Pianist from Uzbekistan to Perform in the Capital
At Astana Opera, Honored Artist of Uzbekistan Madina Faizieva will perform concerts dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the classical composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. At the Kulyash Baiseitova Chamber Hall, the guest performer from Uzbekistan will give a piano music recital on February 17, and on February 20, she will take the stage together with famous Kazakh opera singers at the vocal music evening A Date with Art Song, El.kz cites astanaopera.kz.
Madina Faizieva is one of the brightest pianists of her country. In addition to active work as a concert pianist at world’s leading venues, she is the head of the Special Piano Department at the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan. The artist’s work is marked by victories at international competitions in Italy and Germany, the Tasanno Prize for educating pianists, Excellence in Public Education medal and Musician of the Year award. For Madina Faizieva, this will be the first time performing at the Kazakh capital’s stage venue.
“Certainly, I have heard a lot about the glory of Astana Opera and its outstanding soloists. The vocal art of Kazakhstan is known throughout the world precisely thanks to Kazakh singers, who have bright, powerful voices with rich timbres,” the pianist says.
The first in the artist’s tour program will be a piano music recital, which will take place at the Kulyash Baiseitova Chamber Hall on February 17. On February 20, the opera house’s guest will perform together with Honored Workers of Kazakhstan, Astana Opera’s principal soloist Bibigul Zhanuzak and the sought-after baritone Azamat Zheltyrguzov.
“Sergei Rachmaninoff’s entire body of work is special to me. The program of the vocal music evening A Date with Art Song was, of course, proposed by two wonderful soloists Azamat Zheltyrguzov and Bibigul Zhanuzak. As for the recital of Rachmaninoff’s piano works, the selection of preludes was mainly determined by the choice of the vocal evening program. Preludes have many similarities with art songs in terms of artistic images, moods, and emotional components. The parallels here can be drawn endlessly. As for Sonata No. 1 in D minor, this is one of my favorite works by Rachmaninoff. It is a well-known fact that the sonata’s program is based on the characters and plot of Goethe’s tragedy Faust. However, of course, everyone can discover their own deep meaning. In any case, it is possible to hear all the components of human life in this sonata. These are endless reflections, doubts, struggles, oppositions of good and evil, light and darkness, lyrical moods and states, and the philosophy of existence.”
The concerts will reveal for Kazakh listeners the image of Madina Faizieva as a musician in two different capacities, two performing genres: solo and in an ensemble with vocalists.
“A solo performance for me is an opportunity for self-expression, subject to maximum adherence to the author’s will. In any case, this is an individual interpretation of the composer’s text. Performing in a creative union, in a musical dialogue with a vocalist, dictates other forms of being onstage. As is known, the development of the chamber vocal genre at the beginning of the 20th century was characterized by one distinctive feature – the growing role of the piano part, which from now on acquired equal importance with the singer’s part. It is precisely this exceptional richness, color and variety of forms that distinguishes the piano accompaniment in Rachmaninoff’s art songs. This is despite the fact that his melodically bright, prominent vocal part never gets lost in the dense thick canvas, clearly standing out against its background. Equally as often the piano has a special melodic voice intertwined with the vocal line, resulting in an expressive dialogue between the two partners. Nevertheless, whatever the degree of complexity and form of presentation, the parts of the voice and piano are almost always in close interaction, forming a single inseparable artistic whole. Of course, in our performances in the A Date with Art Song vocal evening with both Bibigul Zhanuzak and Azamat Zheltyrguzov, we would like to achieve such a harmonious interaction that will ultimately create this picture of an inseparable artistic whole,” Madina Faizieva shared.