On the evening of Monday, April 1, the XIV International Competition-Festival “Singing Mask” named after Andrei Petrov starts in St. Petersburg Photo: Educational Theater on Mokhovaya
According to established tradition, the festival “Singing Mask” named after Andrei Petrov will be held within the walls of the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (RGISI). It will last until April 6. This year the competition is dedicated to the 240th anniversary of RGISI. It is part of the institute's anniversary celebration program.
As reported by the press service of the Russian State Institute of Social Sciences, the competition's expert council reviewed 336 entries from participants from six countries. The geography of the competition includes China, Mongolia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia.
In total, students from 14 Russian universities competed for the opportunity to participate in the competition for the best singing actors: St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Saratov, Yekaterinburg, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Chelyabinsk. Young people had the opportunity to send several numbers vying for victory in the following categories: “Ensemble singing” (nominations “ Choir, vocal ensemble (large form)", "Vocal ensemble (small form)") and "Solo singing" (nominations " Actor's song/Chanson», « Classical Aria/Musical"", "Jazz", "Pop song", "Songs of theater and cinema", "Folk song", "War song", "Parody - live sound").
Distinctive feature The current competition was the creation of a professional expert council. It was he who selected 205 applicants from 336 numbers into the main competition. They will be evaluated by a professional jury from April 1 to April 4.
This year it included such masters as director, professor at the University of Olsztyn (Poland) Zbigniew Marek Hass, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, actress Alexandrinsky Theater Galina Karelina, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, composer, daughter of Andrei Petrov Olga Petrova, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, music director Alexandrinsky Theater, RGISI professor Ivan Blagoder and other famous cultural figures.
According to the organizers, Andrei Petrov, whose name the competition bears, worked closely with the institute on Mokhovaya. And the actor's song was one of his most favorite genres. Therefore, the criteria for evaluating numbers of this genre will be not only vocal abilities performers, but also their acting talent, who knows how to turn each song into a real theatrical performance.
On April 6 at 18.00, a large theatrical concert will take place at the Educational Theater “On Mokhovaya”, at which the names of the laureates will be announced. The evening will combine an awards ceremony and a gala concert best rooms « Singing Mask 2019».
For everyone who this evening cannot be in the hall of the Educational Theater "
Last weekend, the winners were honored at the Educational Theater on Mokhovaya XIII International annual competition-festival RGISI “Singing Mask” named after Andrei Petrov.
Once a year, the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (RGISI), better known as the Theater Academy, holds the prestigious international competition-festival “Singing Mask” within the walls of the Educational Theater on Mokhovaya.
The creative competition of young talents is named after the great St. Petersburg composer Andrei Petrov. And this is not at all accidental, because the actor’s song was his favorite genre. And the evaluation criteria were not only the vocal abilities of the performers, but also their acting talent, thanks to which each song turned into a real theatrical performance.
For example, it is enough to recall the diploma performances of the Theater Academy, created in different time in this exciting genre. Among them is “Visible Song” on the course of G.A. Tovstonogov and “Oh, these stars” on the course of A.I. Katsman and L.A. Dodina. These musical performances were so popular that on the days of their shows, mounted police were on duty on Mokhovaya, and tickets were more difficult to get than for other performances of professional Leningrad theaters.
Perhaps, in memory of these magnificent works, in 2018, one new one was added to the already existing nominations, which was described by the professor, head of the department of vocal and musical education RGISI, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, musical director of the Alexandrinsky Theater Ivan Blagoder: “This year marks the 35th anniversary legendary performance Katsman's "Oh, these stars", so we decided to make a nomination for parodies. And we can say that quite a lot of interesting works were presented there.”
The artistic director of the “Singing Mask” competition, Ivan Blagoder, was very pleased with both the abundance of nominations and the variety of forms, which included folk songs, musicals, operas, and purely dramatic performances. “All this allowed the contestants to express themselves in the most different forms“, he clarified.
As Andrei Petrov’s daughter, Olga Andreevna, admitted to PD, this competition is special for her. She always accepts with great pleasure the offer to join the jury and anxiously awaits new musical discoveries from young performers. “Students from all over the world take part in this competition. These are very young guys, a special category. They give themselves one hundred percent to the performance. They have a lot of positive energy, which they infect literally every listener,” said Olga Petrova.
The jury noted that this year the competition turned out to be large-scale in geography and very strong in terms of participants, because it was attended by students from the country's leading creative universities and the best theater academies in the world. Therefore, choosing the very best turned out to be not at all easy.
The jury and the audience remembered the performers from Poland, Armenia and China, whose representative very tenderly and touchingly performed Andrei Petrov’s romance “And finally, I will say...” from the film “Cruel Romance.”
Well, the Grand Prix was won by the representative of Brazil - a student fourth year RGISI (course of Alexander Petrov) Cesar Camargo. Thanking the organizers and teachers of the competition, he, expressing the general mood of the hall, said: “Thank you, “Singing Mask”!”
On April 22, a gala concert of the International music competition, which has been held by the St. Petersburg Theater Academy for almost 10 years.
Despite this, the event, beloved by many, is little known to the general public. VashDosug.ru decided to correct this injustice.
First you need to find out what this competition is, why it was created, when and why. Who can tell about this better than the founding father of the Singing Mask, Head of the Department of Vocal and Music Education of St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts, musical director of performances at the Alexandrinsky Theater Ivan Blagoder:
“The Singing Mask has existed for many years, but for several decades it was exclusively a departmental competition, not leaving the small classrooms of the institute for big stage. The students loved it very much, especially since it had its own special warm atmosphere mutual assistance and support. Over the years, the performances at the competition have grown to a very good dramatic, variety and ensemble level, and 8 years ago the idea was born and immediately realized to transfer this institute event into the format of an international competition.
If at first we could only invite 2-3 countries, then gradually the opportunities and geography expanded, for example, this year we have a large number of participants from China, Finland, Poland, Scotland, Italy, Germany. At the same time, students of creative universities compete with each other, so that SPbGATI, the University of Culture, the Conservatory, and the Moscow Art Theater School meet on the same stage. This year, students from Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, and Yaroslavl theater institutes came.”
Who are you, mask? Source: Who are you, mask?.
What nominations exist for the “Singing Mask”? There are 8 pieces in total; they reflect and take into account all possible forms of song culture. In addition to the already mentioned serious section of the classical performance “Artist musical theater”, there is “Vocal ensemble - large form”, “Vocal ensemble - small form” (performance genre - any, even pop, even slapstick, even classic, but the number of participants must be no less than 2 and no more than 11 people).
“The Singing Mask” is a competition named after Andrei Petrov, and therefore it is not surprising that there is a separate nomination with his songs. "Songs of theater and cinema", " folk song", incendiary numbers in the "Variety Artist" section and the most beloved, most long-awaited and, undoubtedly, the most difficult nomination: "Artist drama theater and cinema”, in which students try to impress the jury not only with their vocal abilities, but also with their artistry and “presentation of material”.
As one of the participants, a fourth-year student of the variety department, says, “SPbGATI is a theater university, so sometimes they pay even more attention to acting qualities than to the voice. You can sing very beautifully, but you won’t get anywhere, because the performance turned out to be boring, not played out in any way from an acting point of view.”
However, given that not only acting institutes participate in the competition, Ivan Blagoder puts it this way: “Guests should be drawn to the dramatic possibilities of playing a song, and students of theater universities should be drawn to the musical ones. Everyone has their own peak to which they must strive.”
With such a serious integrated approach, the jury should consist entirely of a wide variety of masters of their craft. The way it is: opera singers, actors, directors, professors of all leading departments of St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts (after all, the participant must be able to move beautifully - here is the Department of Plastic Arts, and speak clearly - the Department of Speech, a special place is occupied by the Department of Musical Theater Criticism, and there is no need to talk about the Department of Vocals). The jury is headed by a permanent leader famous composer Leonid Desyatnikov.
There is no random people, because the competition is too serious: firstly, this is a real opportunity to express yourself by passing the first round and winning the second, or getting into the festival part of the competition: a gala concert, where you can often see famous guests - directors, actors, singers Secondly, the winners who took top places, receive good prizes from sponsors and patrons.
It is interesting that there are situations when, for example, the first and third prizes are awarded in a nomination, but the second is not awarded - the jury decides that there was no worthy contender for this place. After talking with students, one gets the feeling that knowledge about the “Singing Mask” competition descends on them along with receiving a student card: everyone knows about this event, they are waiting for it, sometimes they prepare for it for a whole year.
Despite the competition acquiring international status, it still retained those features of the student fraternity that so distinguished its cathedral incarnation. Here is what the students themselves say about this, at the same time revealing some organizational secrets: “You provide everything you need for the competition yourself - and the Academy, after your request, actively helps you with this: it is looking for an accompanist, instruments, costumes. Of course, if you need “girls with washcloths” as backup dancers, you solve this problem yourself, but that’s why you need classmates and friends. Either you ask someone, then, literally on the eve of the competition, they fly up to you with wild eyes and a request to play along - how can you refuse, after all, this is the “Singing Mask”!
"My heart stopped, my heart froze."
February 29th happens once every four years, which means something special and even magical should happen on this day. That's what happened to me. On the official last day of winter, I was lucky enough to be at the favorite theater of my childhood - the theater on Mokhovaya, not the play "The Last Cotillion". Of course, I expected the production to be interesting, and most likely I would like it. But what I saw defies any description!
1825, Decembrist Revolt... Simultaneously a terrible and great event in our history. It feels as if I was transported back to that time, with beautiful balls, enthusiastic speeches, secret societies and amazing people. But the most important thing is that I survived and felt all that pain.
When you see how young, talented and intelligent people, risking their lives, organize an uprising not for themselves, but for ordinary people so that life in the country becomes better, so that there is no serfdom.
“The point is not why I came out, but that it’s IMPOSSIBLE NOT to come out!”
The amazing Bestuzhev family: brave and devoted brothers, a brave and worthy sister - a true lady and simply an unimaginable mother of the family. The mother, who understood the great deed of her children, was proud of them and defended their honor.
“Father, what happens: when the brothers had success, then cling to their kinship, but when trouble came, then renounce? No, this is not according to the commandments.”
It was difficult for me to imagine that this mother of a large family, gray over the years, was actually a 20-year-old girl who still had her whole life ahead of her.
I was generally amazed by the women of that time: young girls, elderly ladies who “stood like a mountain” for their loved ones and prayed for them.
The prayer scene was simply mesmerizing and magical. Tsarina Maria Feodorovna reading the Bible along with all the women made me cry and morally join them.
But, of course, what shocked me most was the scene of the Decembrists and their wives being sent into exile in Siberia. Seeing this fear and huge, all-consuming love, which is not afraid of any obstacles, it becomes painful, bitter, and at the same time you feel proud of these people. Watching or even living this scene, I thought that my heart could not stand it and would simply break into pieces from an overabundance of emotions and feelings! The guys - the actors really demonstrated the purity and depth of their broad souls. Seeing their look after the performance, you understand that you want to be better, you want to create and do more.
“The Last Cotillion” is the case when you go out with wild eyes, “beat yourself in the chest”, you don’t understand whether you want to talk a lot or want to be silent and, in the end, you understand that you have seen real magic and true love, and you know that you will never forget this and hope that someday you will experience such emotions again!