Ekaterina Semenchuk mezzo-soprano; Semion Skigin piano

Performers

Ekaterina Semenchuk

mezzo-soprano

Semion Skigin

piano

Programme

Tchaikovsky

• My genius, my angel, my friend
• Six mélodies Op. 65
• Do not believe, my friend
• Why?;
• A tear trembles
• None but the lonely heart
• The fearful moment
• It was in the early spring
• Amid the din of the ball
• On the golden cornfields
• The mild stars shone for us
• Frenzied nights
• The first meeting
• The fires in the room were already out
• Does the day reign?

About this concert

‘Literary activity was then… regarded as a sacred and mysterious occupation in Russia,’ recalls author and broadcaster Zinovy Zinik of his formative years in Moscow during the 1960s.

Russian literature’s initial rise to power was propelled by the work of Romantic poets such as Alexei Tolstoy, whose ‘Amid the din of the ball’ and ‘Does the day reign?’ were immortalised in song by Tchaikovsky.

Ekaterina Semenchuk’s all-Tchaikovsky programme evokes the artistic world of pre-Revolutionary Russia and the composer’s gift for matching gravid poetry to sublime music.

Supported by Mayfield Valley Arts Trust