Ekaterina Semenchuk, Wigmore Hall
A Royal Opera and Mariinsky star takes a rare chance to share songs with a small audience
Ekaterina Semenchuk sings songs by the composers known as The Five. Photograph: Sheila Rock
The Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk in one of the most exciting singers on the operatic and concert stage today, and a recital in London by this star of the Mariinsky Theatre will be a special occasion.
At Covent Garden she has sung the roles of the mysterious and vengeful Azucena in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, and the vivacious Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. And her concert programme naturally includes many works by her fellow Russians – the composers who made up the group called The Five.
Her songs, accompanied at the piano by Helmut Deutsch, will include Rimsky-Korsakov’s On the Hills of Georgis, and the tender The Rose and the Nightingale. Semenchuk also sings works by Balakirev, Borodin, and Mussorgsky, and Cui.
The Five were young men who in the 1850s and 1860s had ambitions for Russian music. They wanted to shake off the strictures of the conservatoire system and honour Russia’s musical roots in its folk songs and dances. Several composers had day jobs – Borodin was a chemist, Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer: without influential patrons or contacts, they had to subsidise their own music-making.
Semenchuk trained at the St Petersburg conservatoire, and made her Royal Opera debut in 2008. In 2005 she sang at the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker-Bowles, singing Russian music, of course: Grechaninov’s Orthodox Creed.
Booking opens on 8 November.
At Covent Garden she has sung the roles of the mysterious and vengeful Azucena in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, and the vivacious Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. And her concert programme naturally includes many works by her fellow Russians – the composers who made up the group called The Five.
Her songs, accompanied at the piano by Helmut Deutsch, will include Rimsky-Korsakov’s On the Hills of Georgis, and the tender The Rose and the Nightingale. Semenchuk also sings works by Balakirev, Borodin, and Mussorgsky, and Cui.
The Five were young men who in the 1850s and 1860s had ambitions for Russian music. They wanted to shake off the strictures of the conservatoire system and honour Russia’s musical roots in its folk songs and dances. Several composers had day jobs – Borodin was a chemist, Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer: without influential patrons or contacts, they had to subsidise their own music-making.
Semenchuk trained at the St Petersburg conservatoire, and made her Royal Opera debut in 2008. In 2005 she sang at the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker-Bowles, singing Russian music, of course: Grechaninov’s Orthodox Creed.
Booking opens on 8 November.
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| What | Ekaterina Semenchuk, Wigmore Hall |
| Where | Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Bond Street (underground) |
| When |
On 12 Mar 17, 7:30 PM – 9:45 PM |
| Price | £15 - £37 |
| Website | Click here for more information and booking |