Workers I “commanded” the musical theater. It was a short-lived association at the end of the Soviet Union, organizing huge festivals and competitions with million-dollar budgets and good intentions...
In the early 90s, I went to Belgium to improve myself as a vocal teacher, and when they offered me a contract with a fairly large agency as a singer, I suddenly realized that it was too late, as they say, “all the steam was gone,” or rather, I headed in the other direction - for teaching.
- But there are historical examples of late vocal careers - tenor Nikandr Khanaev, who began at 36 years old, bass Boris Gmyrya - at 33 years old, Antonina Nezhdanova made her debut on the professional stage only at 29.
Firstly, they lived in the early to mid-20th century; the closer they are to their contemporaries, the more difficult it is to find singers who start at 30 years old, and then, each has their own “margin of safety” in perseverance in achieving their goals.
When it fell apart Soviet Union, we organized a concert and acting agency “on the ruins” of STD, which was quite successful. I remember those days with special gratitude, because for the first time at the age of 28 I began to travel abroad; for some reason they had not allowed me to go abroad before. This provided a huge listening experience, the opportunity to get acquainted with the best productions operas on world stages, to evaluate the voices of famous singers live. I discovered new world, where they sang completely different from ours, with rare exceptions.
I had to break some ideas in myself, because my hearing was “blurred” by the Soviet opera tradition, both in the good and bad sense of the word. I was rebuilt technically and stylistically, my taste changed. It was not easy, sometimes I did stupid things. For some time I studied with the guys out of interest; I don’t even remember taking money for lessons.
And then I was invited to teach vocals at the Gnessin School, at the department of musical theater actors. Especially for me additional set They took the only student - Rodion Pogosov. He was 16 years old at the time, he had never sung and generally dreamed of becoming a dramatic actor. But he was not accepted into theater universities, and “out of grief” he entered the school and ended up with me. Already at the age of 19, in his 3rd year, he made his debut as Papageno in “ New Opera”, and at the age of 21 he became the youngest participant in the youth program at the Metropolitan, and so on. Now Rodion is a sought-after international artist.
- Well, even the “first pancake” didn’t turn out lumpy for you!
Yes, working with my first student required a lot of strength and energy from me. I forced him to practice vocals all the time, teaming up with his mother. These were not ordinary classes twice a week for 45 minutes, but lessons almost every day. Simply put, I chased him, overcoming resistance and reluctance to learn. You can understand - a very young boy, who also did not believe in his vocal capabilities. He even laughed at the singers, the process itself academic singing seemed ridiculous to him.
- It turns out that you had to study from scratch! And one gets the impression that Vdovin’s students - we know more about the graduates of the Choral Academy - are already prepared guys from childhood, singing from the age of 6-7, very competent musicians.
Now they say about me that I take the cream of the crop into my class, best voices. Should we take the bad ones? Or do I have to prove something to someone? Any normal artist (artist, master) always chooses the best. Yes, now young people come to me, seeing the results of my work, and I have the opportunity to choose. And at first they gave me different students. So I went through the full school of pulling out difficult students, and I think that this is necessary for a young teacher.
- Were there any completely hopeless options? For a person to lose his voice completely, or to leave his vocal career, even if it’s not your fault?
The extremely young age of the current newcomers is also one of the problems. Previously, people began to study vocals professionally at the age of 23-25, especially men, that is, being physically developed people, strong not only in body, but also in spirit, who had meaningfully chosen their profession. Now 15-16 year olds come to schools, and to my class at the Choir Academy at 17 years old.
It turns out that at 22 they are already graduates. I had this guy, a very good bass player, he won competitions. He was immediately accepted into a youth program in one of the European countries, then into the theater. And that’s it - I haven’t heard anything about him for a long time, he disappeared. So-called fest contracts in repertory theaters are especially risky for very young vocalists. This means singing everything, whether it suits or does not suit your voice. Today - Rossini, tomorrow - Mussorgsky, the day after tomorrow - Mozart, and so on, right up to Bernstein and operetta. You look, not even a couple of years have passed, and instead of a voice there are remnants of former beauties.
- But in the Russian-Soviet tradition, a variety of styles and names in the playbill always alternated, and the leading soloists also sang not 6-7 “La Traviata” or “Pikovykh”, as now in the West, but 4-5 of the most diverse roles per month .
I believe that full-time companies and repertory theater are outdated, they are bad for everyone: artists, conductors, audiences. Firstly, there is always a shortage of rehearsals to keep current titles in good shape. There are not enough rehearsals even in such powerful companies as the Metropolitan Opera in New York or the Vienna Staatsoper. So don’t think that everything is bad with us, and they are completely prosperous there. I can remember how my student made her debut at the Met in the most difficult main party without a single stage rehearsal! So she came out and sang, and the turntable got stuck, and she started the aria from behind the scenes.
So I’m not a supporter of the repertoire system; in our country I consider it a relic of Soviet times, not related to art, but connected only with labor legislation, ideology, etc. So now we are sitting at a dead end and don’t know what to do. The singers are not confident in their tomorrow, but, by the way, the profession of an opera artist is generally quite risky, the voice is too fragile an instrument, if in doubt, you can and should initially choose another field. The conductors are not happy because the singer cannot equally convincingly perform Mozart today and Prokofiev tomorrow. The public today is also spoiled and needs stars or new names. And compromises result that are detrimental to art.
In a free lanser situation, leading singers always have more chances to master the repertoire that suits them, to meet interesting conductors, partners of equal level, etc. And how carefully everything can be rehearsed in the case of a production team for a specific project!
- But then, in a situation where there are not even 5-6, but sometimes 12 performances of the same title in a row, don’t the artists experience the effect of automatism, like soloists in musicals? I have a hard time understanding how you can work hundreds of performances in a row on Broadway with one day off, often without replacement, portraying feelings, laughter and tears on stage...
Unlike Broadway, in the opera house the actors do not appear every evening (except in emergencies); there is always one or two days of rest. And performances are rarely performed more than five times in a production block. The best theaters, like the Metropolitan, are trying to gather around the world best performers this opera for today. And believe me, in an atmosphere of high professionalism and perfection of every detail, it is much easier for the artist to concentrate on the image.
The Met example is also interesting for the public, because in a week you can listen to the works of the most different styles in the best performance. It’s no secret that visitors and tourists tend to go to the opera house more often than “natives”. So, while in New York in January of this year, in a few days I visited the talented baroque compilation “The Enchanted Island”, saw the sensational “Faust”, then “Tosca” and “The Daughter of the Regiment”. And for the slow-moving “locals,” the most successful titles repeat themselves after about six months, like “Anne Boleyn,” which opened the current opera season.
In general, the topic of various traditions of the existence of the opera house is incredibly interesting and difficult; each country has its own rational aspects that can be combined for good, you just need to know them and know how to do it.
- To you personally, especially at the beginning pedagogical activity, did your lack of stage experience interfere?
At first, of course, yes, it was a hindrance! Naturally, when I sit in a master class with my beloved Elena Vasilyevna Obraztsova, I simply revel in her comparisons and figurative speech. Her vast experience, working with outstanding masters plus personal rich artistic imagination - all together it’s fascinating! When she works on a fragment from an opera or a romance that she knows well, she builds a whole world created from knowledge and talent together, in which there is not only an acting, but also a director's, and even a conductor's, element.
I'm learning all the time! I studied while working with the unforgettable Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova, now next to Obraztsova, with Evgeniy Evgenievich Nesterenko, with the teachers of our Youth Program. I go through the riffs of new parts and productions, including foreign ones, with my students. All this is search, school, enrichment of personal practice. I was lucky in terms of time; I began actively teaching at an age when opera singers are usually busy only with themselves and their careers. I had the opportunity to dive very deeply and widely into pedagogical problems- gain pedagogical experience, work with all types of voices, study various repertoires.
- Let me make a somewhat unexpected comparison here. There is an opinion that the best obstetricians are men, because they are unable to understand or imagine the pains of labor and act more decisively and calmly.
Yes, perhaps the moment of my detachment from performance as such can be beneficial. I thought about this a lot and came to the conclusion that opera singing and vocal pedagogy - two different professions, in some ways similar, of course, but not in everything.
Just like there are, if we turn to medicine, a surgeon and a diagnostician. An excellent surgeon with “golden hands” may be poor at making a diagnosis, and vice versa. These professions require different knowledge.
Our pedagogical one is quite narrow when it comes only to vocal technique and requires a huge breadth of views when questions of the repertoire arise, knowledge of the singer’s profession from all sides. Yes, I don’t sing on stage, but I do it all the time in class, showing with my voice. I don’t play the piano in public, but I can accompany students well. I was a manager, so I can tell students about the pitfalls of contracts, about bad and good performance conditions. Except that I haven’t conducted or staged the opera myself, but, again, I perform these functions at rehearsals.
- And with all that, you, Dmitry, are an exception to the rule - a successful vocal teacher who has not performed on stage. Are there any other colleagues with a similar fate?
I can name Svetlana Grigorievna Nesterenko (the namesake of our great bass), we work together in the Youth Program of the Bolshoi Theater, she heads the vocal department at the Choral Academy. V. S. Popova. Among her students are Alexander Vinogradov, Ekaterina Lyokhina, Dinara Aliyeva and many other worthy singers. And the general public does not know many outstanding Western teachers as singers. And in general, we, vocal teachers, are fighters on the invisible front.
And despite all the complaints, the general level of singers in the world is now quite high, there is even a certain oversupply of them, but the shortage of worthwhile, serious vocal teachers is constant, as it was a piecemeal profession, and remains so. That's the paradox.
At the beginning of the work, comments from experienced vocalists that I, they say, am not a singer myself, haven’t smelled makeup, haven’t tried this and that, they hurt, not much, but they scratched. And now I absolutely don’t care. I calmed down in this sense, I have so many tasks, and such responsibility for dozens of my successful students who have scattered around the world. We need to keep them from making mistakes, from trying to interfere with their repertoire, we need to write to them, call them, convince them. Up to the point of conflict - this is rare, but it has happened that it ended in a quarrel and a breakup (not on my part). Everyone wants to be adults, and at the same time everyone is vulnerable, like children! They sometimes don’t understand that their good singing is my deep interest, and not that I’m such a tyrant with a whip, I came to a play or concert to harshly criticize them.
- One very old and wise teacher in music school always immediately after the concert he only praised the students, and postponed the “debriefing” until the next day. Because the stage is adrenaline, they still won’t understand criticism seriously in the euphoria of applause, but the child’s wings and desire to play music can be broken off with a sharp remark.
In this sense, I have a difficult character. I know that I’m doing wrong, being an emotional and tough person, but I can’t always restrain myself, although I try.
Recently there was one concert that was extremely unsuccessful. This is how it turned out - a difficult situation, few rehearsals, poor contact with the orchestra. At the end, I went to the guys and simply quoted E.V. Obraztsova again: “Comrades, today we had not a theater, but a club named after Tsuryupa.” Everyone, of course, was very sad, but this did not stop the second concert the next day from going much better!
Sometimes, of course, you hurt your students. But at the same time I say: guys, but I also hurt myself and offend myself with comments, I don’t blame you for everything, these are our common mistakes, I myself don’t sleep at night, I suffer, I analyze.
- A teacher who does not scold is the same doctor who does not treat!
There are also issues of mental differences. One of my colleagues, a very famous pianist and a wonderful teacher, in America once raised her voice in anger and threw the notes towards a student. There is an investigation, police, scandal... Therefore, in the USA it was not easy for me to get used to working in this regard: well, sometimes I want to add emotions, raise my voice to the student, but this is impossible there.
But the students there are different! I was shocked on my first visit to the master class in Houston. A good young baritone came to me and showed me Eletsky’s aria. I suggested to him additional lesson in the evening, after everyone else. He wanted to go through Figaro's Cavatina from Seville. But at 18 o’clock, minute by minute, the pianist got up and left - her working day was over, everything was strict. I myself realized that I would get too lost in Rossini’s bravura accompaniment, and said: “Would you like to sing Yeletsky again?” He readily agreed and amazed me - in the few hours that had passed since the morning lesson, he fixed everything! All my comments on phrasing, pronunciation, intonation, acting - everything has been taken into account!
“How are you doing this?” - I ask him. “Maestro, I sat down, looked at the notes for 15 minutes, listened to the recording of our lesson, comprehended what you said - and the aria is now ready.”
It was a joyful shock for me! Returning to Moscow - how he reproached his native students with this incident, until you tell them twenty times, they won’t do it! They come to classes without a recorder, sometimes even without a pencil and an extra copy of the sheet music to take notes. What can I say? You have to be tough.
- There are also girls in your class. Is there a difference in the approaches?
To some extent, it’s easier for me with guys, but without girls in the class it would be just boring! Of course, a woman’s voice requires me to have a different approach to vocal reality and greater concentration. Different material, and, accordingly, different tools. It requires more thought, more effort, and even technical knowledge and experience. But, as life has shown, in general, I can do it with women’s voices. And in the classroom, the presence of different genders gives a huge advantage in terms of repertoire; ensembles and duets can be performed.
- Is there a general crisis in world vocals at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries? compared, for example, with 60-70 of the 20th century and if so, why?
If you think about it this way, then the crisis has always existed. During the heyday of Callas and Del Monaco, there were people who spoke with longing about the times of Ponselles, Gigli and Caruso, and so on, going back into the depths of time, to the beginning of the 19th century, right down to completely legendary names. This is from the series: “The sky was bluer and the grass was greener.”
In principle, the school has become better and more equal in different countries ah, because we began to live in a single information space, we got the opportunity to hear often in live or in a very recent recording all the best in the world opera scenes. For many music lovers, boarding a plane and within a few hours finding themselves in any music capital has become an accessible reality.
In my opinion, the crisis lies elsewhere. There are quite a lot of strong professionals now, the unemployed are increasing among the middle management, but there are very few outstanding, extraordinary voices. And not so much in beauty, but in power and volume of sound.
- I join you entirely - few of today’s even the best opera singers I can find out without an announcement on the radio, although “old people” - instantly, with two notes!
And these are also the costs of technology! Everyone began to sing too equally well. Many former greats were recognizable, extraordinary and beautiful not only for their merits, but also for their “divine irregularities,” like the incomparable Callas. There is a lack of not only bright timbres, but above all individuality, with rare exceptions. Partly because singers have now become extremely dependent on the director’s dictates and their profession is not in the first row in terms of importance for the opera theater.
- Oh, our favorite topic about the “director”! How do you feel about her?
Now is a period in musical theater that we all experience, like illness or bad weather. Remember when we studied the history of music and talked about the “fall of opera” in the Baroque era, about the “concert in costumes”? In the middle of the 20th century, along with Callas, Luchino Visconti reigned on world stages; opera began to merge with the world of drama and cinema, draw images from painting, and in some ways rise to the artistic level. But, as a result, the opera house went to the other extreme, mannerism. This is especially radical in Germany, so much so that Peter Stein already said somewhere when it came to German opera directing: “Sorry, but in this context I am uncomfortable calling myself a German director, I don’t consider myself one.”
But it’s interesting that for centuries there has been talk about the death of opera. She always indulges in some extremes. But when, it would seem, everything is over, suddenly she manages to find some new means and again appear in all her beauty.
- Yes Yes! That’s why traditional costume productions, like “Werther” in 2010 at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, “Adrienne Lecouvreur” last season at Covent Garden, or the most recent “The Enchanted Island” at the Met, draw applause from the first opening of the curtain. .
But I wouldn’t want to look like a complete orthodox, retrograde and conservative in this situation. There are amazingly subtle and profound modern opera productions.
Everyone determines the degree of persuasiveness and talent of the director himself, and I have also developed a personal opinion on this matter. I believe that if the production has its own deep logic, if every “gun fires”, then the production is a success. And if the director simply gathered into a play all the images and metaphors that he had saved up from previous years of inactivity, and could not make ends meet, and we sit and do not understand - then why is this? In theory, literally “walking on your head” can be convincing, as Nathalie Dessay demonstrated in Ariadne auf Naxos.
- But can’t vocal master Vdovin speak out that walking upside down while singing is difficult and not physiological, to stand up for his students?
No, unfortunately, I can’t say anything, although sometimes I get indignant at many things. In the theater, all people are dependent, and must be loyal to the director’s plan. I sometimes see that people are embarrassed to the point of shame on stage in some director’s arrangement. What artistic persuasiveness are we talking about here! And the saddest thing is that, apart from selfishness and whim, sometimes this does not make any sense. But on the other hand, I agree that it is possible to show an artist even in an ugly form, if there is a truly deep artistic purpose in this.
I am a theater expert by first education, whose first director was Pavel Aleksandrovich Markov, and whose main master was Inna Natanovna Solovyova, great people. I found good times for the theater - I went to performances by A. Efros, G. Tovstonogov, Y. Lyubimov, and there were so many tours in Moscow...
- Are there students who do not want to “bend under” the tyranny of directors and imagine themselves only in the pure, chamber-concert genre?
I met one such person, although he was not my student. He has everything to become an outstanding phenomenon of our time - this is bass Dmitry Beloselsky. He left the choir and for a long time sang only cantata-oratorio music and concerts. I didn't want to go to the opera. Only recently, at 34 years old, he changed his mind, came to the Bolshoi Theater, and, thank God, that’s the case. At this age he has a better chance of not getting off. ahead of schedule build a long successful career from a distance, with intelligence and understanding. Dmitry now has amazing success wherever he performs. From the Metropolitan to the Bolshoi. But, unfortunately, it is difficult for a “pure” concert singer to survive financially; the profession of a chamber performer is practically dying. Alas!
- Does the concept of “Russian vocal school” make sense these days? In this regard, at the graduation concert of the Bolshoi Theater Youth Program last spring, which you, Dmitry, head, it was unpleasantly surprising how much better and more convincing young singers cope with Western music, and how problematic it is for them to perform Russian.
The Russian school undoubtedly exists, since there is a huge opera heritage and the Russian language. And as a component - theatrical tradition. The Russian repertoire itself dictates a different technical approach than works of Italian, French, and German music. The problem, in my opinion, is that our music is mainly designed for very strong voices, for mature singers. Since most of the operas were written for the two Imperial Theaters, which were always famous for their powerful and deep voices. The question of where to find the real Herman or Marfa for “Khovanshchina” today is becoming increasingly difficult to solve...
By the way, in America Tatiana is considered a stronger age group than even Lisa in “Spade”. And Yeletsky is stronger than the Count in The Marriage of Figaro. Lensky and Onegin are also not considered youth roles, as is customary here, only because Pyotr Ilyich wrote his lyrical scenes for students of the Moscow Conservatory. But there is a very dense orchestration and a complex vocal tessitura, with large leaps to the top and bottom of the range, which, believe me, as a teacher, not all young singers can do. And considering how problematic the acoustics are in many halls, and how loud orchestras like to be, you need to have very powerful, strong voices to endure all this. Sorry, but I think that Glinka’s Antonida cavatina, for example, is so difficult to write that for its good performance the soprano should immediately be given a medal in the wings! Another delicate point is that Russian composers, for all their genius, did not always master the subtleties of vocal writing. And this is understandable - the opera tradition itself in Russia is not that old, and many of its representatives learned it themselves.
More about Glinka, in connection with the sensational last premiere of “Ruslan”, now I’m only talking about the vocal side, because there were statements in the press that, they say, there is no one really to sing in comparison with the previous production of the Bolshoi Theater in the 70s by B.A. Pokrovsky. I will say as a living witness and listener - yes, in that performance there were the brilliant Ruslan - Evgeniy Nesterenko, Lyudmila - Bela Rudenko, Tamara Sinyavskaya - Ratmir. But among the abundance of characters (and the performance was performed in 2-3 casts), there were singers who, for unknown reasons, appeared on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, and, it is no secret that there were performances, upon going to which one could forever lose interest in opera as such.
Let me return again to the division of genres - there are wonderful singers who are unique in Mozart’s operas, and that’s all. And others should sing exclusively Russian music - this is their strong point. But when they start singing both this and that, it’s worse for Mozart, Glinka, and the listeners.
- Unfortunately, not all singers have their own sober analytical mind and the will to refuse adventurous projects, like your Dmitry Korczak, who was already offered to sing Herman!
Yes, Dima is great in this sense, but the fact that there is so little Russian music in his repertoire, because his voice is too light, is a pity, he does it very well. And Vasily Ladyuk, by the way, too. I remember the evening when he performed Russian romances - although I don’t like orchestrated chamber works, Mikhail Pletnev did it amazingly well, it was one of the best concerts for insight into the meaning of music!
In general, in order to sing Russian music well, you need to work very hard to get rid of a huge number of our own cliches, from losing the feeling of freshness. Sometimes foreigners come up with amazing new shades, and we sometimes unwittingly perceive tradition as an urtext, clicheing the recording of a recognized classic of the Russian scene from a long time ago.
- About “listening to” old recordings. The statement of Svyatoslav Teofilovich Richter has long sunk into my soul that modern youth, spoiled by the availability of recording equipment, get used to constantly controlling themselves from the outside, after performance. And previous generations of musicians, deprived of this benefit of civilization, developed the so-called “pre-hearing”, that is, the ability to feel the next musical phrase in advance, with the inner ear.
To the point. I recently heard an audio recording from the Met - “The Marriage of Figaro”. And during ensembles, sometimes I could not understand, sitting without notes, who was sounding now - the Countess, Suzanne or Cherubino. Because all three, sorry, are little Renee Flemings! Of course, the availability of sound recordings of everything and everyone, You Tube, etc. leave their mark on contemporary performers, and the clichéd interpretation comes from here.
- But do you personally allow students to use technology in lessons and performances?
I allow it, yes. How theater man I understand that when you start setting up tasks with the guys, looking for the origins of this or that musical image, cause and effect, then the cliches go away, the pressure of other people’s audio and video recordings goes away.
- Do singers need a historical context, knowledge about the time and place of action of their hero, about the biography of the author?
Well, of course! An opera artist or singer must be an educated person! To fill a work, a text with meaning - even in your native language - you need to understand not only the words, but also the entire situation around the character, plot, historical connections, if such is the material. It is terrible when young people do not know the names of the poets who wrote the lyrics to romances, or are at a loss where Flanders is located, which is sung about in the aria from Don Carlos. Or he doesn’t realize that the aria is addressed to a partner and, essentially, this is a duet.
The most important thing is to develop artistic imagination in the singer, to make him see and understand what is in the depths and between the lines.
- Partly a provocative question: what do you prefer - the singer’s brilliant vocals combined with limited artistry and nondescript appearance, or, on the contrary, bright artistry with very moderate vocals?
Personally, I would now prefer to stay at home in such a situation! But, seriously, in opera, brilliant artistry combined with mediocre vocals is inappropriate; a vocalist may not be outstanding in terms of strength or timbre, but he must fully master his instrument. Otherwise, in no way, a slender figure, correct facial features and acting skills will not save you if you completely miss the notes - what to do, a synthetic genre.
That is why we so value the rarest examples of the harmony of everything: a phenomenal voice, musicality, enormous acting temperament combined with bright, very courageous beauty - such was Vladimir Andreevich Atlantov, who reigned on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. I was lucky enough to communicate with him in student years. Atlantov, probably, was not an example of an ideal, refined vocal school, but he gave me a lot in terms of understanding the process of opera singing, in what a real Artist should be.
Interviewed by Tatyana Elagina
The famous vocal teacher, head of the Bolshoi Theater Youth Program Dmitry Vdovin conducted an interactive master class at the Winter International music festival Yuri Bashmet in Sochi.
When I came here, I wasn’t sure that anyone would be interested in a vocal teacher’s master class during the Olympics,” Vdovin admitted straight away. - But you got together, and that means there is interest in music even at the Olympics. We work with the voice, and this is not an instrument that can be cleaned with a cloth and put in a corner. This is the whole difficulty of our work.
A special feature of master classes at Yuri Bashmet festivals is geography. Thanks to cooperation with the Rostelecom company, a teacher who comes to the festival conducts a master class in many cities at once. Video sets are installed in the halls of music schools, and the sound and picture goes to the organ hall of the Sochi Philharmonic without any delay. This time the master class was visited and, most importantly, Rostov, Yekaterinburg, Samara and Novosibirsk took part in it.
But we started with Sochi. The first to dare to go on stage was David Chikradze, a 2nd year student at the Sochi College of Arts, and he sang an aria from Handel - the second romance of the Demon - to the famous teacher.
You have a beautiful baritone, but for public performance you chose a piece where you had to go beyond your range. But first, an important note. When coming to a master class, you must have three sets of notes - one for the accompanist, one for the teacher, and the third for yourself. Why for yourself? Because you are worried, and you will probably forget a lot of what was said, so you need to make notes on your copy.
Dmitry Vdovin reprimanded young artists especially strictly for unclear or incorrect pronunciation - both Russian and Italian.
Pronunciation is very important. Often you have to sing in Italian, in addition, several hundred million people speak this language. Correct pronunciation will give you the key to performance, listen to the beauty of the Italians' pronunciation of phrases!
Another quality that Vdovin did not ignore is the organic nature of the singer.
Singing should be spontaneous and natural. As Oscar Wilde said, the hardest thing is to be natural. Likewise, for singing, the main thing is to remain natural. Now in opera, the role of the theater director has become more important, opera artists need to work a lot on their characters, and naturalness is the most important assistant for the role. Sing with a great feeling of pleasure - enjoy the flying beautiful sound.
And the master reminded the baritone David:
Handel does not have any parts for baritones; baritones themselves appeared only in the 19th century. We will leave this aria to tenors and counter-tenors, and you will look for something more suitable for your voice.
The next audition was a 12-year-old boy from Samara, Valery Makarov, who demonstrated a beautiful treble beyond his years.
You have a beautiful voice and musicality, and this is important. Individual specialists work with children; I do not do this, but I will say a few thoughts. This is a tender song! Not the one where you need to show the strength of your voice, pressure. As soon as you switched to soft colors, it immediately became clear what you were singing about. What is the song about? The hero of the song has an old mother, and he sings to her that he will definitely return to her and hug her. You probably have a young mother?
Yes! - Valera answered without hesitation.
And the hero of this song is already old. And as for pronunciation. There are words in Italian that are pronounced "mamma" and "mama" - they have different meanings - "mama" and "I love you", respectively. In this song - "mamma". Try to sing more soulfully. You have a beautiful timbre - and timbre is the most beautiful thing in a voice.
Another representative from Samara sang with excessive pressure. Vdovin began to explain about frugality in visual media.
Before the melody rises, the voice is covered. Covering up is not to push the voice back and down, but to make it brighter! You need to sing more musically. When a young man comes out, naturally, everyone expects a voice, but even more, they expect talent. There are many voices. But it happens that his voice is small, but everyone says - how he sings! Pay attention to the presentation of the material itself.
Novosibirsk was represented by 18-year-old Irina Kolchuganova, tenderly and timidly singing Gilda's aria from Verdi's Rigoletto. Vdovin noticed how she called the work.
When you announce which aria you will sing, always add the first words of the aria to the title - and all listeners from different countries will understand what exactly you are going to sing.
You sing tenderly. The problem with our singers, whom I listen to at auditions at the Bolshoi Theater and at competitions, is that they do not appreciate tenderness. The performers immediately want aggression, a powerful presentation, and try to sing those parts that were written for singers of a stronger apparatus. And tenderness - it touches the listeners’ heart. Preserve this tenderness and fragility in yourself - make it your advantage.
Another valuable advice Vdovin talked about the ability to present material.
Another name for this aria is “Story”. You need to see the person to whom you are telling this story, and it is to him to tell the aria. Gilda tells how she sneaked behind her lover - well, you can’t sing forte here! Everyone knows how it happens during first love - sneaking around, this is a special emotion - and it must be shown to the listener.
Rostov was next in the video broadcast. 21-year-old baritone Vadim Popechuk sang Leoncavallo extremely emotionally. The first thing Vdovin noticed was the thunderous applause in the hall of the Rostov music school.
An artist is such a difficult profession that he needs to be supported and - clap! Often many specialists sit in the hall of the Bolshoi Theater during auditions, but the artist sang and no one clapped. Below their dignity. And you have to clap!
The master said about Vadim’s performance:
21 years old is still young for a baritone. The aria is written for a full voice, a mature baritone. Leoncavallo already has a lot of emotions, and you don’t need to lean on emotions, stay legato, otherwise it’s not Italian, but gypsy intonation that appears.
Next, Dmitry Vdovin formulated another important postulate:
Our profession is related to mathematics, oddly enough. You have to calculate every pause, every note, the duration of every fermata. For what? It is important for the audience to be infected by your emotions in the proposed circumstances - we are in the theater. The vocalist must know in advance exactly the duration of each note, know when he will inhale - calculate everything down to the millisecond.
And then the real attraction began. In the hall, Vdovin noticed baritone Andrei Zhilikhovsky, who participates in the Youth Program of the Bolshoi Theater, which he supervises, and came to Sochi to sing in Yuri Bashmet’s production of Eugene Onegin. And Andrei Zhilikhovsky invited him to the stage, inviting him to sing a duet with Vadim, verses in turn. Noticing Zhilikhovsky’s perplexed look, he explained that the accompaniment would be from Rostov. And it worked! The connection turned out to be stable, without the slightest delay (which we often see in live broadcasts of TV channels) - two baritones sang in turn, merging in unison on the code.
I don’t really like master classes, because there’s little that can really be fixed. But let me give some thoughts... Now the situation is amazing, we are sitting on the shores of the Black Sea, Andrey is from Moldova, Vadim and the accompaniment are in Rostov. We have our own Olympic Games!
Another inclusion from Yekaterinburg. 15-year-old tenor Alexander sang Tchaikovsky's romance “Among the Noisy Ball.”
The material chosen is a little inaccurate - a lot good songs, but this romance is for people who have lived a lot, with a lot of life experience. But you sang so touchingly that it is very valuable, and you need to preserve this thread for the rest of your life. Sing all the phrases in Russian. Not “svirelli”, but “flutes”. Not “thin,” that’s an outdated pronunciation, but “thin.” Sing all the phrases as they should sound according to the rules of the Russian language - and it will turn out much more understandable and powerful. You can’t sing the vowel “U” - it goes into “O”, and the perception of the text suffers from this, which is especially important for a romance.
Finally, Dmitry Vdovin gave advice to all young performers.
I always advise young artists to sing everywhere and to everyone you can. Show up everywhere, take part in competitions. The country is big, and it’s very difficult to get through. Anyone can apply for admission to the Bolshoi Theater Youth Program. An announcement about recruitment to the Youth Program will soon appear on the Bolshoi Theater website, submit an electronic application - and we will listen to you. Remember that there will always be a person who will listen to you somewhere at the festival, advise you, invite you somewhere, help you - this is how our professional life works.
The master class ended with Tchaikovsky’s romance “To the Yellow Fields” based on the verses of Alexei Tolstoy, performed by baritone Andrei Zhilikhovsky.
Vadim Ponomarev
Photo - Alexey Molchanovsky
“We, vocal teachers, are fighters on the invisible front”
The head of the Bolshoi Theater Youth Opera Program, teacher Dmitry Yurievich Vdovin was appointed deputy head of the Bolshoi Theater opera troupe Makvala Kasrashvili
Dmitry Yuryevich Vdovin was born in Yekaterinburg, where his professional development took place.In 1984Vdovingraduated from state institute theatrical arts(now RATI) in Moscow, and then studied at the graduate school of this university under the guidance of Professor Inna Solovyova as a theater (opera) critic, published in major central newspapers and magazines.
From 1987 to 1992 - employee of the Union of Theater Workers of the USSR, responsible for work in the field of musical theater. Trained as a vocal teacher at the European Center for Opera and Vocal Arts in Belgium (1992-1993).
In 1992, Dmitry Vdovin became artistic director of the Moscow Center for Music and Theater, an art agency that collaborated with majorthe world's leading theatres, festivals and music organisations.Since 1996, for several years, Vdovin collaborated with the great Russian singer Arkhipova as a teacher and director of her Summer School, co-host of her television and concert projects. Since 1995 he has been a teacher, from 2000 to 2005 - head of the vocal department of the State Medical University named after. Gnessins, in 1999-2001 - teacher at the Russian Academy of Music. Gnesins, from 2001 - 2003 - associate professor, head of the department of solo singing at the Popov Academy of Choral Art.
According to colleagues and students, Dmitry Yuryevich is one of the best and most sought-after vocal teachers in our country.
Dmitry Vdovin gave master classes in many cities of Russia, as well as in the USA, Mexico, and Italy. For the last 10 years he has been a permanent guest teacher of the Youth Program at the Grand Opera Xewston.
Since 1999 - artistic director and teacher of the Moscow International School of Vocal Mastery, which made it possible to invite the largest opera teachers and specialists from Russia, the USA, Italy, Germany, and Great Britain to work in Moscow. The brightest young Russian opera stars of the first decade of the new century passed through this School.
Vdovin was a jury member of many vocal competitions - Bella Voce in Moscow (2004-2007, 2009), as well as International competition them. Glinka (2003-2007). Since 2009 - artistic director Youth Opera Program BBolshoi Theater of Russia.
Students of Dmitry Yurievich Vdovin: Ekaterina Syurina, Alina Yarovaya, Albina Shagimuratova, Dmitry Korchak, Vasily Ladyuk, Maxim Mironov, Sergei Romanovsky...- laureates of many prestigious competitions, soloists of the largest theaters in the world, including the Bolshoi Theater, La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Paris Opera, Real Madrid.
On April 17, 2017, one of the most famous opera teachers in the world, Dmitry Vdovin, celebrates his anniversary - the maestro turns 55 years old.
His students have won the most prestigious competitions, he works in the best theaters, but has remained faithful to the Bolshoi for more than thirty years.
The head of the Bolshoi Theater Youth Opera Program, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Professor Dmitry Vdovin openly spoke about the intricacies of his work and how rapidly the world of opera is changing (and what to do about it). exclusive interview for Radio “Orpheus”.
– You recently returned from the Metropolitan Opera, where you gave master classes. What are the main differences between youth programs and singers?
– There are more similarities than differences. I came across youth programs in the United States and started working there. When we opened the Youth Program at the Bolshoi, I used this experience, and it made sense: why open a bicycle? As for the level of singers, it would be somewhat immodest if I say that the level of our singers is higher. But, of course, there are differences.
We are not as cosmopolitan and international as our colleagues in New York, London or Paris. In this sense, they, of course, have more opportunities. In order to work at the Bolshoi Theater and generally live in Moscow, you need to speak Russian, and this is not easy for foreigners. We have a lot of them, but most often they are citizens of the republics of the former USSR - we invite singers from the Russian-speaking circle.
Secondly, our colleagues in the West major theaters sometimes a more significant budget. But it seems to me that our program, more than others, works precisely on the development of the artist. Let's call a spade a spade: in many theaters the main goal of such programs is to use young artists in small roles in the current repertoire.
– A novice singer does not have the opportunity to sing with a real orchestra or perform in an opera performance. Capital theaters overcrowded, where to get this necessary experience?
– This was the point of creating the Youth Program at the Bolshoi Theater. The educational system for vocalists in Russia is very archaic. We have innovative interventions in the general educational system, but sometimes they are ill-conceived, absurd, and do not always harmonize with our traditions and mentality. This was the case with the Unified State Exam, which caused rejection in society and a huge surge of negative emotions.
Of course, changes in the vocal education system are necessary. This system is old, it developed 100-150 years ago, when the first conservatories were created. Today we must understand that the opera theater has become largely a director's theater. And when the existing system was created, the theater was purely vocal, or at best a conductor’s one. Much has changed since then. The director today is one of the main figures; for a singer, not only the voice is important, but also the acting and physical component.
Secondly, if 30 years ago in our country opera was performed in Russian, now everything is performed in the original language. In addition, the demands on musical text have increased. Nowadays it is no longer possible to sing as freely as our great singers sang even 30 years ago. And the singer must have appropriate preparation for this. There must always be pedagogical adjustment to the current time and its complex trends.
If you listen to a singer from the 70s, you need to understand that some things cannot be done today. The very structure of the opera house and the opera business have changed. It is not enough for a singer to know only Russian theater; he needs to know the trends of world theater, to know the innovations that artists, conductors, and directors bring, and they have already changed a lot in the perception of opera.
– Isn’t it enough just two opera programs for such a singing country as ours?
– Don’t forget that there is still the Galina Vishnevskaya Center for Opera Singing. Probably, many opera houses have trainee groups.
The youth program, in the form in which it exists in large theaters, is a very expensive undertaking. If this is truly a youth program, and not a kind of internship group, when people are taken on probation and decide whether to deal with him further or not.
And the youth program includes teachers, coaches (pianists-tutors), languages, stage and acting training, classes and premises, and a certain social component. All this costs a lot of money. Our theaters are not rich, I think they simply cannot afford it.
But in our friendly Armenia, they recently opened a program, and as I see, things are getting better for them. As for Russian opera houses, I don’t notice much interest on their part in what we do. With the possible exception of Yekaterinburg.
– Why don’t other theaters know? Maybe they should send a newsletter?
- Everyone knows everything perfectly well. But foreign partners are interested in what we are doing at the Bolshoi Theater. Our close international cooperation began with the Washington Opera, we have constant cooperation with the La Scala Academy and others opera programs Italy, with the help of the Italian Embassy and the generous support of Mr. David Yakuboshvili, for which I thank him very much.
We are establishing active cooperation with the Paris Opera and the Metropolitan. In addition, we cooperate with the Queen Sonja competitions in Oslo and the Paris competition, which very actively promote their artists. This happens not only because we knock on their doors, it is a mutual partnership interest.
– A young singer in Russia is often required to provide extraordinary proof that he has a voice. You have to sing with such a loud sound that the walls shake. Are you experiencing this or not?
– I encounter these costs of taste every day. There are several reasons for this. The tradition has developed in such a way that our audience demands loud singing. The public loves it when it's loud, when there's a lot of high notes, then the singer begins to applaud. It so happens that our orchestras also play quite loudly. It's a kind of performance mentality.
I remember very well when I first came to the Metropolitan, it was Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” for a minute, I was amazed - the orchestra under the direction of James Levine played very quietly! This is Wagner! My ears are accustomed to a completely different sound, to richer dynamics. This got me thinking: all singers were perfectly audible in any tessitura, no problems with sound balance, none of the singers forced anything. That is, the problem is not only in the singers who sing loudly, but in the fact that the system, taste, and mentality of all participants in the performance, including the audience, have developed this way.
In addition, there are serious acoustic problems in most of our halls. Many theaters have very dry acoustics that do not support singers. Another important factor: Russian opera composers thought very big, mainly writing for two large imperial theaters with powerful orchestras and choirs, mature and powerful voices soloists.
For example, in the West, Tatiana’s part from Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” is considered to be extremely strong. Some of my colleagues believe that this is a stronger party than Lisa’s in The Queen of Spades. There are some reasons for this - the density of the orchestra, the tense tessitura and the expressiveness of the vocal part (especially in the Writing Scene and the final duet). And at the same time, “Onegin” is not the most powerful and epic-sounding Russian opera when compared with other operas by Tchaikovsky, as well as the works of Mussorsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin.
Everything comes together here: historical conditions, national traditions and singing, conducting, and listening mentalities. When the USSR opened up and we began to receive information from the West, where many things were different, our tradition was a somewhat “large-grained” performance without dynamic differences and special delicacy in approach. Abuse of such singing has caused the collapse of the careers of many prominent artists.
It must be said that we are not entirely alone here - in the USA they also sing large, since their huge halls need to be covered there. American teachers repeat like a spell: “Don’t push!” (don't force it!), but singers often push-push. But still, it does not exist there to the same extent as it once was and sometimes continues to be with us.
– How to work on the flightiness of sound?
– The most important thing is to replace strength with skill. This is the meaning of the bel canto school, which gives the projection of sound into the hall without visible effort and with different sound dynamics (including on piano and pianissimo). This is individual for everyone, and national schools still differ. If you put a typical representative of the American school, French, Italian and Russian, you will hear a big difference in technology, even now, when everything is quite blurred and globalized.
The differences are due to language. Language is not only speech, language is the structure of the apparatus, articulatory and phonetic features. But the ideal of singing sound, that is, the result of school, is similar in many countries. If we talk about soprano, many not only Russian singers, but also foreign ones, want to sing like Anna Netrebko. How many tenors are there who imitate Kaufman and Flores?
– This is a big minus for the singer.
– It’s always been like this. Why minus? If a singer has no one to learn from, but he chooses the right vocal guideline for himself, then this may well help. But what to do if you have one type of voice, but the reference point is the opposite? This happens often, and it is fraught with disaster. For example, a bass, who is suited to a lower, profundo repertoire, imitates a bass cantante and sings a high repertoire, but this does nothing but harm him and vice versa. There are countless examples here.
– Our vocal school is based on low bass. What is high bass? Unfortunately, this type of voice is classified as baritone...
– In general, people here don’t know about the existence of certain types of voices that actually exist. Without taking into account these vocal categories, which can be called vocal role or voice type or, as is customary in the opera community, “fach,” it is impossible to teach. Until recently, many did not know what a lyric mezzo-soprano was. All mezzos had to sing Lyubasha in deep, dark voices. If they could not voice the dramatic repertoire, they were simply transferred to soprano. This did not lead to anything good.
The lyric mezzo-soprano is not a borderline voice, it is an independent type of voice with an extensive and strictly defined repertoire. There are dramatic and lyric tenors, and mezzo-soprano also has classifications (dramatic, lyric). Moreover, the lyrical mezzos themselves can be different due to stylistic and technical features. The lyrical mezzo can be Handelian, Rossini, Mozartian, or maybe with a greater bias towards French lyric opera, which also has many roles for this voice.
The same goes for bass-baritone. We had wonderful bass-baritones in Russia: Baturin, Andrei Ivanov, Savransky, now Ildar Abdrazakov, Evgeny Nikitin, Nikolai Kazansky. If you open the Met's artist list, one of the biggest sections of their singer list is bass-baritones. This is very important, because the bass-baritone is ideal for many roles in the operas of Handel and Mozart, and in Russian opera there are roles for bass-baritones - Demon, Prince Igor, Galitsky, within this vocal role there can be Ruslan, and Shaklovity, and Tomsky, and even Boris Godunov.
If the singer starts to be pulled higher or lower, problems begin. If the singer is a bass-baritone, this does not mean at all that the singer has a short voice (that is, without extreme upper or lower notes); on the contrary, he most often has a very wide range. But this type of voice has a different color and a different basic repertoire than baritones or basses. Opera specialists - conductors, pianists-tutors, casting directors, critics and, of course, above all, teachers must know all these subtleties, distinguish and hear them in the voices of singers.
Our field (opera singing) requires, as befits any academic genre, enormous knowledge, understanding of tradition, dissatisfaction, constant growth, continuous work on oneself and the study of constantly changing trends in performance.
If you have lost interest in self-improvement, withdrawn into your personal little world, or even worse, suddenly decided that you have achieved perfection and are completely satisfied with yourself, then this means that you have finished as a person of art and you immediately need to quit this business. Each of us who teaches must constantly learn ourselves. The opera world is rapidly moving in a certain direction, one can argue for the better or not, but it is changing. And if you don’t want to know about these changes, don’t want to see them, understand them and comply with them, then goodbye, you are an outdated character, and your students are not ready for the realities of the modern scene.
Young people demand this knowledge, sometimes they are much better informed thanks to the Internet and its capabilities. Any student can open master classes, for example, by Joyce DiDonato or Juan Diego Flores, watch and compare what is required of him at the conservatory or school and what these very smart and, most importantly, very modern-minded artists require. This does not mean that what we demand is bad, and that there is good demand there, but sometimes the differences are significant. You need to be aware of these details.
In general, comparison is a great thing; it is in comparison that a professional is born. When a singer begins to compare voices, their characteristics, the individuality of artists and their interpretations, as well as the interpretations of different conductors, directors, teachers, artists, musicians, etc., then they form their own thinking, method, and what is most important in art - artistic taste .
– Now they say that a diploma is unimportant. It's important how you sing. This is true?
– This is not entirely true now. When I sit on the jury at competitions and auditions, and read the resumes of singers, I rarely see people who have only studied privately. Previously, many, especially Italian singers, did not study at conservatories, took lessons from private teachers and immediately began their careers. Now that the requirements for singers are so broad and are not limited only to the voice, there are fewer of them. As well as wonderful private teachers in Italy, as well as everywhere else.
– Do competitions decide anything now? What competitions should a young singer go to?
– When you go to a competition, you must understand what you want from it. There are several possible reasons for this. The reason - success, the desire to win, is implied in all cases, this is part of the artist’s life, which is daily competition. There are so-called “competition” singers who have special passion, and among my students there are also such. They love competitive tests as such, they revel in the atmosphere of competition, this adrenaline, they simply blossom there, while many of their colleagues are traumatized by it.
Reason One. Try your hand. Understand the initial degree of your capabilities, which is called “look at people and show yourself.” Competitions of not the highest level are suitable here - local, low-budget ones. It’s a good idea for very young singers to start with them in order to train and build muscles (not only vocal, but also nervous and fighting muscles).
If you are a young singer and just want to try your hand, you don’t need to go to the largest competitions like the Francisco Viñas competition in Barcelona, Placido Domingo’s Operalia, New Voices in Germany, the BBC in Cardiff, the Queen Sonja competition in Oslo or Queen Elizabeth in Brussels.
Reason two. To find a job. This could be a competition where the jury consists of theater directors, agents and other employers, or a competition that is loved by agents. The jury of such competitions as “Belvedere” (Hans Gabor competition), or “Competizione dell’opera italiana” (Hans-Joachim Frey) consists largely of agents and casting administrators. Although the above ones also differ in this.
These competitions are for those who need agents, need work, and these are the majority of singers. This is a different type of competition. If you are a beginner artist, you have no competitive experience, you don’t need to go to these large competitions, where more experienced singers go, with practice of singing with an orchestra, who, in addition to everything, have well-trained nerves.
Reason three. Money. Well, there’s no need for special philosophizing here, these are any competitions with a high bonus fund. Many good South Korean singers, who do not have much work in their homeland, move from competition to competition, win and win awards all the time, and thus make a good living.
Our Tchaikovsky competition is a competition for several specialties, not only vocal. It so happened, unfortunately, that the vocalists on it were never in the spotlight. Perhaps only the IV competition, where Obraztsova, Nesterenko, Sinyavskaya won, and Callas and Gobbi came to serve on the jury, brought special attention to the vocal section.
I don’t know what the reason is, for me it’s very strange and incomprehensible. At the Tchaikovsky Competition, we vocalists are some kind of outsiders, perhaps this is due to the fact that singing in Russian still creates a certain barrier to the arrival of foreign participants. This competition has always been difficult for our foreign colleagues. Partly due to our closed nature, perhaps due to the fact that not enough agents and theater directors came to provide work. The visa regime also creates problems, and considerable ones.
Still vocal competition Tchaikovsky, if we talk about its international representativeness, is local in nature. Previously, it also depended on how the jury worked. At the invitation of Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova, I was the executive secretary of the jury in 1998, and this made a rather difficult impression on me. I hope that has changed now. But, at the same time, there were also victories at the Tchaikovsky competition, which gave a great impetus to my career.
Using the example of Albina Shagimuratova, who won in 2007, I saw how the eyes of people important in the opera world immediately turned to her. For her, this was a great springboard in her professional life. But for many winners it didn't have the same effect.
It is very difficult for a singer to evaluate himself correctly. This is very difficult and, to tell the truth, rarely succeeds. Moreover, along with inflated self-esteem, there is a danger of self-abasement. Often our self-esteem is belittled and crushed by those around us. This is our Russian pedagogical mentality, both in the family and at school in the broad sense of the word. And I had such cases in my work.
I love my students and appreciate them, but sometimes it seems to me that this singer is too early for the competition, that he is not ready yet. And the singer himself decides to go, and when I come to the competition and see him, I myself am surprised at how he is put together and how he sounds. It is also important for teachers to look at what you are doing from the outside. There are other situations when I think a singer is great and he doesn't win. Then I see for myself that it was fair. Everything in our profession is unsteady, changeable, sometimes subjective...
– On your Facebook page you posted information about the NYIOP auditions, which are organized by David Blackburn. Why did you do this?
– People who have completed educational institution, need work. Any kind of audition is a way to get a job. Since I have quite a lot of subscribers, I think not only about my students, but also about those who live in the provinces and do not have enough contacts and simply information. I believe that I should help them and write about everything that may be of interest to them.
I recently posted information about the Tenerife Opera Youth Program. This theater was built by the great Spanish architect Calatrava and has 2,000 seats. The theater has wonderful management; this program is led by my colleague, Italian pianist Giulio Zappa, who works with us in Moscow. The program is short, only a couple of months, but during this time they manage to produce the production. This is also an opportunity for many.
– I’ll tell you a secret - in the near future, together with Russian and Asian partners, I plan to create a large international project “Russian-Asian House of Culture”. What do you think about it?
– Any effort at cultural exchange is worth a lot. This is an important matter. Asia is not only a growing economic market, but also a huge growing cultural springboard. Including opera. For them, Russia can be an important connecting corridor between the West and the East.
I believe that we should also invite these singers more; sometimes we lack their large and well-trained voices. And more and more new ones are constantly opening in Asia concert halls And opera houses. We at the Youth Program would also like to cooperate with China, which has built beautiful theaters and concert halls. There are many great Asian singers, they are great smart people and hard workers. I heard at competitions good singers from China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Taiwan. South Korean singers are some of the best in the world. Why don't we invite them, collaborate, perform together?
– What else attracts you in life besides opera?
– I still love to travel, although not as passionately as 20-30 years ago. And I really appreciate human communication. Due to work, unfortunately, I miss this. I would like to spend more time with family and friends. When I started working at the Bolshoi, I began to lose these connections. The theater is also a whirlpool. Now I've come to my senses. I've been through some difficult changes in my life, and I've realized with particular poignancy how important family and friends are.
Music is also a great happiness, music can be a consolation for people who lose loved ones, who have problems, who are not young. And music never betrays. I guess that I have a difficult character, but it gives me great joy to help young people, to support them at the most difficult stage creative life. And you don’t have to wait for an adequate answer, gratitude or even fidelity. If it’s there, that’s great; if it’s not, there’s no need to dwell on it.
Another misconception of youth is to see career and success as the absolute meaning of life. It seems to me that sooner or later this idea turns into great disappointment. Looking at people who love only their fame makes me feel uneasy. It is clear that in the first half of life it is important to achieve a certain height, because then other, greater opportunities open up for you. But we must understand that a good professional reputation is only a tool. And reputation or, more precisely, success should not be the main goal, otherwise you end up alone.
I also realized over time that you need to be able to let people go. Do not say goodbye to them, but let them go. Sometimes it can be easy to say, but hard to accept. But somehow I learned. I have quite a lot of students, so it became difficult for me to hold on to all these numerous threads (laughs).
I love the vast majority of my students very much, I watch how they move on in life, and if they need something, I am always glad to see them back, happy to help them. Although sometimes it irritates me when our work is forgotten, people start singing something that doesn’t suit their voice, start doing other stupid things, get lazy, stop growing, or even simply degrade. But this is human nature, too, and the laws of Darwinism associated with it. This is natural selection.
Previously, if something happened, I took full responsibility for any problems of my current and former students. Of course, sometimes it’s our fault, the teachers. But there are other reasons - poor health for our profession, wrong decisions, greed, stupidity, overestimation of ourselves. Therefore, life has forced me to come to terms with the fact that we, teachers, are not omnipotent. Now I'm enjoying the process. I don’t think that this student should necessarily win all the world competitions and sing at the Metropolitan. What I had before...
- What was it? Vanity or perfectionism?
– People who go into art are ambitious. They want to be first, and it cannot be any other way. Over time, a career becomes a tool with which you can find the right partners, work with the best artists, conductors, directors on the best stages. I am happy that I belong to the Bolshoi Theater, which I have loved since I was 14 years old, when the whole country celebrated its 200th anniversary and I first entered this amazing hall.
At the age of 17 I came to the Bolshoi as a student trainee; for me this is a special theater. And I am happy that we now have such an atmosphere in the theater and there is mutual respect and support. I am surrounded by talented artists and I am very interested in the people who make decisions here. Very often, when I leave for other (and not bad!) countries and places, I think: I wish I could return as soon as possible. It's happiness that I want to return home. I'm boarding a plane, and I'm excited - tomorrow I'll see this one, we'll do this aria with this one, I'll give this one new material…
– What else do you want to learn in life? What are you missing?
- I'm missing a few more important ones. foreign languages. I know some of their basics, but I did not complete the study in time. Now there is no time for this - I spend 10-12 hours in the theater. If only I knew these languages perfectly! But remember, like Raikin - let everything be there, but something is missing! (laughs).
My students won prestigious competitions, I worked in the world's best theaters, and sat on the jury of large competitions. What else could a teacher dream of? Now I can work more with the guys and think less about myself. I can just sit and work. The most amazing thing is that I have lived to such a moment that I don’t think: “Ah! Will they call me? They didn’t call me... And now they finally called me!” No, of course, I am both flattered and pleased when I am called somewhere, but this joy is of a good working nature, no more and no less.
I am very fortunate to have had wonderful teachers and mentors in my life. I miss them terribly. Some, thank God, are in good health. I remember asking Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova, what is the most exciting thing about the singing profession for you? She said that she gets the most satisfaction from overcoming difficult things. When she was given new role or difficult material to learn and perform, she experienced enormous creative euphoria from overcoming these difficulties.
Now I understand her. Recently there was a case: I have one talented student, but for quite a long time he had a problem with the top notes. I understand that he has these notes in his range, but he was afraid to hit them. It didn’t stick for a long time somehow. And then I just got angry with myself and with him and just jumped into this problem. Well, we have to solve it, in the end! This singer, in my opinion, was even afraid of my pressure. And suddenly these notes started coming! It was as if they had inserted something new into its upper register.
I experienced happiness, probably much greater than he did. I was flying like on wings from the feeling that just yesterday the singer was singing one by one, and today I came to class and heard that he had a breakthrough, that we did it! Of course, it's nice when your student wins a competition or makes his debut in good theater, but even more important is this very process of work, the process of overcoming.