About the PerformersProgramme IntroductionTicketingTrailer
Crossover between Russian folk music and contemporary tunes, where Stravinsky meets the Beatles
Izumrud lights up its music with innovative fireworks!
Russian music group “Izumrud” (emerald) was founded in the city of Yekaterinburg, which is located in Ural Mountains area. That is one of very few places on the planet, where emeralds are mined. There are many legends and fairy tales about emerald in Ural area, even the city Izumrud is over there. The musicians chose that name to reflect their versatility and the spark as that mineral has.
Balalaika / Artistic Leader: Michail Sidorov
Domra: Svetlana Solovey, Nadezhda Zhikhareva
Bayan (accordion): Rinat Yakupov
Counter-bass / Balalaika: Konstantin Prokoshin
Percussion / Arrangement: Evgeni Khanychin
Information provided by the artists
The performance will run for about 1 hour and 45 minutes including a 15 minute intermission.
Audience is strongly advised to arrive punctually. Latecomers will only be admitted during the intermission or at a suitable break.
The presenter reserves the right to change the programme and substitute artists.
The soundscape of modern Russian folk Chuen-Fung Wong
Russia brings to the world of traditional music a huge diversity of indigenous styles and genres found across its vast land, which stretches from the Baltic to the Asian far east and from the Arctic to the Black Sea. Yet the Russian folk soundscape that has enjoyed the greatest surge of popularity among its international audience in the post-Soviet era is one that bears an unmistakably inventive and populist outlook: virtuosic, professional performers, often dressed in stylized stage costumes, strumming the strings and running their fingers at blistering, frenetic tempo on instruments created or revived in the early modern era, playing mesmerising melodies inspired or adapted from classical, folk, jazz, alongside other local and global genres. The soundscape of modern Russian folk reveals a kind of authenticity that entails not so much the faithful reproduction of the originals; rather, it seeks to rediscover the national past through musical means that are distinctively innovative and original. It represents a unique amalgamation of influences from the premodern past, imperial and Soviet legacies, as well as contemporary global tastes and local expectations.
The modern folk combo is typically comprised of a trio of musical instruments that have come to be recognised as quintessentially Russian. The foremost national symbol is the balalaika, a triangular, three-stringed plucked lute, strummed with rapid strokes to accompany singing and dancing in its folk context. Chromatically fretted, the modern balalaika comes in various sizes with standardised tunings; the pair of lower strings are tuned identically while the highest is tuned a fourth above. An oversized balalaika is often added to outline the bass. The balalaika’s modern re-creation is commonly credited to the St. Petersburg reformist musician Vasily Vasilyevich Andreyev (1861–1918)—sometimes dubbed the “father of the balalaika”—who, in the late nineteenth century, set out to professionalise Russian folk music by creating a national instrument that is capable of playing both folk and classical art repertoires in virtuosic solo and orchestral settings. Founder of the first professional orchestra of traditional instruments in the late nineteenth century, Andreyev is remembered today also for his effort in reviving the domra, an ancient plucked lute that was widely recorded in historical court chronicles as an instrument of the itinerant minstrels known as skomorokhi, who sang and played music at weddings, festivals, and other occasions. The modern domra, which has a long, fretted neck and three strings stretched over a round resonating body, was likewise an early modern creation in response to the folk revival movement to reinvent an iconic national instrument for staged professional concerts. These two plucked strings are complemented in the combo by a fully chromatic button accordion called the bayan, which is named after the eleventh-century bard Boyan as told in medieval Russian epics. The bayan replaced earlier diatonic accordions (called the “garmon”) in the early twentieth century to become a versatile instrument for the transmission of a wide range of local styles and practices across the nation.
Izumrud is a leading ensemble on Russia’s modern folk scene today. Based in the Sverdlovsk State Academic Comedy Theatre, Yekaterinburg, the ensemble is progressively committed to redefining the Russian folk soundscape through its fresh reinterpretation of a kaleidoscope of styles, genres, and melodies in their concerts—ranging from J. S. Bach and Handel to Stravinsky and Saint-Saens, and from Elvis Presley and the Beatles to original compositions and beyond. Izumrud has been featured in major performing occasions and venues across Europe and beyond, including a performance at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Through their awe-inspiring artistry and breathtaking performances, members of the ensemble aspire to transcend the boundaries between folk and classical, and between Russia and the world.
Tickets available from5 Octoberat URBTIX outlets, on Internet, mobile app and credit card telephone booking.
Half-price tickets available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and the minder, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (limited tickets for CSSA recipients available on a first come, first served basis).
“Music Delight" Series Package Discount #
For each purchase of standard tickets for 'Izumrud (Russia)', 'Ensemble SU (Korea)', 'Xu Ke & Tokyo String Quintet'and 'Take a Bow: A Cappella', the following concession applies:
10% off for any 2 programmes, 15% off for any 3 programmes, 20% off for any 4 programmes.
“Music Delight" Series Group Booking Discount #
For each purchase of standard tickets for 'Izumrud (Russia)', 'Ensemble SU (Korea)', 'Xu Ke & Tokyo String Quintet'and 'Take a Bow: A Cappella', the following concession applies:
10% off for each purchase of 4-9 standard tickets; 15% off for 10-19 standard tickets; 20% off for 20or more standard tickets.
Patrons can enjoy only one of the above discount offers.
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