The Russian organ school will be represented by Evgenia Krivitskaya. The organ master had been honing her skills under the tutorship of Prof. Alexei Parshin, a major authority in the Russian organ world. Evgenia Krivitskaya graduated from the Conservatory and a post-graduate training course, and just a year later presented her musicology thesis. Since that time, the musician has successfully been following the two roads: one of the performer and the other of a music scholar. Today Evgenia Krivitskaya is a touring organist, Professor of the Music History Chair at the Moscow Conservatory, author of several books, including the first ever Russian monograph on the organ music of France.
The organ performing culture of France will be represented by Jean-Baptiste Dupont. The renowned organist began organ studies at the Institute of Sacred Art and Music (IAMS). He graduated with distinction from the organ department at the Toulouse Conservatoire. His creative interests are also very diverse: Dupont performs not only music of different epochs – from the Renaissance to the music of XX century, but composes too. He is the master of improvisation and is reputed to be one of the best young organists at that. And above all, Dupont is very keen on organ engineering and is involved with organ retrofits and construction of new ones.
Jean-Baptiste DuPont will perform the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach, as well as the arrangement of Ave Maria by Schubert – backed by the Bolshoi Theatre Violin Ensemble. This is one of five pieces of the same name included in the program. All of them are the kind of those compositions one “falls in love at first sight.” Apart the Schubert song, the audience will enjoy the melodies of Bach-Gounod, Mascagni, Massenet and Alexander Vavilov (a Soviet composer who published his Ave Maria under the assumed name of Caccini).
Another guest performer is Gianluca Libertucci, the organist of the Vicariate of the Vatican City in St. Peter’s Basilica, organist to the General audiences of the Pope, Professor of Organ and Organ Composition at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Music of Venice. In 2013, he was the only foreign organist who had the honour to play at the opening concert of a new organ at the Bolshoi theatre. Gianluca Libertucci’s solo performance will feature the Heroic play by M. Bossi and the organ part in Gloria, op. 588 by Vivaldi (the less known of the two to survive), and the movements from the Mass Panis angelicus by Cesar Franck.
The concert will also feature some more pieces that belong to the sacred music. The organ repertoire is most prolific with this genre since the organ was mostly a church instrument for a long time. The audience will hear Laudate Dominum, a part from Sunday Vespers (Vesperae de Dominica) by Mozart and the famous Aria (alto) from St Matthew Passion by Bach. In both works, the organ part will be performed by Evgenia Krivitskaya. Another Bach act is Ach Herr, laß dein lieb Engelein chorale from the St John Passion, will be performed by Daniel Zaretsky and the Moscow Conservatory Chamber Choir. The organist is a laureate of all-Russian and international competitions extensively touring Europe, USA, Australia, Israel, South America, teaching at the Chair of organ at the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory. Throughout 2000, Daniel Zaretsky succeeded to perform all known organ pieces by J. S. Bach.
The musical composition that Daniel Zaretsky will present jointly with harpist Alexander Boldachev stands to prove that the music of Bach may sound good even in most unexpected tone colors. The musicians will play Largo from Concerto for two violins by Bach arranged for organ and harp. 27-year-old Alexander Boldachev is a unique artist. He began to concertize at the age of five and at the same time proved well in composition. At eight he toured outside Russia. Alexander Boldachev has a rare gift to adapt for his harp any music originally scored for a wide range of instruments be it full orchestra or piano duet. And it was he who did the harp adaptation of Bach Largo.
The concert will also beattended by leading Bolshoi Opera soloists Ekaterina Shcherbachenko (soprano) and Svetlana Shilova (mezzo-soprano), reciter Peter Tataritsky, soloists of the Bolshoi orchestra Igor Tsinman (violin) and Sergei Lysenko (oboe).
Art. Lebedev Studio