"The La Primavera orchestra has turned 20!"

To mark its anniversary, the Kazan State Chamber Orchestra La Primavera is holding a festival season called We Are Now 20! Within it, Kazan is to see many musical surprises. For the first time, works by the Argentinean tango king Astor Piazzolla will be performed on the bandoneon. Dmitry Pevtsov will sing with the Kazan orchestra and the Moscow rock band CarTush. A new Yamaha pianoforte concert version will be presented at the Pyramid entertainment centre. The La Primavera artistic director and chief conductor Roustem Abyazov and the director of Pyramida and the festival We Are Now 20! Ildar Galiakhmetov have told Tatar-inform about the upcoming festival in detail.

Q: Why will the festival be held at the Pyramida entertainment centre?
R. A: This season is a jubilee one, the La Primavera orchestra turns 20 and we would like it to be extraordinary and memorable for the musicians and for our listeners. We called the festival season We Are Now 20!, many concerts will be held within it in Tatarstan and in Russia. The idea to hold “a festival within a festival” at the Pyramida centre was proposed by Ildar Galiakhmetov, who favours performing classical and  pop music in the Pyramida hall. I think, before, only the Spivakov orchestra has performed in the centre. I liked the idea, but the more you have the more you want, they say, and the one planned concert has grown into four, very diverse.

I.G: We told the entire city in spring that Pyramida’s musical policy will be diverse, all musical formats will be presented. Theatrical non-repertory companies have become quite active, the tradition of jazz concerts continues. Before the end of December, we plan 26 concerts, including the festival We Are Now 20! I and Roustem Abyazov have known each other even longer than 20 years, since 1986, and I have some internal obligations to the man, I always comply with his requests. The thing I liked about the festival We Are Now 20! is that it is hard to call it classical. The bandoneon will for the first time perform in Kazan within its framework. It is close to me, as I studied the accordion in music school. I think many citizens will be interested in the instrument. When I came to work at Pyramida, the TAIF management wanted to have a new concert grand piano. Experts assured us the Yamaha instrument will sound very well in both the classical and jazz formats. We bought it and it will play at the festival. I think the performance by Mikhail Lidsky will reveal all the beauty of the instrument.

Q: When will Kazan residents see the first concert of the festival?
R.A: The idea was to make the concerts with La Primavera's participation varied. Our orchestra is versatile; it can play modern, baroque music, even rock and jazz. The first concert will take place on September 23 and will be classical, “Saint-Petersburg Musical Boom”. The name is not random. It is rare that four soloists at once take part in one concert in Kazan. To listeners it means an opportunity to hear Yelena Yaparova’s soprano, Hanyafi Chinarev’s oboe, Rinat Shakirov’s piano and Sergei Dogadin’s violin. Very diverse soloists will play very varied music, united by one city on the Neva.

Q: When will Kazan residents hear the bandoneon, exotic for the Tatarstan’s capital?
R.A.: On September 26, at the festival's concert, called Astor Piazzolla and Latin American Rhythms. Astor Piazzolla is one of the most, if not the most, popular composers of the late 20th century. He is the king of Argentinean tango, and it is hard to name another composer whose works are played so often worldwide. Piazzolla’s music came to Russia rather late, but he is now a commonly known and loved composer. The concert includes some Latin American rhythms; we will perform Brazilian, Mexican and Panamian music. At the concert, the bandoneon will play for the first time; the instrument is famous for being the one Astor Piazzolla composed his works for. We used to hear his compositions arranged for other instruments. Besides, remarkable solo players from Kazan, including Vitaly Kharisov (guitar), Andrey Kaminsky (cello), Alexander Kozlov (accordion), Oleg Lapshin (drums), Williams Akhmadullin (concert whistle), will perform at the concert, too. I think it will leave a great impression with the audience.

Q: The third concert is a presentation of the new Yamaha concert pianoforte.
R.A: It will take place on September 29. It took me a long time to decide whom to invite as a soloist before I decided in favour of a pianist who on the one hand cannot boast of being the authorities's favourite, which is expressed in regalia, but there is no musician or music lover in the entire world who is unaware of the name of Mikhail Lidsky. He is one of the most fascinating pianists in the world, whose brand is in-depth intellectual playing, an absolutely fanatical attitude to art, and that is what attracts so many listeners. A brilliant trumpeter, Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre’s first trumpet, Andrey Ikov, will perform along with him. I think the ensemble will be remembered by listeners. Clearly, I would not like to belittle the accomplishments of La Primavera either.

Q: What will the festival conclude with?
R.A.: On October 2, the festival will end with a completely unexpected for both the audience and the performers concert with the participation of the People’s Artist of Russia Dmitry Pevtsov and the Moscow band CarTush. In the summer, we made all the arrangements for the concert and the band CarTush came to Kazan for rehearsal. The concert is divided into two parts, Dmitry Pevtsov's performance is accompanied by a chamber orchestra and a rock band. We have an experience of performing with Uriah Heep, when Ken Hensley came to Kazan. We played at a concert with Nikolai Noskov as well. Pevtsov and CarTush have no experience of playing with an orchestra, it is very interesting for them.

Q: A question that is relevant in the time of a crisis is how much do tickets to the concerts cost?
I.G: We have changed Pyramida’s marketing strategy. While tickets to concerts played by popular performers used to cost 2.5-3 thousand roubles,  the most expensive concert ticket now costs 1,800 roubles. Regarding the festival We Are Now 20!, we realise perfectly well that true music lovers are not always able to pay lots of money, that is why we offer a moderate low-budget ticket, 200 to 450 roubles. Thus, I think people who really want to come to the concert will not be deprived of the opportunity due to lack of money. We are running a risk, of course, arranging this festival. It is more important for me, however, that Kazan citizens get used to the fact that Pyramida is a venue for varied concerts – national, jazz, classical and children’s.

Q: What other events will take place within the orchestra's anniversary celebrations?
R.A: On October 21, we open a concert season at the Saidashev Great Concert Hall. The concert includes two parts. The first commemorates 200 years since Haydn’s death, the second - 200 years since the birth of Mendelson. The soloists are the People’s Artist of Russia, professor at three academies - Moscow Conservatoire, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and Higher Music School in Fiezola (Italy) - Alexander Vinnitsky (violin) and the laureate at international competitions Olga Tsagarelli (piano). A special guest will come to our jubilee concert on September 26, probably Russia’s most popular violinist as of today, Olga Bayeva. Three concerts will take place November 9 to 14 in Moscow and in Saint-Petersburg.

Q: Are you going to have a tour of Tatarstan?
R.A.: We have not been on tour in Tatarstan for a long time, and in this anniversary year, from October 26 to November 1, we will tour Tatarstan cities with a programme called “Meet: Concerto! Concerto!”. Our performances will take place in Yelabuga, Nizhnekamsk, Naberezhnye Chelny, Aznakayevo, Bavly, Bugulma and Almetievsk.

Q: Do you intend to digitalise La Primavera’s archives?
R.A: We have had some La Primavera interesting records that collected dust on shelves. Before the orchestra’s jubilee, a collection of four MP3 discs, presenting 24 hours of our music, was released.

I.G: I have a proposal, one that is called "to the point". The Pyramida centre has possibilities to make a professional shoot of all four La Primavera’s concerts within the festival We Are Now 20! Why don't we make video products based on it?

R.A.: You go for it!


Prepared by Sergei Semerkin

Photos by Yekaterina Krasutskaya