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With an unusual program of music rarely heard in the West, Dmitri Hvorostovsky treated the Americas to a glimpse inside the Russian artistic soul during an unprecedented 13-city concert tour. Accompanied by the acclaimed Moscow Chamber Orchestra conducted by Constantine Orbelian and the talented young singers of Moscow’s Academy of Choral Art, the superstar baritone relied on his exquisitely luxurious voice to perform what amounted to a brief history of Russian music, including liturgical compositions, 19th-century folk songs, Soviet-era pop tunes, and for good measure, arias by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.
The tour of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada proved exceptional on many fronts, not just for the singular musical choices. It was equally remarkable that a concert performer would come to America backed by such a sizeable and accomplished orchestra and chorus. And, audiences responded enthusiastically.
For the Russians in attendance, the recital was a nostalgic reminder of home, but for the majority of concert-goers this was an introduction to music that zigged and zagged from the pious to the popular. Over the course of two months, some 50,000 fans attended concert halls – both vast and intimate – to hear the celebrated Siberian singer. Countless others listened to the performance when it was broadcast on Canadian radio.
Fans weren’t the only ones singing his praises. “Mr. Hvorostovsky, the Russian baritone, was in splendid voice, singing with the improbable smoothness and cultured delivery that still make listeners roll their eyes in wonder,” noted The New York Times.
Three years in the planning, Hvorostovsky and Orbelian stitched together a pan-Russian program that combines operatic snippets closely identified with the baritone with heart-string tugging ballads where he could let his silver hair down and croon away. “The baritone rolled out a voice as dark and smooth to the touch as polished oak,” raved The Chicago Tribune. “It’s a vocal instrument and temperament splendidly equipped to convey the brooding romanticism in which this music is steeped.”
[The recital was also designed to showcase the award-winning Academy of Choral Art, whose mission is to continue the tradition of Russian singing which originated over 1000 years ago. The Academy offers musical education to young men and women, and while its various choirs specialize in Russian ecclesiastical music they are equally at home in performing more contemporary choral works.]
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