III Galina Vishnevskaya International Opera Festival was carried out in Russian cities for a month. The grand opening of the Festival took place in Kazan at Saidashev Grand Concert Hall with Symphonies No. 5 and No. 14 by Shostakovich. Tatarstan State Symphony Orchestra performed under the baton of its artistic director and chief conductor Alexander Sladkovsky. The soprano part in the Symphony No. 14 was performed by the soloist of the Novaya Opera Moscow Theater, winner of the 1st prize of the V Galina Vishnevskaya International Opera Singers Competition, — Irina Moreva; the bass part was performed by Giorgi Chelidze — diploma winner of the VII Galina Vishnevskaya Competition in June 2019.
The Opera-Gala concert featured the Opera Centre’s graduates of several years, who are now soloists of the major Moscow music theatres, who have performed operatic pieces by Prokofiev, Verdi, Puccini, Cilea. This time the orchestra performed under the baton of Italian conductor — Maestro Marco Boemi.
Both concerts were held at full house.
The next concert took place in a romantic town of Plyos, at the Levitan Cultural Center, where the Opera Centre’s soloists performed opera classics.
The Festival has continued with a concert version of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta by the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre’s soloists and orchestra (conductor Yaroslav Tkalenko) in the Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Philharmonic named in Mstislav Rostropovich’s honour.
The Galina Vishnevskaya International Opera Festival was concluded on October 25 — on the day of 93rd anniversary of Opera Centre’s founder and first artistic director. A requiem was performed in the morning at the Zachatievsky Monastery, then her admirers and students gathered at the Novodevichy Cemetery to commemorate the great singer.
The Centre’s graduates, now soloists of Russian opera houses, gathered in the musical tribute concert to their Teacher: soloists of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia Svetlana Lachina, Anastasia Sorokina, Anna Bondarevskaya, soloist of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theater Stanislav Lee, soloists of the Moscow Novaya Opera Ekaterina Petrova, Stanislav Mostovoy, Mikhail Novikov, soloist of the Yekaterinburg State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater Vladislav Popov.The Opera Centre’s Orchestra was conducted by Alexander Solovyov.
A beautiful Galina Vishnevskaya’s portrait and Opera Centre’s graduates on stage, atmosphere of worship and admiration in the hall — these are a worthy finale to the III Galina Vishnevskaya International Opera Festival aiming at the idea of musical unification of Russia and serving to the art of opera.