Vasilisa Berzhanskaya: “Music is my life. I never get tired of her. Evgeny Shestakov: “Perhaps Vasilisa Berzhanskaya is the future Elena Obraztsova” Opera singer Vasilisa

Ulyanovsk was visited by the rising star of world opera Vasilisa Berzhanskaya. A laureate of several prestigious international competitions, a finalist of the popular television competition “Big Opera” played the role of Frasquita in the opera “Carmen” on the Ulyanovsk stage. It was this masterpiece of world classical art that opened the 53rd international music festival “World, Age, Names...” that started on March 8 in the Ulyanovsk region.

Despite the busy work schedule of her Ulyanovsk business trip, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya found time for an exclusive interview with Molodezhnaya Gazeta.

I always wanted to sing

— Vasilisa, why did you become an opera singer? Was it fate or purpose?

— I believe in fate and I think that the fact that I became an opera singer was predetermined. At the same time, I will not hide, becoming a singer is my life goal. Since childhood, I wanted and dreamed of singing, I understood that I wanted to realize myself in a creative environment. First I studied at a music school, then at a music school, and now I’m getting an education at the academy. I did and continue to do everything to become an opera singer.

— Probably, even in kindergarten, you tried to stand out at matinees with the help of a song?

- Yes, but at that age many children sing. I sang in kindergarten, and at school at various holidays, and at a music school. At the same time, at the music school my main specialty was piano. And only at school I realized that I wanted to be a professional singer. And at the age of 14 I entered the vocal department.

— Why did you choose opera singing?

“Since childhood, my mother tried to instill in me a good taste for everything. She often took me to the Philharmonic. There was no opera house in our city, but sometimes opera performers came. We went to concerts together. When she grew up, she entered the opera department at the school. Although, it seems, today’s youth are more inclined towards the stage. To be honest, I was never drawn to the stage. I am a more academic person, brought up on the classics. And when I started singing and realized that it was working out, then naturally there could be no more questions: I definitely decided to become an opera singer.

— Are your parents musical people?

— No, there were no professional musicians in the family before me.

My city is Moscow

— Your childhood was spent in the Stavropol Territory, where in the town of Mineralnye Vody you studied at a music school and college. Now you are receiving education in Moscow, at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music. At the same time, since last year you have been a soloist of the Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theater, which is based in Vladivostok. Which Russian city do you currently consider yourself to be a resident of?

— The Stavropol Territory is now simply my home, where my mother still lives. I visit Vladivostok very rarely, only when I fly to some performances, for a short staging period. It’s unrealistic for me to work on staff there now - it’s very far away and it’s impossible to combine it with studying at the Gnessin Academy. I spend more time in the Russian capital. Therefore, I already consider Moscow my hometown. I love this city very much; I dreamed of living in it since childhood. By the way, I was born in Moscow. But at my very young age, my mother moved to live in the Stavropol Territory.

— Why do you like Moscow so much?

— Moscow is a city of great opportunities. Here you can walk and listen to very good singers who constantly come to this city or work in Moscow theaters. In my native Stavropol region, unfortunately, this is not the case.

The Bolshoi Opera is an excellent school

— Vasilisa, you sing and play on stage a lot, but at the same time you constantly participate in various musical and television projects. Which one do you like best?

“These are things that are completely different in their focus, but I love them absolutely equally.” It’s difficult for me to say what I like more and what less.

— What project was the most memorable in your life?

- “Grand Opera”. Because this project became a good life school for me. It is a serious stress for any singer when he knows that he is being filmed by a camera, which will then show it to the whole country. An audience of millions will evaluate you. Moreover, on this project everything was done live, that is, there were no re-recordings. How you performed here and now is how the whole country will see you. But anything can happen in life. The singer could get sick, lose his breath after climbing the stairs... But you can’t explain to the audience why something suddenly went wrong. Filming went on from morning to night. The stress was serious. There was also such a moment: they do your hair and makeup for 3-4 hours, and after that you immediately go on stage and within 3-4 minutes you have to reveal yourself the way you do during a three-hour performance. It's much more complicated. Very little time.

— How long did filming last for this project?

- 2 months. At the same time, we not only had filming, but also worked with the director, costume designers and stylists. But I am glad that I took part in this amazing, unforgettable project. I would never have had this experience anywhere else.

Singing to “plywood” means not respecting yourself

— The Ulyanovsk audience saw you on stage in the opera “Carmen”. Why did you get the role of Frasquita?

— I think that I got the role of Frasquita because I sang this role at the Primorsky Theater last year, and this fact is in my biography, which can easily be found on the Internet. True, in my repertoire there is also the role of Micaela, but the role of Frasquita, at the moment, suits me much more in terms of temperament and voice...

— How do you feel when you sing on stage?

— I am a very emotional person. I often get into character so much that I can’t get out of it even after the performance. It turns out that after the performance I am my heroine. For example, today I played Frasquita, and after the performance I understand that I walk like her, my gestures are the same as those of this unkempt, arrogant gypsy, sometimes it becomes downright scary.

— Is it difficult to play Frasquita?

- No, morally this is not a complex character. There are no deep sensory experiences there.

— Do you sing to a soundtrack?

- Of course not! I am against the use of phonograms in my work (singing with “+”). I have never heard or encountered in my life that “plywood” is used in opera singing. This is probably why the art of opera is valued so highly, because opera singers treat their work with respect. A self-respecting opera singer will never go out to the public with a soundtrack.

— What languages ​​does your repertoire consist of?

— Most of my heroines sing in French or Italian, there is a repertoire in English and German.

— What are you like in everyday life? How do you take a break from music?

— Music is my favorite activity, from which I never have to rest. In my free time I like to be at home, read books - world classics, learn languages, listen to a lot of music - symphonic, instrumental, I like to watch good films. And in my free time, I like to have a good... sleep.

— You are 21 years old, and you are already a well-known, recognizable personality. How was this achieved?

“I can’t say that I have achieved very much already.” I think that I still need to study and study. And for this you need to work, work and work again. This is the only means to achieve the goal. You need to constantly work on yourself, develop, listen to how others sing, compare. You have to love your job. If it is a burden and not a joy, then it is unlikely that anything will work out.

Laureate of the Moscow Open Festival of Academic Solo Singing “Silver Voice” (1st prize, 2011).
Laureate of the Sergei Leiferkus International Children's Vocal Competition “We Sing Opera!” (II prize and special prize for the best performance of an opera aria, Moscow, 2012).
Laureate of the international student vocal competition “Bella voce” (1st prize, Moscow, 2012).
Laureate of the Competitive Festival “Theater Assemblies” (1st prize, Balashikha, 2013).
Laureate of the Elena Obraztsova International Chamber Music Competition (II prize and special prize for the best performance of a work by a 20th century composer, St. Petersburg, 2014).
Laureate of the II All-Russian Music Competition (II prize, Moscow, 2014).
Finalist of the “Big Opera” television competition on the “Culture” TV channel (2014).
Diploma winner of the XXV International Vocal Competition named after. M.I. Glinka (2014).
Grand Prix of the IV International Vocal Competition. Muslim Magomayeva (Moscow, 2016).

Biography

In 2011-12 was a soloist of the Federal Philharmonic in the Caucasian Mineral Waters (now the North Caucasus State Philharmonic named after V. I. Safonov).
Since 2014 - guest soloist of the State Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theater (Vladivostok).

Repertoire: Musetta (“La bohème” by G. Puccini), Thais (“Thais” by J. Massenet), Micaela and Frasquita (“Carmen” by J. Bizet), Queen of the Night (“The Magic Flute” by W. A. ​​Mozart), Princess Swan (“The Tale of Tsar Saltan” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov), as well as the soprano part in “Coronation Mass” by W. A. ​​Mozart.

In 2015-17 was an artist of the Bolshoi Theater Youth Opera Program.
Since 2016 he has been performing as a mezzo-soprano.

Repertoire

Despina (“This is what all women do” by W.A. Mozart)

In 2015-2016 she performed at the Musical Olympus festival in New York, St. Petersburg, Zurich and Singapore.
In 2016, at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro (Italy), she performed the role of Marquise Melibea in the opera “Journey to Reims”.

In 2017, she took part in a concert performance of the opera “Journey to Reims” by G. Rossini at the Bolshoi Theater, performing the role of Modestina (conductor Tugan Sokhiev).

In 2018, she performed the cantata “Joan of Arc” by G. Rossini as part of a joint project of the Bolshoi Theater Youth Opera Program and the directors’ workshops “Cantata lab. Stage experiences."

She has collaborated with such conductors as Vladimir Fedoseev, Fabio Mastrangelo, Felix Korobov, Tugan Sokhiev, Alexey Utkin, Evgeniy Bushkov, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Peter Feranets, Vasily Valitov, Sergei Kondrashev.

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Russian singer, member of a rock band "Leningrad".

Vasilisa Starshova Biography

Vasilisa Starshovaborn in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. As a child, she studied piano at a music school and studied vocals. After school, she entered the St. Petersburg College of Music named after Rimsky-Korsakov in the vocal department, but in 2011 she left for Moscow without completing her studies.

In the capital, Vasilisa became the lead singer of the group “ Flashmob" In 2013, the talented singer took part in the music competition “ New wave" and made it to the semi-finals.

Vasilisa Starshova Musical career

In 2016, after a scandalous departure from the group "Leningrad" soloists Alice Vox, famous for her performance of the song “Exhibit,” Starshova was invited to sing along with Sergei Shnurov. In October 2016, the first joint video “Sobchak Glasses” was released, in which Vasilisa played the main role. The famous TV presenter herself also starred in the video. Ksenia Sobchak, actors Konstantin Fisenko, Oleg Del and others.

In addition, the singer performs solo under the pseudonymVasilisaand has already released the first video for the song Just Say Hello . Starshova writes the lyrics in Russian and English and the music for the songs herself.

The future world star of opera vocals Vasilisa Berzhanskaya will give a solo concert “Vivat, Opera!” to the accompaniment of the Tyumen Symphony Orchestra in the large hall of the Neftyanik Palace of Culture on June 28, 2017, beginning at 19:00.

“I heard her and bear a certain responsibility for my words: she is a future rising star of Russian, European, and world art. Perhaps this is the future Elena Obraztsova, perhaps the future Galina Vishnevskaya, perhaps this is the future Anna Netrebko.

Everyone started like this: a thirst for singing, a thirst for mastery, a thirst to perform and perform and perform. I can assume that in five to seven years this Moscow red-haired beast will come to Russia only on tour,”

- this is how the chief conductor of the Tyumen Symphony Orchestra Evgeny Shestakov spoke about the vocalist of the Youth Opera Program of the Bolshoi Theater Vasilisa Berzhanskaya.

The Tyumen program included works by foreign composers of the 17th-20th centuries. The singer herself chose the program that she decided to perform for the Tyumen public - it contains more than 15 works. According to Evgeny Shestakov, such a program is simply unfeasible:

“To sing so much in one concert, the vocalist needs to have colossal skill.”

The orchestra had five rehearsals with Vasilisa Berzhanskaya.

For an encore, she chose such original compositions as Silva’s exit aria “Heya, Heya...” from the operetta “Silva” by Imre Kalman, Maria’s aria “I Feel Pretty...” from the musical “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein, as well as Pepita’s song “Yes, damn a dozen kids…” from the operetta “Free Wind” by Ivan Dunaevsky.

Evgeny Shestakov said that it was not easy to find sheet music for the concert. In the score of Romeo's aria “Askolta! Se Romeo t’uccise figlio…” from the opera “Montagues and Capulets” by Vincenzo Bellini, the conductor had to fill in the gaps.

“The notes arrived in such a state that it was impossible to understand where “do” was, where “re” was, where “mi” was. I did some archaeological work, listening to recordings, writing notes into the score,”

– Evgeny Shestakov shared.

Berzhanskaya will sing two sections of 40 minutes each with an intermission. To help the vocalist, the orchestra will perform independent works: they will play famous opera overtures by Rossini, Bizet, and Mozart. For the Tyumen Symphony Orchestra, this evening concert will be as unusual as for their fans: for the first time the ensemble will perform not in the Philharmonic Hall, but in the Neftyanik Cultural Center.

“Acoustically, it’s very pleasant for us to play in the large hall of Neftyanik. This is unusual for us. Let listeners who love classical music try for themselves what their favorite orchestra sounds like in the new hall,”

– wished Evgeny Shestakov.

The maestro recalled that vocal music concerts in Tyumen do not happen often - it is difficult to negotiate with vocalists. So Vasilisa Berzhanskaya’s concert was postponed from June 25 to the 28th: ​​the previous week, the Russian government sent the singer to a concert in Milan to show Russian art in all its glory.

“She will only be 24 years old, and she has already won everything that can be won. She is a laureate of many prestigious competitions, a finalist in the 2014 “Big Opera” program on the “Culture” TV channel. Vasilisa reached the final in it.

Her voice is simply extraordinary: she started out as a mezzo-soprano, in the traditions of Elena Obraztsova and Irina Arkhipova. Now she felt that there were good tops, and she will sing a unique program, which will include famous popular arias for mezzo-soprano, as well as serious operatic arias for soprano,”

– said Evgeny Shestakov.