Works of opera classics performed at the Presidential Library

7 March 2024

On March 7, 2024, on the eve of International Women's Day, a gala concert of graduates of the solo singing department of the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory took place in the Column Hall of the Presidential Library.

According to Yuri Nosov, Director General of the Presidential Library, “the gala concert of graduates of the St. Petersburg Conservatory traditionally takes place in the Column Hall of the Presidential Library. And this is no coincidence, because the library is the largest cultural, educational and educational center in Russia”. Yuri Nosov expressed confidence that “cooperation with the oldest music university in Russia will strengthen”.

The gala concert of conservatory graduates is an opportunity to hear talented singers, laureates of international competitions, whose brilliant musical journey is just beginning. In the Column Hall of the Presidential Library, graduates of the solo singing department of the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory performed arias and fragments from world opera masterpieces, accompanied by the theater orchestra of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. The gala concert featured music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Mikhail Glinka, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Borodin, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Georges Bizet, Gaetano Donizetti, Francesco Cilea.

The solo singing department of the St. Petersburg Conservatory is rightfully considered one of the best in the world. Among its graduates are Elena Obraztsova, Irina Bogacheva, Vasily Gerello, Olga Borodina, Anna Netrebko and other stars of the opera stage. Honored and People's Artists of Russia Vladimir Vaneev, Olga Kondina, Tatyana Novikova, Larisa Tedtoeva, Tamara Novichenko and others teach at the department.

The Presidential Library is bound by long-term cooperation. Back in October 2018, the organizations entered into an agreement, within the framework of which the St. Petersburg Conservatory transferred to the Presidential Library for digitization a file of issues of the conservatory’s large-circulation newspaper “Musical Personnel” for the period from 1939 to 1993. Also, every year the organizations hold joint cultural and educational events.