Schostakowitsch Festival - Elena Stikhina, Marina Prudenskaya, Bogdan Volkov, Sebastian Breuninger, Christian Giger, Elena Bashkirova

In the organizer's words:

An evening of intense poetry and masterful music awaits you as part of the Shostakovich Festival 2025. The outstanding singers Elena Stikhina (soprano), Marina Prudenskaya (alto), Bogdan Volkov (tenor) and Sebastian Breuninger (violin), Christian Giger (cello), accompanied by the renowned pianist Elena Bashkirova, present a program that delves deep into the world of Russian poetry.

The evening begins with "Six Romances after Words by Japanese Poets for Tenor and Piano" op. 21a, which captures the melancholy beauty of Far Eastern poetry in Shostakovich's unique tonal language. This is followed by the poetic cycle "Six Poems by Marina Tsvetaeva for Alto and Piano" op. 143, in which Shostakovich masterfully sets the dramatic intensity of Tsvetaeva's words to music.

After the interval, you will experience a rare pearl of Russian music history: "Gaetano Braga's Serenata" for soprano, mezzo-soprano, violin and piano, a sketch for the unfinished opera "The Black Monk" after Anton Chekhov. The cycle ends with the "Seven Romances after poems by Alexander Blok for soprano, violin, violoncello and piano" op. 127, which translate the mystical and expressionist poetry of the great Russian poet into Shostakovich's unmistakable musical language.