Dmitry Ulyanov graduated from the Ural Conservatory under Professor V. Yu. Pisarev and in the same year received the Grand Prix at the I International Vocal Competition under the auspices of UNESCO in Kazakhstan (2000).
Dmitry Ulyanov graduated from the Ural Conservatory under Professor V. Yu. Pisarev and in the same year received the Grand Prix at the I International Vocal Competition under the auspices of UNESCO in Kazakhstan (2000).
In 1997 he became a soloist with the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre, and a year later with the Moscow Novaya Opera Theater named after E. V. Kolobov. Since 2000 he has been a soloist of the Moscow Academic Musical Theater named after K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, on the stage of which he performs leading roles: Don Giovanni in the opera of the same name, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, Ramfis in Aida , Collen in "La Boheme", Herman in "Tannhäuser", Gremin in "Eugene Onegin", Gudal in "Demon", Head in "May Night", Ivan Khovansky in "Khovanshchina", Kutuzov in "War and Peace" and other roles . As part of the theater troupe, he toured in many cities of Russia, as well as in Germany, Italy, Latvia, Estonia, China, South Korea, the USA, and Cyprus.
Since 2009 Dmitry Ulyanov has been a guest soloist Bolshoi Theater, where he made his debut as the Doctor in the opera Wozzeck (director D. Chernyakov, conductor T. Currentzis). In 2014, he performed here the parts of Escamillo in Carmen and Philip II in Don Carlos, in 2016 - Boris Timofeevich in Katerina Izmailova. The artist also collaborates with theaters in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Perm, Cheboksary.
The international career of the singer is actively developing: the Bastille Opera, the National Rhine Opera, the Capitol Theater of Toulouse, the Flemish Opera, the National Opera of the Netherlands, the Royal Theater in Madrid and the Maestrans in Seville, the Liceo Grand Theater in Barcelona, the Israeli Opera, the New National Theater Tokyo, opera theaters of Lyon, Basel, Monte Carlo, Bilbao, Cagliari, Marseille - the list of leading opera houses is growing every year. He performs at festivals in A Coruña and Aix-en-Provence; collaborates with conductors Ivor Bolton, Martin Brabbins, Juraj Valchukha, Laurent Campellone, Kirill Karabits, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Cornelius Meister, Tomasz Netopil, Daniel Oren, Renato Palumbo, Ainars Rubikis, Giacomo Sagripanti, Mikhail Tatarnikov, Giuseppe Finzi, Pedro Halfter, Tomas Hanfter , Simone Young, Maris Jansons; with directors Vasily Barkhatov, Jean-Louis Grinda, Carolina Grubber, José Antonio Gutiérrez, Tatiana Gurbacha, Peter Konwitschny, Andreas Krigenburg, Eridan Noble, David Pountney, Laurent Peli, Emilio Sagi, Peter Sellars.
The artist's repertoire includes the main parts in Verdi's operas (Macbeth, Don Carlos, Rigoletto, Sicilian Vespers); Wagner ("Valkyrie", "Tannhäuser", "Flying Dutchman"); in French “grand operas” (“The Jewess” by Halévy, “Huguenots” by Meyerbeer), in operas by Russian composers (“Boris Godunov”, “Iolanthe”, “The Golden Cockerel”, “The Gambler”).
Dmitry Ulyanov actively gives concerts, collaborates with the State Capella - the choir named after A. Yurlov and the symphony under the direction of V. Polyansky.
In the 2017/18 season, the singer made his debut as Boris Godunov at the Bolshoi; performed Attila for the first time - at the festivals "Opera Live" in the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow and Verdievsky - in Concert Hall Lyon. There were also debuts at the Salzburg Festival, on the stages of the Neapolitan San Carlo Theater and the Vienna Opera.
In 2018/19 D. Ulyanov performs in new productions of the operas Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district"at the Paris National Opera and Opera Bastille (conductor - Ingo Metzmacher, director - Krzysztof Warlikowski), "The Barber of Seville" at the Bolshoi Theater (conductor - Pier Giorgio Morandi, director - Evgeny Pisarev); on the stage of the Amsterdam Konsergebouw he performs Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, and at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing he sings in the opera Tales of Hoffmann.
The artist was twice nominated for the award " golden mask in the Best Actor in an Opera category. In 2016, he was awarded the Casta Diva Russian Opera Prize for his performance of the part of Ivan Khovansky.
Did you enjoy singing as a child?
Yes, and participation in the performances of the opera house as part of the above-mentioned chapel is especially memorable. When last season in my current "home" - MAMT - "The Tales of Hoffmann" was staged, I wanted to remind conductor Evgeny Vladimirovich Brazhnik that I have known him since the age of 9, went on stage in "Pagliacci" and "Country Honor" ". Then we met with him at the Ural Conservatory, and finally, here in Moscow. This is how the bridge from childhood turned out ...
As a child, I was very fond of reading, but I did not fix my attention much on music and singing. It was more like entertainment from school, the first tours, like adventures, even went abroad, to the GDR. I remember singing in live on Berlin Radio with the local choir. I liked the choral singing, folk songs, to say that the opera was captivating - this was not the case.
Was the repertoire then still predominantly Soviet-pioneer?
Not only. In addition to traditional children's songs, we performed Bach, Handel, and other sacred music, including choral works by Dm. Bortnyansky. We often went to various competitions in other cities, well, and in Moscow, to various festivals. But now, when I remember my childhood choral impressions, it is as if in another life and not with me.
When the voice mutation began, I quit studying in the choir, I decided that singing would remain in the past. Moreover, in our school there was a drama theater, and I was very interested in this business. Lost in rehearsals free time in high school, played different roles in fairy tales, vaudeville, a little in the classic "school" repertoire, participated, of course, in all holiday events, at the same time he was engaged in a dance circle. I recall with pleasure my first roles - Alexander in V. Sollogub's vaudeville "Trouble from a Gentle Heart", the Magician in "An Ordinary Miracle" by E. Schwartz. By the way, that team that arose at the school later acquired the status of a studio, now it exists as an independent theater called the Theater-School Game.
At the same time, in the 9th grade, “according to the program”, as an adult, I again got to the Opera, to Eugene Onegin. I was disappointed, because Tatyana was sung by a certain “aunt” of the age of the far from 16-year-old Pushkin heroine, and I decided that it’s better, after all, a dramatic scene, especially since there is always an opportunity to sing in the play. Actually, I sang in almost all of our productions, and the first one who told me about the presence of a special voice was our directors and teachers. After graduation, I seriously dreamed of entering the acting department, but they dissuaded me from going to theater institutes Moscow, they said that there was little chance, and advised me to go audition to our Ural Conservatory, since with such a beautiful voice it’s better to go there, and not to the local theater institute.
There, already at the consultations, they confirmed that yes, good vocal data, you need to try at least for a sub-course, because there was a musical and choral basis, but before the "crust" about the end music school I haven't educated myself. For a year I had to prepare for admission in earnest, practice solfeggio, take several vocal lessons, and learn theory. Then I really got carried away with opera, I began to listen to recordings, mostly basses. The concert of Boris Shtokolov in the hall of the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic made a great impression. How beautiful and powerful his voice sounded, and the fact that the famous singer, our fellow countryman, graduated from the same Ural Conservatory, sunk into the soul very much.
Was there any doubt in the definition that you also have a real bass?
Well, after the mutation, some in the choir spoke about the baritone, but then I couldn’t sing the top at all, let’s say, until I knew how, but the lower F was already at the age of 17, so there was no doubt.
Has anyone in the family had such rare voices?
They say great-grandfather. My father liked to sing rather in a baritone voice; my mother also loved to sing, they even performed as a duet at the same choir studio in Chelyabinsk. But it was all at an amateur level, nothing more.
Are you lucky with your teacher?
I think very much. They wanted to take me to the preparatory department, but it turned out in the end that I passed all the exams perfectly and scored the highest passing score among male voices and immediately became a freshman. I was taken to the class by Valery Yuryevich Pisarev, the leading bass of the Sverdlovsk Opera House for many years, who sang a lot of roles, both heroic and characteristic, including the Soviet repertoire.
The first year was the hardest. I kept thinking, when are we going to start really preparing parties? And he kept me on vocalises, on 2-3 arias, several romances, achieving the correct singing technique. And as it turned out, he was absolutely right. I still use the base laid at the very beginning.
But already at the end of the 1st year, Evgeny Vladimirovich Brazhnik, who led the opera class, invited me to make my debut in the theater. At the age of 19, I first appeared on the opera stage as Angelotti in Tosca. From the 2nd year I combined study and work, prepared new roles, gained stage experience. And in the 3rd year he already moved to Moscow, and finished 4-5 courses in one year, as an external student. The manager went towards me. Nikolai Nikolayevich Golyshev, the department, allowing part-time education. It turned out that I came to the session from Moscow to Yekaterinburg and buried my exams like solo concerts. Because everyone has already come running to listen and criticize, as if they were visiting a guest performer from the capital. And I naively hoped to sing quietly for the commission!
At such a young age on the professional stage, did the experience of school drama come in handy for you? studios?
I think that yes, in terms of the game, I felt easy. But I immediately understood the difference. A dramatic actor is more free in his speech - in its rhythm, pauses. And in the opera, everything is initially set by the composer, partly by the conductor, and it is not so easy to correlate your acting tasks with the musical text. Then I realized that in fact there is nothing freer than music, and the impact of opera is much stronger than drama.
Very soon you became a soloist in the Moscow Novaya Opera.
Yes, my native conservatory helped me here. An Experimental Youth Theater was organized on the basis of the Opera Studio, and I was invited to the production of J. Massenet's opera "Thais", in French. I sang Elder Palemon, in very good make-up, no one recognized, even my acting teacher! One of the performances was attended by Evgeny Vladimirovich Kolobov, who came from Moscow as chairman of the commission for state examinations. He liked my voice, he thought that I was an adult singer, at least 35 years old. And when they brought me to him, I was terribly surprised: “What, just a kid! But, anyway, come, I'll take it to my Moscow theater. By the way, I was not particularly eager for the capital. I liked it in my own theater too, a lot of plans, Brazhnik gave a list of 15 parties, both small ones, like Ferrando in Il trovatore, and major ones, right up to Mephistopheles Gounod, which, of course, was early then. My wife persuaded me to go to Kolobov - she is my accompanist. I always listen to her advice. So I became a soloist at the Novaya Opera. For about three years I worked only there, then I combined work at the Novaya Opera with invitations to the Stanislavsky Theater, which is extremely rare, and finally finally settled here, on Bolshaya Dmitrovka.
Why did you decide to change the “main house” to an almost equivalent troupe?
In musical terms, the experience of communicating with maestro Kolobov was, of course, extremely valuable and important. But in their last years he was, as it turned out later, seriously ill, and preferred to sit in his office alone with the scores, and no longer interfered in internal theater problems. There was a constant turnover of soloists in the theater, it seemed that you were invited, but you are not really needed, you are more busy in the supporting roles, and without the prospect of performing something significant.
And what role was the debut in MAMT?
Yes, in general, also a small one, even two, Benoit and Alcindor in La Bohème, but immediately after that he sang Collin as well. But that production by A.B. Titel is remembered by many, because Olga Guryakova and Akhmet Agadi clearly announced themselves in the main roles. For several years he also sang parts of the second position, but soon Gremin happened, and more and more interesting works followed, plus invitations abroad began.
I heard you in "Lucia di Lammermoor" and "Force of Destiny" on the stage of MAMT, both times in the images of clerics: mentor Raimondo and Padre Guardiano. An amazing combination of truly Russian bass density and richness of timbre (in ancient times, any cathedral would be glad to have such an archdeacon) with Donizetti and Verdi falling into the Italian style. Do you sometimes study with a teacher now, or does it help that you have chosen the right wife for yourself?
Yes, that's right, my wife is now my teacher - and accompanist, and conductor, and everything in the world. Unfortunately, she is very busy, she works at the Gnessin Academy for vocalists and choir conductors. She is not only a wonderful pianist and is well versed in all styles, but also correctly hears all our flaws, she can tell you how to fix it. She is my best consultant and assistant.
The spring premiere of the Musical Theater - "War and Peace" by Prokofiev is rich in laudatory reviews from serious music critics. Particularly noteworthy is the persuasiveness of Dmitry Ulyanov's part of Kutuzov, and not only the vocal one.
Everything turned out well in this production, because, contrary to possible expectations, Alexander Borisovich Titel did not modernize the action in a fashionable way, thereby allowing the public to focus on the characters and their performers. I think that it is more difficult for an artist to play a historical image in a modern jacket and coat. When there is an entourage of time, you don’t even notice that you get, if not directly into the state of your hero, but as if you are trying to travel back in time - 200 years ago. I think even historians will not say for sure what kind of person the real Prince M.I. Kutuzov was, but you can try to switch your mind to that era in order to understand his actions and character. But at the same time, you understand that you are here and now, and you bring into the role not only more modern prototypes, but also your current self.
How deep did you "dive" into the material? At a minimum, they re-read Leo Tolstoy's novel, what else?
I can’t say that I’m a fan of deeply “digging” into historical primary sources, maybe there are such meticulous ones among my colleagues ... Tolstoy re-read, to be honest, especially the chapters about the war and about Kutuzov, Pierre, Prince Andrei. Plus, I looked through historical materials, re-leafed through reproductions of paintings related to that era, reviewed the brilliant film by S. Bondarchuk.
But more important here is Prokofiev's musical fabric, which differs seriously even from Tolstoy's novel, not to mention the historical context. The main thing for me was to thoroughly delve into the opera material.
Moreover, I have already developed my own principle. Before and during the work on the role, I do not listen to any records. Only when you know Yu, which is planned in 2-3 seasons, then I’ll find and watch a video from the performance, a live performance, than just listen to a cleaned up studio audio recording. Probably, this is from my passion for drama theater. I can compare several productions, if they are different, traditional and modern, even better. As soon as I start working with notes - everything, only myself. Because you can unwittingly copy if you listen directly while learning. Gradually I begin to collect historical material, imagine how I will build the role at my own discretion. I try to "be alone" with the composer, to understand what he wanted to express, to delve into his musical language.
And then comes the conductor with his own vision of music, and the all-powerful modern director, who often leaves no stone unturned from the libretto...
This is a normal creative search, when a new performance is born in joint attempts to reach a compromise. Sometimes it is possible to give the director some hints of his own findings, to come up with something, to find points of contact with the conductor.
Directors, regardless of their conservatism or radicalism, are divided into those who allow the artist to “invent, try and create”, outlining only the general concept of the image, the drawing of the role, and very meticulous “tutors” who are ready to solidify every gesture, turn of the head, slightly not by squares to build a mise-en-scène. What is closer to you?
Of course, when the "step left - step right" is pursued very hard, it's hard. But I think that with any director I can find a way to express my creative self.
Were there any conflicts? Well, for example, now it is fashionable to expose singers, not everyone is ready for this both physically and, most importantly, mentally.
They didn’t offer to go on stage completely naked, but they had to be half-naked ... The Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos.
Wow! Why undress a ninety-year-old man?
There it turned out to be justified and strong in impact, the performance was in Seville. There was such a current in medieval Catholicism - the flagellants who were engaged in self-flagellation of fanatics. In the production of Giancarlo Del Monaco, apparently to emphasize the austerity of the Grand Inquisitor, his cruelty even to himself, my costume consisted of a kind of wide loincloth and something like a strip of fabric hanging down from the neck. Moreover, the make-up artists tried, for two hours they painted the torso with bloody stripes from lashes. The traditional role of the bass - kings, kings, spiritual dignitaries, is actually far from "striptease", I hope that I will not have to deal with this.
By the way, you are a very young, textured man, 35 years old, dawn-zenith. And the voice dictates age roles: rulers, fathers, wise elders. Isn't it a shame that, for example, the only hero-lover bass - Ruslan, passes by you?
Ruslan - yes, I'm sorry and I hope to be in time. But initially I understood that since I was not a tenor, I could not play the hero-lover. I calmly relate to my "old men". On the contrary, sometimes there is not enough characteristic makeup - a beard, gray hair, to feel more comfortable. Recently sang King René at Iolanthe in Madrid. In principle, a very interesting psychological production by Peter Sellers, I liked working with him. But I went out in a modern overcoat over a business suit. And it turned out that the king of Provence Rene, like a kind of conditional dad-businessman. And I would have a crown and a mantle, I would have shown my acting abilities much more strongly, although they were accepted just fine anyway. To sing Philip II in Don Carlos in portrait make-up, this is a dream.
The historical Philip II was a little over forty at the time of his son's death, also far from being an old man.
Well, yes, and Gremin is just 35 years old, according to Pushkin and Lotman.
I almost forgot, because the basses are often taken for Don Juan Mozart, that's really a lover for all time!
I would not be afraid, I can vocally. For me, the best Don Juan of the many greats is Cesare Siepi, namely the bass. Let's see how it goes...
But on the other hand, the basses have a much wider acting space than the tenors: heroes, villains, comic characters, and character ones. Who is closer to you?
I'm interested in everything, it's best to alternate diverse characters. How great it is to play four roles at once in The Tales of Hoffmann, to find in these characters a unifying fatal beginning and different colors in images, to mold something whole out of four masks. The historical commander Kutuzov or the noble general Gremin, and for contrast - Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, whom I sang in the old production of the Musical Theater and may do in the new one. You can have fun and make jokes there. As the most desirable parts at the moment, I can name King Philip, Mephistopheles Gounod and Boris Godunov - bass "Three Whales".
And Susanin?
Certainly! And I would also like to sing Melnik in Dargomyzhsky's Mermaid, that's a wonderful role!
Oh, many people are already talking about the forgotten Russian "Mermaid"! Maybe, finally, they will hear us and stage this opera soon?
It is good to! In the meantime, Dosifey is already in the plans for Khovanshchina in Madrid and Escamillo at Carmen in Tokyo.
This is quite an excursion into the baritone area. There is also a high tessitura!
No, everything seems comfortable to me in the part of the Toreador, and I am far from the first bass who will sing Escamillo. Yes, Scarpia and I feel what I can do in the future, acting this villainous role is very fertile. Luckily, my voice is quite versatile. Suppose I sing three arias from "Prince Igor": Konchak, Galitsky and Igor himself. Perhaps I’ll beware of the whole part of Prince Igor, I’ll think about it, but the other two roles - please, at least in one performance!
With such a wide range, does it work out for you with the opera of the 20th century, where not so much the vocal is important, but the ability to clearly voice sometimes extremely uncomfortable musical and literary text?
I don't have much experience with contemporary opera yet, but I'm not afraid to experiment. I am confident in my vocal school. In the production of the Bolshoi Theater "Wozzeck" by A. Berg, I was invited to urgently replace the part of the Doctor. The musical style was completely alien to me, but soon I understood the system and structure of the Novovensk school, understood it, got used to it, and the work turned out to be interesting. I learned all the material in almost a week, which Teodor Currentzis, the conductor-producer of this production, tells everyone all the time. I can’t say what is so disastrously difficult for the voice, because the upper F-sharp is taken in falsetto there, and the lower D can be beaten. But, in principle, the works of A. Berg are also classics of the 20th century. Here is a completely modern opera by A. Kurlyandsky "Nosferatu", as colleagues say, in general - a look at vocals in a new way. To decide whether I can do it or not, I must see the musical material, then I will say for sure whether this is my part. It won't work by ear. Most recently, he sang in Stravinsky's Les Noces. Also, like a classic, but far from the usual. This is short work with a difficult rhythm, the bass has a rather complicated solo, but when I learned it, I really liked it.
you learn fast new material, independently or the wife helps or assists?
The wife, if connected, is at the final stage. At first - only by myself, I grasp quickly, I seem to have a photographic musical musical memory. Next comes the joint process of “rolling” and singing.
How about foreign languages, without which now nowhere?
My English is at a good level, and I can also explain myself in Italian. I can learn and sing in French and German, say a few phrases, but nothing more. There is, as they say, a good auditory perception of languages, the pronunciation of coaches is praised, I grasp. Now the “French” period has begun, I sing and teach many parts in this language, so I will have to learn. Even the traditionally Italian role of Procida in Verdi's Sicilian Vespers, which he dreamed about, will take place for the first time in the French edition of this opera, at the Opera House in Bilbao (Spain).
My "French" began in 2010 with the role of Cardinal de Brogni in Halevi's Judea in Tel Aviv, where Neil Shikoff and Marina Poplavskaya sang in the first cast, and Francisco Casanova played the role of Eleazar in the second cast; a little later, I sang the role of the Cardinal as a guest soloist in a production by the Mikhailovsky Theatre, now with Shikoff.
How did you work with such a stellar and adult partner?
Awesome! Solid goodwill and no snobbery towards young colleagues. The same on the stage and another "patriarch", Leo Nucci, I was lucky to sing with him in "Rigoletto" in Spain, I was Sparafucile. Nucci flew, it seems, from Japan, and after a 10-hour flight, he sang the dress rehearsal in full voice and with colossal returns, and then with even more frenzied energy - two performances. When I approached him for an autograph, he was terribly surprised: “What, we are colleagues, what autograph?”
Also in my French luggage is also an infrequent game of Marseille in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, plus a "four" from Hoffmann's Tales, and now in the near future - the bullfighter Escamillo.
And at the same time, Spain always sounds in your plans
Yes, I have a permanent agent in Spain, so I have invitations and contracts. In Spain, there is an unspoken struggle between Barcelona's Liceo and the Royal Opera of Madrid, as well as theater center Reina Sofia in Valencia. Next in rank are theaters in Seville, Bilbao, well, a few more local ones. I hope to participate in these battles more than once!
Returning to the conversation about languages: listening to our young singers, I was convinced more than once that, oddly enough, they sing Russian works worse than Western ones. You, too, are given native classics with b about more work?
Russian music is harder for a vocalist, that's true. And yet, in my opinion, the problem is different. In the West, after all, there is a specialization, singers are divided into Mozart, Wagner, Baroque, Belkant, Verdi, etc. With the exception of rare phenomena, but they are a special article.
And we tend to mix things up. A person who has come to the theater must sing Mozart today, Mussorgsky in a day, Verdi this week. And when young guys study, now they try to pay more attention to Western music, hoping to make a successful career in Europe and the USA. And the performance of Tchaikovsky and Glinka, respectively, is lame. Yes, there is such a trend.
But for me, the difficulty in Russian opera is precisely the native language, which everyone here understands. Well, you forgot, or didn’t even finish your Italian text, slurred it, slightly “cheeked it up” - few people understood. And any flaws and shortcomings in mother tongue immediately audible, especially phonetic ones. Therefore, paradoxically, it is more difficult for students to learn how to sing correctly in their native language than in a foreign one. Also in Russian music it is more difficult to cope with breathing, to learn how to use it correctly.
Do you support the point of view that the stagione system, when a new production with a combined team is performed from 5 to 12 times, and then the singers go somewhere to prepare the next performance, is more useful for voices than a repertory theater with alternating works different eras and styles? You immerse yourself in Verdi for a month or two, then another author, adjusting the vocal manner to his specific musical language
I can not answer categorically, each system has its pros and cons. We have already talked about the difficulty of “jumping” from Russian to French or Italian music. But if you professionally own the device, then this is not the main problem. For me personally, the difficulty lies elsewhere. When you travel a lot on contracts, you sing some parts more often, and some very rarely, almost once every two years. And it is quite difficult to keep in memory, in working condition, many roles. We have to remember the forgotten, restore, waste precious time. But the memory is still good, thank God!
If you sing a series of performances, then you can concentrate on something, bring the role to perfection, completely immerse yourself in the music, in the plot, that's how I will soon have Pimen in Boris Godunov in Madrid. I cannot say that I am such a synthetic singer, after all, I am more suitable for Mussorgsky, Verdi, Wagner, but I can sing Mozart, Rossini, and Prokofiev. In Europe, this is my trump card, acquired just by experience in our repertory theater. And when Western colleagues alternate only blocks of performances, 6-8 times one name, the stigma of “Baroque”, “Wagnerian”, etc. sticks to them more easily. Far from everyone succeeds in making a breakthrough into another repertoire, even if desired, there is a whole layer of strong singers of an average, even high level, who are “fed” by 3-4 parts all their lives.
Then, of course, it is optimal to sing 4-6 performances, but when more than a dozen of them are planned, fatigue accumulates by the end of the project. It's not that you begin to mechanistically perform music and mise-en-scenes, but fixation on the material arises, primarily psychological. However, at the same time, the quality of performance from performance to performance only improves, and when you sing the last, tenth time, everything goes almost perfectly, and you regret that this performance, so expected by you, is actually the final one ...
A little more about texts. It has historically developed in MAMT that there is no prompter, Konstantin Sergeevich and Vladimir Ivanovich believed that artists must know everything by heart, so the stories of old-timers about forgotten words have become jokes. And what about in Europe, also hope only for their own memory?
There are prompters only in some places in Germany, but in the same Spain, in Madrid, where I sing, they are not there, like in most others modern theaters. If you forgot - get out as you can. Therefore, the terrible dream of all vocalists about the forgotten text is relevant, and I did not escape, it was the case. We are all human, some sudden dropouts in the head happen. I managed to forget the words, famously recomposing myself even in the tiny role of Zaretsky back at the Novaya Opera. While Lensky suffered with his "Where, where" he decided to repeat mentally, and stuck. Out of horror, he began to ask the orchestra members, as a result, he came up with something new about “... in duels I am a classic, a pedant ...” quite smoothly, the conductor praised for his resourcefulness. To be honest, quite often I compose my own words, especially during the period of learning, when I have to “break away” from the notes and sing by heart.
the USSR→Russia
Opera singer
Ulyanov, Dmitry Borisovich(born June 2, 1977 in Chelyabinsk) - Russian opera singer, bass, soloist of the Moscow Academic Musical Theater. K. S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko
Biography
Carier start
In 1997, after completing his first year at the conservatory, he was heard by the chief conductor of the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater E. V. Brazhnik and invited to join the theater troupe, on the stage of which Dmitry made his debut in his first role on the opera stage - in the role of Angelotti (J. Puccini "Tosca") December 6, 1997. However, already in 1998 he became a soloist of the Novaya Opera Theater (Moscow) at the invitation of the chief conductor of the theater E. Kolobov, where he sang many parts, including Loredano (G. Verdi's "Two Foscari"), Varlaam (M. Mussorgsky "Boris Godunov ") other. He toured with the theater troupe to many cities in Russia and Europe.
MAMT them. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko
In August 2000, Dmitry moved to the troupe of the Moscow Academic Musical Theater. K. S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, and soon becomes one of the leading soloists of the theater. Among the main roles he performs are such as Don Alfonso (W. A. Mozart “So do all women”), Raimondo (G. Donizetti “Lucia Di Lammermoor”), Don Basilio (G. Rossini “The Barber of Seville”), Gremin ( P. I. Tchaikovsky "Eugene Onegin"), Pan Head (N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov "May Night") and many others. In the past few years, Dmitry has been participating in all important premieres on the stage of his native theater. For example, he played the role of Padre Guardiano in G. Verdi's opera "The Power of Destiny" (dir. F. Korobov, dir. G. Isahakyan) in October 2010, and also on May 8 and 10, 2011 brilliantly played the roles of Lindorff, Coppelius, Dapertutto and Doctor Miracle in one performance in the new premiere of J. Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann (directed by E. Brazhnik, directed by A. Titel). Toured as part of the theater troupe in Italy (Gremin - "Eugene Onegin" by P. Tchaikovsky, Trieste, 2009), Germany (Don Alfonso - "Cosi Fan Tutte" by W. Mozart, 2006), in Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, in USA (“La Boheme” by G. Puccini, 2002; “Tosca” by G. Puccini, “La Traviata” by G. Verdi, 2004), in South Korea (2003), in many cities of Russia (St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Saratov, Kirov, Rostov-on-Don, Cheboksary, etc.) For example, on March 13, 2005, as part of the theater’s tour in Yekanterinburg, a concert performance of L. Beethoven’s opera Fidelio (Rocco’s part) took place on German under the direction of dir. Thomas Sanderling
Career in Russia
Dmitry actively cooperates with many Russian theaters. In October 2011, he made his debut on the stage of the Mikhailovsky Theater, St. Petersburg, in the role of Cardinal De Brogni (F. Halevi "The Jewess"), where the famous American tenor Neil Shikoff played the role of Eleazar. In November 2010, Dmitry made his debut on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, where he brilliantly performed the role of the Doctor in the premiere of A. Berg's opera Wozzeck directed by Dmitry Chernyakov and Teodor Currentzis and became a guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia. December 6-10, 2006 took part in the XVI International Opera Festival. M. D. Mikhailov in Cheboksary. Dmitry brilliantly performed the part of Don Basilio (The Barber of Seville by G. Rossini), and also took part in the final Gala concert of the festival. Leads an active concert activity, collaborates with the State Academic Choir. A. Yurlov under the arms. G. Dmitryak, with the State Academic Symphony Chapel under the arm. V. Polyansky,; within international days Russia toured with a concert program in China (Beijing, Shanghai) in August 2006. In December 2003, he sang the title role in a concert performance of Grechaninov's Dobrynya Nikitich at the Moscow Philharmonic with the National Academic Orchestra Folk Instruments under the direction of N. Kalinin; in the same year he participated in the opening ceremony of the Krasnodar Conservatory.
Foreign career
In parallel with the Russian, Dmitry's foreign career is also developing very successfully. For example, in February 2011, Dmitry successfully made his debut on the stage of the Royal Opera of Madrid as Marseille in a concert production of J. Meyerbeer's opera "Huguenots" under the direction of Renato Palumbo, and in January 2012 on the same stage for the first time he will perform the part of King René in P. Tchaikovsky's opera "Iolanta" (conductor - T. Currentzis, director - Peter Sellars). In June 2011, Dmitry amazingly played the role of the Grand Inquisitor in the production of G. Verdi's opera "Don Carlos" (directed by Giancarlo Del Monaco) on the stage of the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Spain, and already in October 2011 in the same theater sang the role of Hunding in R. Wagner's opera "Valkyrie". In April 2010, he also made his debut on the stage of the Tel Aviv Opera, Israel in the opera The Jewess by F. Halevi, where he performed the role of Cardinal De Brogny under the direction of conductor Daniel Oren in a production by David Pountney. In July 2010, he took part in the International Festival of Forbidden Music on the stage of the Municipal Opera in Marseille, where he performed the title role in a concert performance of the opera "Shylock" by A. Finzi.
In the 2008-2009 season, Dmitry made his debut as Tomsky on the stage of the Monte Carlo Opera (conducted by D. Yurovsky), and also took part in a joint project of the Novosibirsk Opera House and the Bastille Opera, Paris - a grandiose production of G. Verdi's Macbeth, where he performed the part of Banquo at the premiere in Novosibirsk and later at the Bastille Opera (Paris). Stage director - Dmitry Chernyakov, conductor - Teodor Currentzis.
In February 2010, he sang the part of Don Marco in G. C. Menotti's The Saint of Bleecker Street (conducted by Jonathan Webb, dir. Stefan Medcalf), in December 2008 - the part of the Tsar (Aida) , and in December 2007 the role of Don Basilio (The Barber of Seville) on the stage of the Municipal Opera in Marseille, France.
In January 2006 he performed the part of Varlaam (Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky, staged by A. Tarkovsky, conducted by V. Polyanichko) at the Monte Carlo Opera.
In September 2005, he performed the role of Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin by P. Tchaikovsky, dir. - M. Morelli, conductor - K. Karabitz) at the National Rhine Opera (Strasbourg, France); in April 2005 - the part of Varlaam (Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky, dir. - N. Joel, dir. - B. Kontarsky) at the Teatre Du Capitole (Toulouse, France), as well as a solo concert on the stage of this theater ( concertmaster - E. Ulyanova)..
In December 2002 - January 2003, he participated in the production of P. I. Tchaikovsky's opera Oprichnik in Cagliari (Italy). The performance was recorded on video and CD, dir. - G. Rozhdestvensky, dir. - Graham Wick.
Engagements and performed parts
Titles and awards
Discography
Notes
Links
- Information about the singer on the official website of MAMT them. K. S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko
- Singer's channel YouTube
- Official site dmitryulyan.com
Categories:
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- June 2
- Born in 1977
- Born in Chelyabinsk
- Opera singers and singers of Russia
- Persons: Moscow Musical Theatre. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .
May 23 at the Moscow Academic Musical Theater. K. S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko will be a solo evening of Dmitry Ulyanov.
The program with the participation of the famous bass includes fragments from the opera "Boris Godunov" by Modest Mussorgsky, the vocal-symphonic poem "The Execution of Stepan Razin" and the First Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich.
On the eve of the concert, the singer met with Svetlana Naborshchikova.
For a solo evening, you have chosen a serious program. Usually at such concerts they prefer to sing popular arias.
It was our idea with Felix Pavlovich Korobov ( chief conductor of MAMT. - "Izvestia"). We decided to give the program theatricality, seriousness and educational message.
Of course, the easiest option is to make a potpourri, but it was more interesting to show things that are important to us - Mussorgsky and Shostakovich, and Mussorgsky orchestrated by Shostakovich, so that we get a themed evening: from Boris to Stepan Razin.
- Who is Boris for you? Hero, victim, villain?
Man. In any character, I am primarily interested in him human qualities. I always try to delve into psychology, ask questions: who was my hero, what did he do, why?
For me, "Boris Godunov" is a tragedy of a man invested with power, overwhelmed by passions. He walks along a thin line and at some point slips off it ... Working on this way is always a search inside the hero. What kind of country would he like to see, what does he want, why does he fail?
It is important to play not a portrait, not a statue. We must try to find the human side of the hero, to show what was good in him. Bad and so it will be clear from the context. Here is Stepan Razin. Who was he? For whom - a villain, for whom - a hero. People got up, followed him, which means that he lifted them up with something, attracted them with some idea. He hung the boyars not because he wanted to hang them, but because he saw no other way out - he thought that this was the only way to change something ...
- If the composer does not give the character an excuse, will you still look for him?
I will. Of course, following the composer, he gives a characterization. But we always have the right to search. We can, even following a given track, find some unexpected facets.
You sing on the leading opera stages of the world, but nevertheless you return to your native harbor. What gives an artist belonging to one theater?
Maybe the feeling that they are waiting for you here will be glad to see you. It is hard to say. For me, our theater is a place where there is freedom, relaxation, a spectator who always loves and waits for you. It is important to have a base where you can sing such a concert, try to express something of your own.
We are forced people, in the West we sign contracts. Sometimes there are things that you would not like to sing, but for some reason you agree. You understand that if you Paris Opera offered a contract, it makes no sense to refuse, then they will not call. We have a short age, the competition is high. Here, in the theater, there is an opportunity to sing whatever you want, to feel calm, to work.
Sometimes the thought arises: “Maybe go away, become a freelancer?” But something is holding me back. Perhaps the feeling of a long journey, wonderful friends, partners. You go on stage and rejoice that there are such colleagues, such a team-house, theater-house. No matter how much I travel, I always want to go home. Home is a place where you can exhale, relax.
- Do you have the right to make mistakes in your own theater?
I don't have anywhere. On the contrary, it becomes more difficult, every year more and more is expected of you. You have already jumped 6 meters, like Bubka, and you have no right to lower the bar lower. When you appear in your native theater once every six months, it attracts the audience, there is additional interest, and even more so you cannot be mistaken.
Most people see you for the first time. There are regulars, but this is a rather small percentage. But everyone knows that it's yours home theater, your surname becomes the guarantor of quality. You must provide this quality.
- Does the burden of responsibility, the creative race affect artistic well-being?
They don’t influence in any way, you must always be ready to go on stage. A day or two to recover a little, and forward. I also have longer breaks where I can exhale, learn something new. But I'm always ready to fight, I like it.
- Is there such a thing as a Russian vocal school, and how can it be characterized?
It seems to me that this is a kind of mixture of the Italian school and the Russian soul. I'm from Ekaterinburg. My teacher, God rest his soul, Valery Yurievich Pisarev, was a student of an Italian. He taught, already adding purely Russian moments, but the base was still bel canto, the basis of Italian vocals.
Russian school - in a certain compilation of the Italian base and Russian literature. You need to be able to sing in Russian. Few people in our country are able to do this, however paradoxical it may sound, they do not pay attention to the word. They move on to the correct vocalization, but sometimes the meaning is lost behind it. Not every singer can make out what he sings.
It seems to me that the Russian vocal school should be based on a good word, good presentation, good articulation. I always work to ensure that the presentation of the word is clear, does not turn into a mess, especially if it is Mussorgsky and Shostakovich. The word, speech intonation, semantic text accents are very important there, they cannot be skipped.
Another problem with today's opera is the director. Your colleague Yusif Eyvazov told Izvestia that he does not approve of classical operas in their modern version, because the audience goes for the classics, and not for directorial delights.
The audience is different everywhere. There are those who want beautiful costumes, give them the opera as it is written. There are modern youth who like all these new trends. As for me, I am open to experiment. In case if a new version justified, logical, interesting if the story touches me and draws me in, if I work with the director in the same vein.
With Alexander Titel we have an old creative history great friendship and understanding. His style is always closer to the classical reading. At the same time, I collaborated a lot with Dmitry Chernyakov. Last work was in Amsterdam, "Prince Igor" Borodin. His idea was that I sang Galitsky and Konchak in one performance. I gladly agreed.
We worked well with Tima Kulyabin. He is a progressive young director with interesting ideas, in particular, in the same notorious Tannhäuser. I participated in this production. For me, it was an absolutely clear story. All his predictions inside her came true, so he turned out to be a perspicacious artist. The style of all the directors is completely different, and that's great, it just enriches.
It can be difficult when the director himself does not know what he wants. Then it is not very clear what to do. But even in such cases, you try to offer something of your own. Maybe there are completely catastrophic productions, but so far I have not had the opportunity to participate in them. I didn’t seem to go out naked, and I won’t go out anyway.
- Are there directors with whom you would like to work, but have not yet been able to?
It would be interesting for me to work with Tarkovsky, he used to stage Boris Godunov, but this is no longer possible. Maybe it will be interesting with Konchalovsky. He should bet with us. If Mikhalkov took up opera, it would also be interesting, I think.
- How do you imagine an opera staged by Nikita Sergeevich?
I don't know, but the fact itself would be interesting.
- You have a huge repertoire, in my opinion, they covered everything. Is there anything left?
No, it's not all there yet! You can say that I'm just entering some layer of operas. The age has come when you can take on big parties. Attila sang, but so far only in a concert version. Verdi's parties are gradually coming to the fore. Wagner is very much unsung. An unplowed field, everything is just beginning.
Maybe in the Russian repertoire there are more roles sung than not sung. I sing Boris, Pimen, Khovansky, Dosifey, Dodon and so on. But there are still things that you can and should touch. For example, Melnik in "Mermaid", or Kochubey in "Mazepa".
Usually the bass lines belong to the heroes, endowed with power, authoritarian leaders. Does it leave an imprint on your character?
I don’t know, I need to ask my relatives if I’m strong there: “Chur, child!” (laughs). I don't think so. I have enough in my life easy man, communicative. Of course, you need to have leadership qualities in order to constantly play leaders, but I think I had them from my youth.
I was active, mobile, always engaged in ten parallel projects. I can’t say that I am powerful, although they say that many are afraid of me. Maybe in connection with my roles. Maybe I'm rather closed with people I don't know very well, like all of us.
After the performance, I am usually tired, devastated, before the performance I am always focused. Perhaps people perceive this as if I am strict and gloomy. It's actually specific. On the day of the performance, my relatives already know that they don’t need to touch me - if I have Boris in the evening, I’m already Boris in the morning. I put on the image as a suit, try on how I will be in the evening. This is my way of immersion. When I don’t have a performance, I am quite a cheerful, positive person.
You had great predecessors as Boris. When creating an image, do you focus on previous achievements, or entirely on yourself?
It is impossible not to navigate, these things are well known. But at the initial stage, you need to be alone with the composer, with the notes. This is my principle, the fixed idea. It seems to me that if we first start listening, we will involuntarily try to repeat something, automatically these hooks will start to work somewhere. It is important at the first stage to go from the source, from the text, to find out for yourself what and how the composer wants to say, what and how I want to say.
Preparing "Boris Godunov", I can review films, performances. Questions to ask yourself, something to read. If I put on my headphones and start listening, Pirogov, Khristov or Nesterenko will suggest some things and do all the work for you. It's history, class, craftsmanship, but I try it myself first. Only at the last stage I can listen to something and then very carefully so as not to knock myself down. When I learn a part, I already sing myself, I can check some things especially for myself and say: “This is great! There is still something for me to think about.”
But all the same, to sing a performance is not the end, but the beginning of the process. When you eat for the first time, it's shock and awe. All on the nerve, on the adrenaline. Attention stratifies on the conductor's baton, on the director's notes, on one's own feelings. Then the performance train starts to move along its rails, you gradually accelerate, get into a rut. There is freedom, you start adding colors, subtracting, inventing something. It's a very lively process. No wonder the first 10 performances are considered premieres - this is how they gradually take shape.
There comes a time when opera artists, including the great ones, Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya, for example, want to go into another genre: drama Theater, to the cinema. Have you had such a desire?
Basically possible variant, why not? But opera is a more complex genre. It's easier for a dramatic artist. He has such a concept as time at his disposal, but we do not have it - we are always under the account, under the control of the conductor and the direction of the composer. In this regard, it is much more difficult and interesting for us. But if they offer a role in the theater or cinema, I will not refuse, I think.
I remember my youth, when I was an ardent admirer of the drama theater, I studied with teachers from the Sverdlovsk drama who came to our student theater. There, the main roles, and all sorts of outplayed, in local theater festivals we took part, took places at the regional rally of theaters. 20 years of opera activity, and if you still remember what I did there, you can add another five years.
- In total, it turns out a quarter of a century of continuous creativity. What would you wish for yourself for the next 25 years?
– Dmitry, your character Banquo is a commander equal to Macbeth, but, according to the plot, is doomed to die already in the second act. The drama of the relationship and the hidden rivalry of the main characters are felt from the very first notes, and you can see how you good sense trying to "replay" Macbeth...
– Dmitri Chernyakov's productions always have a deep psychological subtext, the dramaturgy is built very precisely in the relationships of all the characters. The difficulty is that many of the emphasis is shifted to a completely different area, in contrast to the traditional reading. Initially, Banquo and Macbeth are bosom friends, and the witches’ prophecy (here it is a “conspiracy” of the townspeople) is perceived by them as a kind of farce, but gradually my hero sees how Macbeth involuntarily thinks about it, and Banquo tries to bring him back to earth. But a black shadow has already laid between them, and already in the duet, Banquo begins to doubt the sincerity of their friendship ... Later, King Duncan is murdered, and although Macbeth and his wife deny their involvement in this, Banquo feels threatened by a once close friend . And when later the people assure him that Macbeth's order to kill his son is just a prank, Banquo laughs along with everyone at the absurdity of the situation, but the sudden appearance of his son makes him shudder... At some point, he clearly realizes that the joke is actually a terrible reality. . He only manages to shout to his son to save himself, and the dispersed crowd reveals to the audience the already lifeless body of Banquo...
– The Madrid premiere of Boris Godunov coincided with the premiere of the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre, where you could sing Boris. How did it happen that you exchanged Boris for Pimen?
- The proposal of director Alexander Titel, who staged "Boris Godunov" in Yekaterinburg, came later. The contract with the Royal Theater was signed four years ago, and with Alexander Borisovich we started talking about his project two years ago. And when they began to discuss the details, it turned out that our deadlines coincide. Of course, it’s a pity, I would love to sing Boris, especially since Yekaterinburg is my hometown, and Alexander Titel and I have been working fruitfully for a long time in the same theater. But Pimen is an equally significant role, he has long wanted to play it, a very powerful character. For me, he is a chronicler, a kind of god Chronos. Pushkin, when he began work on his tragedy Boris Godunov, was the first to paint a scene in the cell where Pimen and the monk Grishka Otrepiev, the future Pretender, are. It was it that he read to his friends and admirers, and it was received with enthusiasm, from which I conclude that for him, as well as for Mussorgsky, Pimen was very important.
– You work a lot in Spain…
- Yes, in February 2011 there was the part of Marseille in the concert version of Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera Les Huguenots, in January 2012 - King René in Iolanthe, now here are Boris Godunov and Macbeth. In general, he sang a lot in Spain: in the same "Iolanthe" in Valencia, the Grand Inquisitor in "Don Carlos" by Verdi and Hunding in "The Valkyrie" by Richard Wagner in Seville, participated in the opera festival in La Coruña - sang Sparafucile in "Rigoletto" by Verdi along with the amazing Leo Nucci. Now I am preparing the part of Procida for the premiere production of Verdi's Sicilian Vespers...
- It turns out that Spain is the main place of work today?
- It turns out that in recent years I have performed a lot here under contracts, but it is impossible to say so categorically. My main place of work is still in Moscow - in musical theater named after Stanislavsky. There I sing Kutuzov in our recent production of Prokofiev's War and Peace, in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann, and in other performances of my native theater.
- You have already worked with the staged duet of Currentzis-Chernyakov - you sang in Alban Berg's Wozzeck at the Bolshoi Theater. Was this your first experience of participating in an opera of the 20th century?
- Yes, and very unexpected: they offered it at the last moment, there were two months left before the premiere. When I saw the music for the first time, I thought: “How can this be sung and learned in two months?” The first listening to "Wozzeck" led me to a dead end. I came with these thoughts and doubts to Theodore, who said: “You will definitely learn this, you will succeed.” And we started to work. It was important to understand the structure of this music, which, as it turned out, is very strictly organized and obeys a certain harmony and mathematics, I would call it a matrix scheme. As soon as I found some kind of system in Wozzeck, in some ways even jazzy, things started to work. And when Theodore stood at the console, everything somehow immediately lined up, so was the lace orchestra, woven by various instruments into an incredible voluminous canvas, and immediately everything sounded clear and understandable. It was very interesting job with an unexpectedly good result for me and for everyone.
- Is it difficult to combine work under contracts with a repertory theater? Many refuse, choosing a career in the West ...
- It's not easy, but I'm still succeeding, thanks to the theater management, which supports and goes forward. Working in Europe makes it possible to concentrate on a specific performance, image, think it over, work it out vocally. In the repertory theater today you must sing Tchaikovsky, tomorrow Mozart, and three days later Verdi. It's very difficult, but you can develop a repertoire, try yourself in different musical styles, show different facets of owning your profession. And here in the West, singers have a clear specialization - a Verdi, Rossini singer or a typical “Russian bass”, and if a certain label has already been attached to you, it is difficult to get rid of it. In my native theater, I am now singing in The Tales of Hoffmann, it is not a fact that I will sing it in the West. Kutuzov in "War and Peace" is a very interesting work and, judging by the reviews of the audience and theater critics, quite successful. At the present time, hardly anyone in Europe would dare to make such a grandiose production. There will still be many interesting performances at the Stanislavsky Theater, where I hope to prove myself. From what the theater has already announced, I can name a new production by the brilliant Peter Stein of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida, where I hope to sing Ramfis, as well as Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser, where I will sing the King. This will be the second Wagner part in my repertoire, I would very much like to perform the music of the great German composer.
– And what other composers and characters are on your list of vocal priorities?
- More Verdi parties - Philip II from "Don Carlos", Attila from the opera of the same name, Zachary from "Nabucco". It would be interesting to sing Scarpius, Mephistopheles, and, of course, Mozart's Don Giovanni. Mussorgsky is one of the most important and main Russian composers for me. I would very much like to perform Boris Godunov, and Dosifey, and Khovansky (Mussorgsky's opera Khovanshchina. - "NI"), the composer's vocal cycles "Songs and Dances of Death", "Without the Sun".
- Which of the conductors and directors with whom you had a chance to work on different stages do you remember for their style of working with singers, energy?
– I remember the work on Fromental Halévy's The Jewess at the Tel Aviv Opera in 2010 – staged by conductor Daniel Oren and director David Pountney. I worked with both for the first time, and it was quite an interesting experience. Pountney has a very philosophical approach to musical material, and a clear work with the actor, laconic, but very bright and precise. As for the directors, it was amazing to work with Peter Sellars, for whom the sensuality of Tchaikovsky's music is important. Of the conductors, I remember with great respect Gennady Rozhdestvensky, with whom I had the very first contract, but, perhaps, the most extraordinary and bright for me is Teodor Currentzis, a great musician, with whom it is always very interesting and joyful for me to work. This year there have already been Iolanta in Madrid and the vocal part in Igor Stravinsky's Les Noces, staged by Jiri Kilian at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, now Verdi's Macbeth.
- And how does Currentzis work with singers?
– He is very responsible, scrupulous and meticulous in his work, literally in every note. On the one hand, it’s quite difficult with him, because he sets a very high bar, but on the other hand, when you finish rehearsals, it becomes easy for you to understand why it was all done. As a result, when you go on a big stage, you just bathe in music and do not experience any difficulties. Such cooperation helps to grow creatively and professionally. I really like how Theodore says: "Let's try to make music today." In my opinion, it is important for him to be in some kind of co-creation with the singers, so that we do not just sing, but he just conducts, but that it is a full-fledged musical tandem. When the conductor supports you, it's great, and Theodore helps a lot, when you sing on stage, he helps you, breathes with you, charges you with his crazy energy. I can't think of another conductor with whom I could work so easily and freely.
- And in front of whom it is easy to perform, what kind of audience in different countries?
– In Spain and Italy, people are very sincere and friendly, open and responsive. Spaniards and Italians, perhaps, can argue about which of them is more emotional, but still, I had the warmest welcome in Italy. In France, the public is reserved, especially in Paris, very strict, the audience may not forgive some things. If the singer is not liked, the Parisians will not clap, and the people of Madrid, on the contrary, will express their admiration for the fact that the person went on stage and sang well. Although if there is a completely bad performance, then they will arrange an obstruction here.
- And the Russian audience?
– Very warm and loving, I can’t say that they are very demanding. The public in Russia is gracious and grateful, always waiting for its artist and idolizing him. Therefore, singing on the home stage is always a pleasure, but at the same time it is more exciting and responsible.