{"id":431,"date":"2013-07-21T17:13:46","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T21:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aaronlc.com\/blog\/?p=431"},"modified":"2013-07-28T19:21:24","modified_gmt":"2013-07-28T23:21:24","slug":"st-petersburg-russia-with-the-educational-bridge-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/st-petersburg-russia-with-the-educational-bridge-project\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg, Russia with the Educational Bridge Project"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Church of our Savior on the spilled blood<\/p><\/div>\n

From May 21-26, I had the great honor of collaborating with local musicians and\u00a0performing on three concerts in St. Petersburg, Russia, through the cultural exchange program: Educational Bridge Project<\/a>. \u00a0Founded in 1990\u00a0by Boston University faculty Ludmilla Leibman,\u00a0former St. Petersburg Conservatory faculty. \u00a0Ms. Leibman has facilitated the cultural exchange of American and Russian artists, musicians and scholars to Russia (Moscow and St. Petersburg) and to Boston, Massachusetts. \u00a0(click on the pictures to make them bigger)<\/em><\/p>\n

What an amazing experience!<\/p>\n

May 20: \u00a0<\/b>After two days of very intense concerts with the Oratorio Chorale<\/a> in Maine, performing Castelnuovo-Tedesco and premiering a new work by Vineet Shende, I’m on the plane! \u00a0\"IMG_2522\"<\/a>
\nBritish Airways gets two thumbs up for treating me well.\u00a0 Upon seeing my guitar case they let me board early, gave me more than ample space for my guitar and had a great collection of music and videos for the trip.\u00a0\u00a0 That said their English breakfast was most disgusting.\u00a0 Bad English food:\u00a0 surprise!<\/p>\n

May 21:<\/b> After a brief layover at Heathrow Airport in London with an overpriced but necessary cup of coffee and croissant, I’m back on the plane to St. Petersburg.\u00a0 With 16hrs of travel behind me, I land and my guitar is intact.\u00a0 Success!
\nI quickly realize that this will be like no other trip I have taken, for Russian or Cyrillic are not in my vocabulary. \u00a0I find the EBP\u2019s driver and after a ride filled with many hand gestures towards certain building, that must have had some importance, I arrive at the hotel in the old city center. \u00a0I tune my guitar and prepare to take a shower…no hot water!\u00a0 Aiieee!\u00a0 (It was only two days of no hot water, and I\u2019m told that is not so bad.)<\/p>\n

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with Picasso at the Hermitage Museum<\/p><\/div>\n

After a brief practice session, we are off. \u00a0Ms. Leibman and I are walking through the streets of St. Petersburg to the first salon on of my stay, where we will meet other participants and get some food, finally! \u00a0She is the consummate tour guide, pointing out where she grew up and hung out with friends, giving history on the area and making sure that I walk fast and keep up. \u00a0Crossing streets is a serious business, for Russians don\u2019t stop easily.\u00a0 I take in the culture as quickly as I can, noticing a plethora of sushi restaurants, my favorite being Dead Fish Sushi, beautiful architecture and women in very high heels.\u00a0 Finally we get into the subway and my feet get a break.<\/p>\n

After picking up some wine, we arrive at the art studio and people are milling about: kids, adults, artists and friends.\u00a0 At some point Ludmilla begins with a grand introduction to start off the evening.\u00a0 It is 8:30pm or so, but the sun is still high and my adrenaline is doing its job. \u00a0\"IMG_2616\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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White Nights in St. Petersburg<\/p><\/div>\n

They call it White Nights, when the sun doesn\u2019t set until 11:30pm or not at all.\u00a0 There is magic in the air as the sky stays a light bluish-white hue.\u00a0 Young adults are out on the streets, restaurants and stores are open late, theaters and concerts are full and the energy of spring is palpable.\u00a0 When summer is barely three months long and then sun disappears for another eternity, sleep becomes secondary.<\/p>\n

Many of the participants had been in the exchange since it started in Moscow the week prior.\u00a0 I could not join due to concert conflicts.\u00a0 One fellow American was composer Tony Schemmer<\/a>.\u00a0 His songs were quite beautiful and the St. Petersburg Conservatory students who performed them did a nice job.\u00a0 If only the piano was as good as the musicians.\u00a0 It seemed that our imaginations had to work overtime to hear the beauty.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2630\"<\/a>After about an hour of music, Ms. Leibman introduces me and explains that though I had been traveling since the day before, I would be happy to play a few pieces.\u00a0 I smiled and tried to forget the cold shower and began to play.\u00a0 It was wonderful!\u00a0 People did more than listen, we were traveling together and sound was our train.\u00a0 That said, I was so hungry, that I don\u2019t recall what I played.\u00a0 The smoked fish that followed was great!<\/p>\n

May 22-23:<\/b>\u00a0 Walks through the beautiful city exploring the exquisite architecture and people watching galore.\u00a0 It is called the city of gold and I admit not having ever been around so many building with gold on them. \u00a0Concert of the St. Petersburg Conservatory’s\u00a0President, violinist\u00a0Mikhail\u00a0Gantvarg at the\u00a0Mariinsky Concert Hal.\u00a0 Introductions and stories colored with vodka and espresso.\u00a0 I think I enjoyed Georgian food more than Russian, but other than blini and some stuffed cabbage I don\u2019t recall eating anything too wonderful.\u00a0 I\u2019ll have to search better next time.\u00a0\"DSCN0040\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_2562\"<\/a>May 24:<\/b> Concert!\u00a0 On a mixed concert of solos and chamber music featuring new works by Tony Schemmer and students from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, I gave the Russian premiere of Kevin Siegfried\u2019s \u2018Tracing a wheel on water\u2019<\/a>, alongside Elliott Carter\u2019s \u2018Shard\u2019<\/a>, Esteban Sanlucar\u2019s \u2018Panaderos Flamencos\u2019 and Una Limosna by Agust\u00edn Barrios.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_2613\"<\/a>What an experience!\u00a0 I have never felt an audience so with me in a concert; it was electric.\u00a0 The super-scooters w\/out mufflers were silent, the sounds of the world disappeared; it was just music.\u00a0 Barrios\u2019 tremolo masterpiece reached a new height for me.\u00a0 With every turn I took I could feel the audience was with me, holding on to each finger as the notes disappeared into music.\u00a0 Kids, adults, music students and retirees were a joyous part of each note.\u00a0 I would say Duende <\/i>but it was not black, nor flamenco for that matter, but though it was not Indian, I can say Rasa <\/i>for without the audience I was nothing, and without me they were lost, but together Bliss.<\/p>\n

May 25:<\/b>\u00a0 Concert at the Composers Association<\/p>\n

In the beautiful recital space at the Composers’ Association, the Educational Bridge Project’s final concert took place with a work for violin and piano by Tony Schemmer and my performance.\u00a0 I played:<\/p>\n

Alb\u00e9niz \u2013 Granada
\nBach \u2013 Suite in Mi-minor, BWV 996
\nMarquina \u2013 Espa\u00f1a Ca\u00f1i (Paso Doble)
\nDyens \u2013 Tango en Ska\u00ef (quintet)<\/a><\/p>\n

Though my teacher, Dmirty Goryachev is from St. Petersburg and gave me some hints to the Russian audience, I was surprised how much they enjoyed Spanish music.\u00a0 The Alb\u00e9niz and my arrangement Marquina were hits.\u00a0 It was also obvious that classical music was not just for old people.\u00a0 No, kids and teenagers sat silently and listened to the concert intent on experiencing something.\u00a0 What, I can only guess at, but they sat and listened to the whole concert. \u00a0As I signed autographs afterwards many told me they were touched by my Bach performance.<\/p>\n

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Dyens rehearsal<\/p><\/div>\n

The Dynes was a surprise encore.\u00a0 Ms. Leibman saw my performance of the piece with a string quartet at The Boston Conservatory a few months earlier and asked if we could do it again.\u00a0 With a brief rehearsal before the concert, students from the St. Petersburg Conservatory and I worked on this tango parody.\u00a0 We jumped into discussions on tempi, accents, bowings and even improvising, which was pretty amazing as I don\u2019t speak Russian and they did not have much English!<\/p>\n

The audience loved it!\u00a0 Standing ovations all around and many requests for me to return next year.\u00a0 After a brief post-concert drink and dessert I was back to the hotel.\u00a0 I had to pack and get ready to catch my plane to Rome, Italy for part two of my summer adventure.<\/p>\n

I look forward to future participation in the Educational Bridge Project, though I will make sure to include Moscow.\u00a0 The people I met, musicians I collaborated with and the culture I experienced, though brief, has changed me, and changed me for the better.<\/p>\n

A big congratulations to Ludmilla Leibman for a wonderful exchange!\u00a0 I look forward to the end of October and welcoming our Russian musicians and artists to the wonders of Boston.<\/p>\n

Special thanks to the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation for their Grant-in-Aid and The Boston Conservatory Professional Development Grant for their financial support.<\/p>\n

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Mariinsky Concert Hall<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ludmilla Leibman and Tony Schemmer<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN0031\"<\/a>\"IMG_2548\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From May 21-26, I had the great honor of collaborating with local musicians and\u00a0performing on three concerts in St. Petersburg, Russia, through the cultural exchange program: Educational Bridge Project. \u00a0Founded in 1990\u00a0by Boston University faculty Ludmilla Leibman,\u00a0former St. Petersburg Conservatory faculty. \u00a0Ms. Leibman has facilitated the cultural exchange of American and Russian artists, musicians and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,68,1,119],"tags":[123,126,124,125,121,46,122,120,127,128],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concerts","category-contemporary-music","category-general","category-touring","tag-barrios","tag-boston","tag-carter","tag-dyens","tag-educational-bridge-project","tag-kevin-siegfried","tag-mariinsky-concert-hall","tag-russia","tag-st-petersburg","tag-tony-schemmer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}