Vdovin Dmitry Yurievich Bolshoi Theater. Dmitry Vdovin: I can’t stand lazy people! – This is a big minus for the singer

Dmitry Vdovin was born on April 17, 1962 in the city of Yekaterinburg. He graduated from the State Institute of Theater Arts in Moscow, and then studied at the graduate school of this university under the guidance of Professor Inna Solovyova as a theater critic, published in major central newspapers and magazines. Subsequently, he underwent retraining and graduated from the V.S. Popov Academy of Choral Arts as a vocalist and vocal teacher. From 1987 to 1992 - employee responsible for work in the field of musical theater of the Union of Theater Workers of the USSR.

He trained as a vocal teacher at ECOV - the European Center for Opera and Vocal Arts in Belgium under the guidance of the head of the vocal department of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Michael Elisen. In 1992, Dmitry Vdovin became the artistic director of the Moscow Center for Music and Theater, an art agency that participated in joint creative projects with major international theaters, festivals and music organizations.

Since 1996, D. Vdovin has collaborated with the great Russian singer I.K. Arkhipova as a teacher and director of her Summer School, co-host of her television and concert programs. From 1995 - teacher, from 2000 to 2005 - head of the vocal department of the Gnessin State Medical University, in 1999-2001 - teacher of the Gnessin Academy of Music, from 2001 - associate professor, head of the department of solo singing at the V.S. Popov Academy of Choral Art, since 2008 - professor at AHI.

D. Vdovin gave master classes in many cities of Russia, as well as in the USA, Mexico, Italy, Latvia, France, Poland, and Switzerland. He was a regular guest teacher for the Youth Program at the Houston Grand Opera. From 1999 to 2009 - artistic director and teacher of the Moscow International School of Vocal Mastery, which made it possible for the largest opera teachers and specialists from Russia, the USA, Italy, Germany, and the UK to come to Moscow to work with young singers

Member of the jury of many prestigious vocal competitions - International Glinka Competition, 1st and 2nd All-Russian Music Competitions, International Competition Le voci verdiane in Busseto, International Viotti and Pavarotti Vocal Competition in Vercelli, AsLiCo in Como, International Competitions in Paris and Bordeaux, Competizione dell 'opera Italiana at the Bolshoi Theatre, International Competition in Montreal, competition of the TV channel "Culture" "Big Opera", vocal competition in Izmir, International Moniuszko Competitions in Warsaw, "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" in Nuremberg, Opera de Tenerife in Spain.

Since 2009 - one of the founders and artistic director of the Youth Opera Program of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia. Since 2015 - guest teacher at the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera. Master classes at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Musical consultant for Pavel Lungin's film "The Queen of Spades". Also D.Yu. Vdovin was the deputy manager of the creative teams of the Bolshoi Theater opera troupe.

On April 17, 2017, one of the most famous opera teachers in the world, Dmitry Vdovin, celebrates his anniversary - the maestro turns 55 years old.

His students have won the most prestigious competitions, he works in the best theaters, but for more than thirty years he has remained faithful to the Bolshoi.

The head of the Bolshoi Theater Youth Opera Program, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Professor Dmitry Vdovin openly spoke about the intricacies of his work and how rapidly the world of opera is changing (and what to do about it) in an exclusive interview for Radio Orpheus.

– You recently returned from the Metropolitan Opera, where you gave master classes. What are the main differences between youth programs and singers?

– There are more similarities than differences. I came across youth programs in the United States and started working there. When we opened the Youth Program at the Bolshoi, I used this experience, and it made sense: why open a bicycle? As for the level of singers, it would be somewhat immodest if I say that the level of our singers is higher. But, of course, there are differences.

We are not as cosmopolitan and international as our colleagues in New York, London or Paris. In this sense, they, of course, have more opportunities. In order to work at the Bolshoi Theater and generally live in Moscow, you need to speak Russian, and this is not easy for foreigners. We have a lot of them, but most often they are citizens of the republics of the former USSR - we invite singers from the Russian-speaking circle.

Secondly, our colleagues in the West in large theaters sometimes have larger budgets. But it seems to me that our program, more than others, works precisely on the development of the artist. Let's call a spade a spade: in many theaters the main goal of such programs is to use young artists in small roles in the current repertoire.

– A novice singer does not have the opportunity to sing with a real orchestra or perform in an opera performance. The capital's theaters are overcrowded, where can we get this necessary experience?

– This was the point of creating the Youth Program at the Bolshoi Theater. The educational system for vocalists in Russia is very archaic. We have innovative interventions in the general educational system, but sometimes they are ill-conceived, absurd, and do not always harmonize with our traditions and mentality. This was the case with the Unified State Exam, which caused rejection in society and a huge surge of negative emotions.

Of course, changes in the vocal education system are necessary. This system is old, it developed 100-150 years ago, when the first conservatories were created. Today we must understand that the opera theater has become largely a director's theater. And when the existing system was created, the theater was purely vocal, or at best a conductor’s one. Much has changed since then. The director today is one of the main figures; for a singer, not only the voice is important, but also the acting and physical component.

Secondly, if 30 years ago in our country opera was performed in Russian, now everything is performed in the original language. In addition, the demands on musical text have increased. Nowadays it is no longer possible to sing as freely as our great singers sang even 30 years ago. And the singer must have appropriate preparation for this. There must always be pedagogical adjustment to the current time and its complex trends.

If you listen to a singer from the 70s, you need to understand that some things cannot be done today. The very structure of the opera house and the opera business have changed. It is not enough for a singer to know only Russian theater; he needs to know the trends of world theater, to know the innovations that artists, conductors, and directors bring, and they have already changed a lot in the perception of opera.

– Isn’t it enough just two opera programs for such a singing country as ours?

– Don’t forget that there is still the Galina Vishnevskaya Center for Opera Singing. Probably, many opera houses have trainee groups.

The youth program, in the form in which it exists in large theaters, is a very expensive undertaking. If this is truly a youth program, and not a kind of internship group, when people are taken on a probationary period and decide whether to deal with him further or not.

And the youth program includes teachers, coaches (pianists-tutors), languages, stage and acting training, classes and premises, and a certain social component. All this costs a lot of money. Our theaters are not rich, I think they simply cannot afford it.

But in our friendly Armenia, they recently opened a program, and as I see, things are getting better for them. As for Russian opera houses, I don’t notice much interest on their part in what we do. With the possible exception of Yekaterinburg.

– Why don’t other theaters know? Maybe they should send a newsletter?

- Everyone knows everything perfectly well. But foreign partners are interested in what we are doing at the Bolshoi Theater. Our close international cooperation began with the Washington Opera, we have constant cooperation with the La Scala Academy and other opera programs in Italy, with the help of the Italian Embassy and the generous support of Mr. David Yakuboshvili, for which we thank him very much.

We are establishing active cooperation with the Paris Opera and the Metropolitan. In addition, we cooperate with the Queen Sonja competitions in Oslo and the Paris competition, which very actively promote their artists. This happens not only because we knock on their doors, it is a mutual partnership interest.

– A young singer in Russia is often required to provide extraordinary proof that he has a voice. You have to sing with such a loud sound that the walls shake. Are you experiencing this or not?

– I encounter these costs of taste every day. There are several reasons for this. The tradition has developed in such a way that our audience demands loud singing. The public loves it when it’s loud, when there are a lot of high notes, then the singer begins to applaud. It so happens that our orchestras also play quite loudly. It's a kind of performance mentality.

I remember very well when I first came to the Metropolitan, it was Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” for a minute, I was amazed - the orchestra under the direction of James Levine played very quietly! This is Wagner! My ears are accustomed to a completely different sound, to richer dynamics. This got me thinking: all the singers were perfectly audible in any tessitura, no problems with sound balance, none of the singers forced anything. That is, the problem is not only in the singers who sing loudly, but in the fact that the system, taste, and mentality of all participants in the performance, including the audience, have developed this way.

In addition, there are serious acoustic problems in most of our halls. Many theaters have very dry acoustics that do not support singers. Another important factor: Russian opera composers thought very big, mainly writing for the two large imperial theaters with powerful orchestras and choirs, mature and powerful voices of soloists.

For example, in the West, Tatiana’s part from Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” is considered to be extremely strong. Some of my colleagues believe that this is a stronger party than Lisa’s in “The Queen of Spades.” There are some reasons for this - the density of the orchestra, the tense tessitura and the expressiveness of the vocal part (especially in the Writing Scene and the final duet). And at the same time, “Onegin” is not the most powerful and epic-sounding Russian opera when compared with other operas by Tchaikovsky, as well as the works of Mussorsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin.

Everything comes together here: historical conditions, national traditions and singing, conducting, and listening mentalities. When the USSR opened up and we began to receive information from the West, where many things were different, our tradition was a somewhat “large-grained” performance without dynamic differences and special delicacy in approach. Abuse of such singing has caused the collapse of the careers of many prominent artists.

It must be said that we are not entirely alone here - in the USA they also sing large, since their huge halls need to be covered there. American teachers repeat like a spell: “Don’t push!” (don't force it!), but singers often push-push. But still, it does not exist there to the same extent as it once was and sometimes continues to be with us.

– How to work on the flightiness of sound?

– The most important thing is to replace strength with skill. This is the meaning of the bel canto school, which gives the projection of sound into the hall without visible effort and with different sound dynamics (including on piano and pianissimo). This is individual for everyone, and national schools still differ. If you put a typical representative of the American school, French, Italian and Russian, you will hear a big difference in technology, even now, when everything is quite blurred and globalized.

The differences are due to language. Language is not only speech, language is the structure of the apparatus, articulatory and phonetic features. But the ideal of singing sound, that is, the result of school, is similar in many countries. If we talk about soprano, many not only Russian singers, but also foreign ones, want to sing like Anna Netrebko. How many tenors are there who imitate Kaufman and Flores?

– This is a big minus for the singer.

– It’s always been like this. Why minus? If a singer has no one to learn from, but he chooses the right vocal guideline for himself, then this may well help. But what to do if you have one type of voice, but the reference point is the opposite? This happens often, and it is fraught with disaster. For example, a bass, who is suited to a lower, profundo repertoire, imitates a bass cantante and sings a high repertoire, but this does nothing but harm him and vice versa. There are countless examples here.

– Our vocal school is based on low bass. What is high bass? Unfortunately, this type of voice is classified as baritone...

– In general, people here don’t know about the existence of certain types of voices that actually exist. Without taking into account these vocal categories, which can be called vocal role or voice type or, as is customary in the opera community, “fach,” it is impossible to teach. Until recently, many did not know what a lyric mezzo-soprano was. All mezzos had to sing Lyubasha in deep, dark voices. If they could not voice the dramatic repertoire, they were simply transferred to soprano. This did not lead to anything good.

The lyric mezzo-soprano is not a borderline voice, it is an independent type of voice with an extensive and strictly defined repertoire. There are dramatic and lyric tenors, and mezzo-soprano also has classifications (dramatic, lyric). Moreover, the lyrical mezzos themselves can be different due to stylistic and technical features. The lyrical mezzo can be Handelian, Rossini, Mozartian, or maybe with a greater bias towards French lyric opera, which also has many roles for this voice.

The same goes for bass-baritone. We had wonderful bass-baritones in Russia: Baturin, Andrei Ivanov, Savransky, now Ildar Abdrazakov, Evgeny Nikitin, Nikolai Kazansky. If you open the Met's artist list, one of the biggest sections of their singer list is bass-baritones. This is very important, because the bass-baritone is ideal for many roles in the operas of Handel and Mozart, and in Russian opera there are roles for bass-baritones - Demon, Prince Igor, Galitsky, within this vocal role there can be Ruslan, and Shaklovity, and Tomsky, and even Boris Godunov.

If the singer starts to be pulled higher or lower, problems begin. If the singer is a bass-baritone, this does not mean at all that the singer has a short voice (that is, without extreme upper or lower notes); on the contrary, he most often has a very wide range. But this type of voice has a different color and a different basic repertoire than baritones or basses. Opera specialists - conductors, pianists-tutors, casting directors, critics and, of course, above all, teachers must know all these subtleties, distinguish and hear them in the voices of singers.

Our field (opera singing) requires, as befits any academic genre, enormous knowledge, understanding of tradition, dissatisfaction, constant growth, continuous work on oneself and the study of constantly changing trends in performance.

If you have lost interest in self-improvement, withdrawn into your personal little world, or even worse, suddenly decided that you have achieved perfection and are completely satisfied with yourself, then this means that you have finished as a person of art and you immediately need to quit this business. Each of us who teaches must constantly learn ourselves. The opera world is rapidly moving in a certain direction, one can argue for the better or not, but it is changing. And if you don’t want to know about these changes, don’t want to see them, understand them and comply with them, then goodbye, you are an outdated character, and your students are not ready for the realities of the modern scene.

Young people demand this knowledge, sometimes they are much better informed thanks to the Internet and its capabilities. Any student can open master classes, for example, by Joyce DiDonato or Juan Diego Flores, watch and compare what is required of him at the conservatory or school and what these very smart and, most importantly, very modern-minded artists require. This does not mean that what we demand is bad, and that there is good demand there, but sometimes the differences are significant. You need to be aware of these details.

In general, comparison is a great thing; it is in comparison that a professional is born. When a singer begins to compare voices, their characteristics, the individuality of artists and their interpretations, as well as the interpretations of different conductors, directors, teachers, artists, musicians, etc., then they form their own thinking, method, and what is most important in art - artistic taste .

– Now they say that a diploma is unimportant. It's important how you sing. This is true?

– This is not entirely true now. When I sit on the jury at competitions and auditions, and read the resumes of singers, I rarely see people who have only studied privately. Previously, many, especially Italian singers, did not study at conservatories, took lessons from private teachers and immediately began their careers. Now that the requirements for singers are so broad and are not limited only to the voice, there are fewer of them. As well as wonderful private teachers in Italy, as well as everywhere else.

– Do competitions decide anything now? What competitions should a young singer go to?

– When you go to a competition, you must understand what you want from it. There are several possible reasons for this. The reason - success, the desire to win, is implied in all cases, this is part of the artist’s life, which is daily competition. There are so-called “competition” singers who have special passion, and among my students there are also such. They love competitive tests as such, they revel in the atmosphere of competition, this adrenaline, they simply blossom there, while many of their colleagues are traumatized by it.

Reason One. Try your hand. Understand the initial degree of your capabilities, which is called “look at people and show yourself.” Competitions of not the highest level are suitable here - local, low-budget ones. It’s a good idea for very young singers to start with them in order to train and build muscles (not only vocal, but also nervous and fighting muscles).

If you are a young singer and just want to try your hand, you don’t need to go to the largest competitions like the Francisco Viñas competition in Barcelona, ​​Placido Domingo’s Operalia, New Voices in Germany, the BBC in Cardiff, the Queen Sonja competition in Oslo or Queen Elizabeth in Brussels.

Reason two. To find a job. This could be a competition where the jury consists of theater directors, agents and other employers, or a competition that is loved by agents. The jury of such competitions as “Belvedere” (Hans Gabor competition), or “Competizione dell’opera italiana” (Hans-Joachim Frey) consists largely of agents and casting administrators. Although the above ones also differ in this.

These competitions are for those who need agents, need work, and these are the majority of singers. This is a different type of competition. If you are a beginner artist, you have no competitive experience, you don’t need to go to these large competitions, where more experienced singers go, with practice of singing with an orchestra, who, in addition to everything, have well-trained nerves.

Reason three. Money. Well, there’s no need for special philosophizing here, these are any competitions with a high bonus fund. Many good South Korean singers, who do not have much work in their homeland, move from competition to competition, win and win awards all the time, and thus make a good living.

Our Tchaikovsky competition is a competition for several specialties, not only vocal. It so happened, unfortunately, that the vocalists on it were never in the spotlight. Perhaps only the IV competition, where Obraztsova, Nesterenko, Sinyavskaya won, and Callas and Gobbi came to serve on the jury, brought special attention to the vocal section.

I don’t know what the reason is, for me it’s very strange and incomprehensible. At the Tchaikovsky Competition, we vocalists are some kind of outsiders, perhaps this is due to the fact that singing in Russian still creates a certain barrier to the arrival of foreign participants. This competition has always been difficult for our foreign colleagues. Partly due to our closed nature, perhaps due to the fact that not enough agents and theater directors came to provide work. The visa regime also creates problems, and considerable ones.

As before, the Tchaikovsky vocal competition, if we talk about its international representativeness, is of a local nature. Previously, it also depended on how the jury worked. At the invitation of Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova, I was the executive secretary of the jury in 1998, and this made a rather difficult impression on me. I hope that has changed now. But, at the same time, there were also victories at the Tchaikovsky competition, which gave a great impetus to my career.

Using the example of Albina Shagimuratova, who won in 2007, I saw how the eyes of people important in the opera world immediately turned to her. For her, this was a great springboard in her professional life. But for many winners it didn't have the same effect.

It is very difficult for a singer to evaluate himself correctly. This is very difficult and, to tell the truth, rarely succeeds. Moreover, along with inflated self-esteem, there is a danger of self-abasement. Often our self-esteem is belittled and crushed by those around us. This is our Russian pedagogical mentality, both in the family and at school in the broad sense of the word. And I had such cases in my work.

I love my students and appreciate them, but sometimes it seems to me that this singer is too early for the competition, that he is not ready yet. And the singer himself decides to go, and when I come to the competition and see him, I myself am surprised at how he is put together and how he sounds. It is also important for teachers to look at what you are doing from the outside. There are other situations when I think a singer is great and he doesn't win. Then I see for myself that it was fair. Everything in our profession is unsteady, changeable, sometimes subjective...

– On your Facebook page you posted information about the NYIOP auditions, which are organized by David Blackburn. Why did you do this?

– People who graduate from an educational institution need work. Any kind of audition is a way to get a job. Since I have quite a lot of subscribers, I think not only about my students, but also about those who live in the provinces and do not have enough contacts and simply information. I believe that I should help them and write about everything that may be of interest to them.

I recently posted information about the Tenerife Opera Youth Program. This theater was built by the great Spanish architect Calatrava and has 2,000 seats. The theater has wonderful management; this program is led by my colleague, Italian pianist Giulio Zappa, who works with us in Moscow. The program is short, only a couple of months, but during this time they manage to produce the production. This is also a chance for many.

– I’ll tell you a secret - in the near future, together with Russian and Asian partners, I plan to create a large international project “Russian-Asian House of Culture”. What do you think about it?

– Any effort at cultural exchange is worth a lot. This is an important matter. Asia is not only a growing economic market, but also a huge growing cultural springboard. Including opera. For them, Russia can be an important connecting corridor between the West and the East.

I believe that we should also invite these singers more; sometimes we lack their large and well-trained voices. And in Asia, more and more new concert halls and opera houses are constantly opening. We at the Youth Program would also like to cooperate with China, which has built beautiful theaters and concert halls. There are many great Asian singers, they are great smart people and hard workers. I heard good singers from China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Taiwan at competitions. South Korean singers are some of the best in the world. Why don't we invite them, collaborate, perform together?

– What else attracts you in life besides opera?

– I still love to travel, although not as passionately as 20-30 years ago. And I really value human communication. Due to work, unfortunately, I miss this. I would like to spend more time with family and friends. When I started working at the Bolshoi, I began to lose these connections. The theater is also a whirlpool. Now I've come to my senses. I've been going through some tough changes in my life, and I've realized with particular poignancy how important family and friends are.

Music is also a great happiness, music can be a consolation for people who lose loved ones, who have problems, who are not young. And music never betrays. I guess that I have a difficult character, but it gives me great joy to help young people, to support them at the most difficult stage of their creative life. And you don’t have to wait for an adequate answer, gratitude or even fidelity. If it’s there, that’s great; if it’s not, there’s no need to dwell on it.

Another misconception of youth is to see career and success as the absolute meaning of life. It seems to me that sooner or later this idea turns into great disappointment. Looking at people who love only their fame makes me feel uneasy. It is clear that in the first half of life it is important to achieve a certain height, because then other, greater opportunities open up for you. But we must understand that a good professional reputation is only a tool. And reputation or, more precisely, success should not be the main goal, otherwise you end up alone.

I also realized over time that you need to be able to let people go. Do not say goodbye to them, but let them go. Sometimes it can be easy to say, but hard to accept. But somehow I learned. I have quite a lot of students, so it became difficult for me to hold on to all these numerous threads (laughs).

I love the vast majority of my students very much, I watch how they move on in life, and if they need something, I am always glad to see them back, happy to help them. Although sometimes it annoys me when our work is forgotten, people start singing something that doesn’t suit their voice, start doing other stupid things, get lazy, stop growing, or even simply degrade. But this is human nature, too, and the laws of Darwinism associated with it. This is natural selection.

Previously, if something happened, I took full responsibility for any problems of my current and former students. Of course, sometimes it’s our fault, the teachers. But there are other reasons - poor health for our profession, wrong decisions, greed, stupidity, overestimation of ourselves. Therefore, life has forced me to come to terms with the fact that we, teachers, are not omnipotent. Now I'm enjoying the process. I don’t think that this student should necessarily win all the world competitions and sing at the Metropolitan. What I had before...

- What was it? Vanity or perfectionism?

– People who go into art are ambitious. They want to be first, and it cannot be any other way. Over time, a career becomes a tool with which you can find the right partners, work with the best artists, conductors, directors on the best stages. I am happy that I belong to the Bolshoi Theater, which I have loved since I was 14 years old, when the whole country celebrated its 200th anniversary and I first entered this amazing hall.

At the age of 17 I came to the Bolshoi as a student trainee; for me this is a special theater. And I am happy that we now have such an atmosphere in the theater and there is mutual respect and support. I am surrounded by talented artists and I am very interested in the people who make decisions here. Very often, when I leave for other (and not bad!) countries and places, I think: I wish I could return as soon as possible. It's happiness that I want to return home. I get on the plane, and I’m excited - tomorrow I’ll see this one, we’ll do this aria with this one, I’ll give this one new material...

– What else do you want to learn in life? What are you missing?

– I am missing a few more important foreign languages. I know some of their basics, but I did not complete the study in time. Now there is no time for this - I spend 10-12 hours in the theater. If only I knew these languages ​​perfectly! But remember, like Raikin - let everything be there, but something is missing! (laughs).

My students won prestigious competitions, I worked in the world's best theaters, and sat on the jury of large competitions. What else could a teacher dream of? Now I can work more with the guys and think less about myself. I can just sit and work. The most amazing thing is that I have lived to the point where I don’t think: “Ah! Will they call me? They didn’t call me... And now they finally called me!” No, of course, I am both flattered and pleased when I am called somewhere, but this joy is of a good working nature, no more and no less.

I am very fortunate to have had wonderful teachers and mentors in my life. I miss them terribly. Some, thank God, are in good health. I remember asking Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova, what is the most exciting thing about the singing profession for you? She said that she gets the most satisfaction from overcoming difficult things. When she was given a new role or difficult material to learn and perform, she experienced enormous creative euphoria from overcoming these difficulties.

Now I understand her. Recently there was a case: I have one talented student, but for quite a long time he had a problem with the top notes. I understand that he has these notes in his range, but he was afraid to hit them. It didn’t stick for a long time somehow. And then I just got angry with myself and with him and just jumped into this problem. Well, we have to solve it, in the end! This singer, in my opinion, was even afraid of my pressure. And suddenly these notes started coming! It was as if they had inserted something new into its upper register.

I experienced happiness, probably much greater than he did. I was flying like on wings from the feeling that just yesterday the singer was singing one by one, and today I came to class and heard that he had a breakthrough, that we did it! Of course, it’s nice when your student wins a competition or makes his debut in a good theater, but what’s even more important is this very process of work, the process of overcoming.

Born in 1962 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).
He graduated from the State Institute of Theater Arts (GITIS-RATI) in Moscow, then studied in graduate school with Professor Inna Solovyova, specializing in theater criticism. Published in major national newspapers and magazines.
Subsequently, he underwent retraining, graduating from the Academy of Choral Art named after. V.S.Popova.

From 1987 to 1992 - employee responsible for work in the field of musical theater of the Union of Theater Workers of the USSR.

In 1992-93 Trained as a vocal teacher at the European Center for Opera and Vocal Arts (ECOV) in Belgium under the guidance of Michael Elisen, head of the vocal department of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

In 1992, Dmitry Vdovin became the artistic director of the Moscow Center for Music and Theater, an art agency that collaborated with major theaters, festivals and music organizations.

Since 1996, Dmitry Vdovin has collaborated with the great Russian singer Irina Arkhipova as a teacher and director of her Summer School, co-host of her television and concert projects.

Since 1995 - teacher, in 2000-05. - Head of the vocal department of the State Music College named after. Gnesins, in 1999-2001. - teacher at the Russian Academy of Music. Gnesins.
In 2001-03 - Head of the Department of Solo Singing at the Academy of Choral Art named after. V.S. Popova (since 2001 - associate professor, since 2008 - professor at AHI).

Dmitry Vdovin gave master classes in many cities of Russia, as well as in the USA, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Latvia, France, and Poland. He was a permanent guest teacher at the Houston Grand Opera Youth Program (HGO Studio).

In 1999-2009 - artistic director and teacher of the Moscow International School of Vocal Mastery, which made it possible for the largest opera teachers and specialists from Russia, the USA, Italy, Germany, and Great Britain to come to Moscow to work with young singers. The brightest young Russian opera stars of the first decade of the new century passed through this School.

Member of the jury of many prestigious vocal competitions - the International Competition named after. M. Glinka, I All-Russian Music Competition, International Vocal Competition named after. G.B. Viotti (Italy), International Competitions in Paris and Bordeaux (France), International Competition Competizione dell’opera, International Competition in Montreal (Canada), Competition of the TV channel “Culture” “Grand Opera” and many others.

Since 2009 - artistic director of the Youth Opera Program of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia.

Among his students are winners of the most prestigious competitions, leading soloists of the largest theaters in the world, such as the Bolshoi Theater, La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Paris National Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid and many others .

Dmitry Yurievich Vdovin(b.) - Russian opera figure and vocal teacher, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, professor at the Academy of Choral Arts.

Artistic director of the Youth Opera Program of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia.

Biography

Born on April 17, 1962 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). He graduated from the State Institute of Theater Arts (now RATI) in Moscow, and then studied at the graduate school of this university under the guidance of Professor Inna Solovyova as a theater (opera) critic, published in major central newspapers and magazines. Subsequently, he underwent retraining and graduated from the Academy of Choral Arts. V. S. Popova as a vocalist and vocal teacher. From 1987 to 1992 - employee responsible for work in the field of musical theater of the Union of Theater Workers of the USSR. He trained as a vocal teacher at ECOV - the European Center for Opera and Vocal Arts in Belgium under the guidance of the head of the vocal department of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Michael Elisen (1992-1993). In 1992, Dmitry Vdovin became the artistic director of the Moscow Center for Music and Theater, an art agency that participated in joint creative projects with major international theaters, festivals and music organizations. Since 1996, D. Vdovin has collaborated with the great Russian singer I.K. Arkhipova as a teacher and director of her Summer School, co-host of her television and concert programs. From 1995 - teacher, from 2000 to 2005. - Head of the vocal department of State Medical University named after. Gnesins, in 1999-2001 - teacher at the Russian Academy of Music. Gnesins, since 2001 - associate professor, head (until 2003) of the department of solo singing at the Academy of Choral Art named after. V. S. Popova, since 2008 - professor at AHI. D. Vdovin gave master classes in many cities of Russia, as well as in the USA, Mexico, Italy, Latvia, France, Poland, Monaco, and Switzerland. He was a regular guest teacher at the Houston Grand Opera's Youth Program (HGO Studio). From 1999 to 2009 - artistic director and teacher of the Moscow International School of Vocal Mastery, which made it possible for the largest opera teachers and specialists from Russia, the USA, Italy, Germany, and the UK to come to Moscow to work with young singers

Member of the jury of many prestigious vocal competitions - the International Competition named after. Glinka, 1st and 2nd All-Russian Music Competitions, International Competition Le voci verdiane (Verdi Voices) in Busseto, International Vocal Competition named after. Viotti and Pavarotti in Vercelli, AsLiCo in Como (Italy), International competitions in Paris and Bordeaux (France), Competizione dell'opera Italiana in Moscow and Linz, International competition in Montreal (Canada), competition of the TV channel "Culture" "Grand Opera" ", Elena Obraztsova competition in St. Petersburg, vocal competition in Izmir (Turkey), International competitions named after. Moniuszko in Warsaw, "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" in Nuremberg, Opera de Tenerife in Spain.

Since 2009 - one of the founders and artistic director of the Youth Opera Program of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia. Since 2015 - guest teacher at the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera. Master classes at the Metropolitan Opera, New York (Lindemann Young Artist Development Program).

Musical consultant for Pavel Lungin's film "The Queen of Spades" (2016).

Also D. Yu. Vdovin was the deputy manager of the creative teams of the Bolshoi Theater opera troupe (2013 -2014)

The famous vocal teacher, head of the Bolshoi Theater Youth Program Dmitry Vdovin conducted an interactive master class at the Yuri Bashmet Winter International Music Festival in Sochi.

When I came here, I wasn’t sure that anyone would be interested in a vocal teacher’s master class during the Olympics,” Vdovin admitted straight away. - But you got together, and that means there is interest in music even at the Olympics. We work with the voice, and this is not an instrument that can be cleaned with a cloth and put in a corner. This is the whole difficulty of our work.

A special feature of master classes at Yuri Bashmet festivals is geography. Thanks to cooperation with the Rostelecom company, a teacher who comes to the festival conducts a master class in many cities at once. Video sets have been installed in the halls of music schools; sound and picture are supplied to the organ hall of the Sochi Philharmonic without any delay. This time the master class was visited and, most importantly, Rostov, Yekaterinburg, Samara and Novosibirsk took part in it.

But we started with Sochi. The first to dare to go on stage was David Chikradze, a 2nd year student at the Sochi College of Arts; he sang an aria from Handel - the second romance of the Demon - to the famous teacher.

You have a beautiful baritone, but for public performance you chose a piece where you had to go beyond your range. But first, an important note. When coming to a master class, you must have three sets of notes - one for the accompanist, one for the teacher, and the third for yourself. Why for yourself? Because you are worried, and you will probably forget a lot of what was said, so you need to make notes on your copy.

Dmitry Vdovin reprimanded young artists especially strictly for unclear or incorrect pronunciation - both Russian and Italian.

Pronunciation is very important. Often you have to sing in Italian, in addition, several hundred million people speak this language. Correct pronunciation will give you the key to performance, listen to the beauty of the Italians' pronunciation of phrases!

Another quality that Vdovin did not ignore is the organic nature of the singer.

Singing should be spontaneous and natural. As Oscar Wilde said, the hardest thing is to be natural. Likewise, for singing, the main thing is to remain natural. Now in opera, the role of the theater director has become more important, opera artists need to work a lot on their characters, and naturalness is the most important assistant for the role. Sing with a great feeling of pleasure - enjoy the flying beautiful sound.

And the master reminded the baritone David:

Handel does not have any parts for baritones; baritones themselves appeared only in the 19th century. We will leave this aria to tenors and counter-tenors, and you will look for something more suitable for your voice.

The next audition was a 12-year-old boy from Samara, Valery Makarov, who demonstrated a beautiful treble beyond his years.

You have a beautiful voice and musicality, and this is important. Individual specialists work with children; I do not do this, but I will say a few thoughts. This is a tender song! Not the one where you need to show the strength of your voice, pressure. As soon as you switched to soft colors, it immediately became clear what you were singing about. What is the song about? The hero of the song has an old mother, and he sings to her that he will definitely return to her and hug her. You probably have a young mother?

Yes! - Valera answered without hesitation.

And the hero of this song is already old. And as for pronunciation. There are words in Italian that are pronounced "mamma" and "mama" - they have different meanings - "mama" and "I love you", respectively. In this song - "mamma". Try to sing more soulfully. You have a beautiful timbre - and timbre is the most beautiful thing in a voice.

Another representative from Samara sang with excessive pressure. Vdovin began to explain about frugality in visual media.

Before the melody rises, the voice is covered. Covering up is not to push the voice back and down, but to make it brighter! You need to sing more musically. When a young man comes out, naturally, everyone expects a voice, but even more, they expect talent. There are many voices. But it happens that the voice is small, but everyone says - how he sings! Pay attention to the presentation of the material itself.

Novosibirsk was represented by 18-year-old Irina Kolchuganova, tenderly and timidly singing Gilda's aria from Verdi's Rigoletto. Vdovin noticed how she called the work.

When you announce which aria you will sing, always add the first words of the aria to the title - and all listeners from different countries will understand what exactly you are going to sing.

You sing tenderly. The problem with our singers, whom I listen to at auditions at the Bolshoi Theater and at competitions, is that they do not appreciate tenderness. The performers immediately want aggression, a powerful presentation, and try to sing those parts that were written for singers of a stronger apparatus. And tenderness - it touches the listeners’ hearts. Keep this tenderness and fragility in yourself - make it your advantage.

Vdovin gave another valuable advice about the ability to present material.

Another name for this aria is “Story”. You need to see the person to whom you are telling this story, and it is to him to tell the aria. Gilda tells how she sneaked behind her lover - well, you can’t sing forte here! Everyone knows how it happens during first love - sneaking around on the sly, this is a special emotion - and it must be shown to the listener.

Rostov was next in the video broadcast. 21-year-old baritone Vadim Popechuk sang Leoncavallo extremely emotionally. The first thing Vdovin noticed was the thunderous applause in the hall of the Rostov music school.

An artist is such a difficult profession that he needs to be supported and - clap! Often many specialists sit in the hall of the Bolshoi Theater during auditions, but the artist sang and no one clapped. Below their dignity. And you have to clap!

The master said about Vadim’s performance:

21 years old is still young for a baritone. The aria is written for a full voice, a mature baritone. Leoncavallo already has a lot of emotions, and you don’t need to lean on emotions, stay legato, otherwise it’s not Italian, but gypsy intonation that appears.

Next, Dmitry Vdovin formulated another important postulate:

Our profession is related to mathematics, oddly enough. You have to calculate every pause, every note, the duration of every fermata. For what? It is important for the audience to be infected by your emotions in the proposed circumstances - we are in the theater. The vocalist must know in advance exactly the duration of each note, know when he will inhale - calculate everything down to the millisecond.

And then the real attraction began. In the hall, Vdovin noticed baritone Andrei Zhilikhovsky, who participates in the Youth Program of the Bolshoi Theater, which he supervises, and came to Sochi to sing in Yuri Bashmet’s production of Eugene Onegin. And Andrei Zhilikhovsky invited him to the stage, inviting him to sing a duet with Vadim, verses in turn. Noticing Zhilikhovsky’s perplexed look, he explained that the accompaniment would be from Rostov. And it worked! The connection turned out to be stable, without the slightest delay (which we often see in live broadcasts of TV channels) - two baritones sang in turn, merging in unison on the code.

I don’t really like master classes, because there’s little that can really be fixed. But let me give some thoughts... Now the situation is amazing, we are sitting on the shores of the Black Sea, Andrey is from Moldova, Vadim and the accompaniment are in Rostov. We have our own Olympic Games!

Another inclusion from Yekaterinburg. 15-year-old tenor Alexander sang Tchaikovsky's romance “Among the Noisy Ball.”

The material chosen is a little inaccurate - there are a lot of good songs, but this romance is for many older people, with a lot of life experience. But you sang so touchingly that it is very valuable, and you need to preserve this thread for the rest of your life. Sing all the phrases in Russian. Not “svirelli”, but “flutes”. Not “thin,” that’s an outdated pronunciation, but “thin.” Sing all the phrases as they should sound according to the rules of the Russian language - and it will turn out much more understandable and powerful. You can’t sing the vowel “U” - it goes into “O”, and the perception of the text suffers from this, which is especially important for a romance.

Finally, Dmitry Vdovin gave advice to all young performers.

I always advise young artists to sing everywhere and to everyone you can. Show up everywhere, take part in competitions. The country is big, and it’s very difficult to get through. Anyone can apply for admission to the Bolshoi Theater Youth Program. An announcement about recruitment to the Youth Program will soon appear on the Bolshoi Theater website, submit an electronic application - and we will listen to you. Remember that there will always be a person somewhere at the festival who will listen to you, advise you, invite you somewhere, help you - this is how our professional life works.

The master class ended with Tchaikovsky’s romance “To the Yellow Fields” based on the verses of Alexei Tolstoy, performed by baritone Andrei Zhilikhovsky.

Vadim Ponomarev
Photo - Alexey Molchanovsky