2010

Spring 2010

The Educational Bridge Project’s 17th annual Russian-American festival began in St. Petersburg on May 13th and continued through May 24th. The festival, comprised of twenty plus events, involved more than one hundred Russian participants, from a children's chorus and actor's studio to professional actors, musicians, artists and professors.  Many of them have participated in previous festivals; among them were Anna Konivets, Natalia Katonova, Svetlana Nesterova, Viacheslav Kruglik, Zinaida Kartasheva, Mikhail Krutik, Elena Grigorieva, Maria Grigorieva, Igor Uryash, Tatiana Kholostova, Igor Zolotarev, and many others.  While most of the festival’s events took place in St. Petersburg, some of them were in Moscow.

The US participants of this year represented several cultural and educational institutions all over the country. Four of them graduated from Boston University within the last few years:  Jennifer Thomas (violist), Sara Sitzer (cellist), Maura Matlak (singer, songwriter), and Daniel DeBonis (editor). Among the other participants were:  Martin Goldsmith (radio commentator and author from Washington D. C.), Ivan Eubanks (editor of Pushkin Review / Пушкинский вестник, lecturer at Boston University), Guila Clara Kessous (actress, director, human rights activist), and Ludmilla Leibman (executive director, EBP).

The festival's program consisted of three traditional segments:  "Concerts with Historic Commentaries," Workshops and Pedagogy, and "Musical Evenings - Together Again."  One of the main focal points was the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the victory over fascism.  The musical compositions included in the "Concerts with Historic Commentaries" were those most representative of the era - Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Times," songs by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht, Hans Krasa's children's opera Brundibar, and Soviet songs sung by Russian soldiers during World War II.

Among the highlights of the festival were the evening at the U. S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg, the concert at the Hermitage Museum, a presentation at the Russian Institute of Research in the Arts (Российский Институт Истории Искусств), and student conferences at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute (Государственный Педагогический Институт им. Герцена) and the Baltic Technical University.

Fall 2010

The Educational Bridge Project’s 18th festival opened at MIT’s renowned Saarinen Chapel (10/25) with Ludmilla Leibman’s lecture on “The Nature of Musical Language” accompanied by performances on the piano (Anton Faynberg) and the samchillian, an electronic instrument (Leon Gruenbaum, creator).  The next day at the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics, there opened a show of the drawings of well-known Russian artist Luba Kostenko. Later at the Harvard Club she lectured on her technique - a remarkable artist whose special interest is in illustrating musicians while they perform.

A new EBP initiative –the collaboration of children from two countries - resulted in one of the festival’s most exciting events, the production of “Brundibar,” a children’s opera which was originally performed 55 times in the Terezin concentration camp during WWII. American students from the Lincoln Elementary School in Brookline and Russian kids from the prestigious “Zazerkalie” Theatre in St. Petersburg, spent a week together rehearsing, performing, and sharing after-school activities.  The opera was performed at the Lincoln School (10/27 and 10/28) and at Boston University (10/29).

The middle part of the festival calendar was filled with a series of “Concerts with Historic Commentaries.” These were presentations of musical events dedicated to commemorating the tragedy of the Holocaust: Jennifer Thomas presented “Different Trains,” a creative work of the American composer Steve Reich at Boston University and Brookline High School (10/28); “Bridge to America,” a panel discussion by survivors of the fascist oppression of WWII with musical accompaniment (10/29); a reflection on her family experiences under the Nazis by Rosalie Gerut called “We Are Here” (11/4); original music by Boston composers Matti Kovler and Ruth Lomon (11/3), and a deeply moving  presentation  at the Goethe Institute of Boston by the German Consul General Friedrich L. Loehr and the talented Moscow pianist, Jacob Katsnelson, of the music of Viktor Ullmann, victim of the Holocaust (11/1).  Jacob also performed a program of Rameau, Janachek and Chopin, at Harvard University’s Lowell House (10/31) and in the intimate setting of the home of Dr John Silber, Boston University President Emeritus (10/29).

A group of Russian librarians from St. Petersburg came to Boston for a second time to study the ways in which American education prepares librarians to work with elementary students. They toured the campuses of Tufts University (11/5), Boston College (11/7) spent a day in discussion with students and teachers at Simmons College known for its outstanding Libraries and Information Science Program (11/8) and then visited Brookline High School and Park School in Brookline, a private school offering perhaps the best training in library science for young students.

Two other special offerings of the Educational Bridge Project’s 18th festival were several lectures at Boston University and local community centers on the “Beatles” and “Jazz in Russia” by Professor Zina Kartasheva of the Moscow University of Arts and Culture, and the opening at Boston University’s Mugar Library of a unique exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of prima ballerina Galina Ulanova. This exhibit was put together by the former Russian dancer, Tamara Bogdanova, now living in Boston, who had danced with the world renowned Ulanova in the 1940’s.

2011

Spring 2011

The Educational Bridge Project's 19th annual Russian-American festival opened in St. Petersburg on May 18th highlighted by a celebration of the 100th birthday of world-famous violinist and Boston University Professor Roman Totenberg with performances of the music of Milhaud, Bernstein, Szymanowski, and Penderecki by young St. Petersburg violinists David Chakvetadze, Aleksandra Korobkina, Anastasia Subrakova and Igor Zolotarev, as well as the centennial observance of the birth of St. Petersburg’s renowned pianist and pedagogue Ella Elinson with performances by Russian pianist Igor Uryash,  of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” a cornerstone in Ella Elinson’s repertoire.

Professor Claudio Veliz, a former participant of the Educational Bridge Project's festival and founder of the Conversazion, a unique forum for discussions with “no predetermined course or conclusions,” spoke on topics of Russian writers Gorkiy and Tolstoy included in the 48 years of the history of the Conversazioni.

Boston University Graphic Design professor, Safoura Rafeizadeh, and two of her graduate students, Stephanie Horst and Melissa Levanti, participated in the Eco-Design Conference, “Woods and Parks,” at the St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University, as well as showed their works at Baltic State Technical University, Herzen State Pedagogical University, and St. Petersburg State University, continuing a long-standing association maintained by professors Tatiana Kholostova and Galina Sorokina. 

Leon Gruenbaum, New York based musician and inventor of the electronic musical instrument, “Samchillian,” participated in a concert of electronic music at the St. Petersburg Composers’ Association and demonstrated his invention at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.  In Moscow Leon Gruenbaum met with the Director of the Theremin Center of Electroacoustic music at Moscow Tchaikovsky ConservatoryAndrei Smirnov and played together with Russian students at Moscow University of Arts and Culture.  Leon’s hosts, Moscow jazz historian, Zinaida Kartasheva, and St. Petersburg composer Anton Tanonov had been participants in previous EBP festivals in Boston. 

Several festival events were held in commemoration of the Soviet Union’s entry into the Second World War. Vivian Doskow, a graduate of Boston University, spoke to young audiences of the Frunzensky District libraries on the history of the Warsaw Ghetto, its tragedy and its heroes.  Several school children presented talks on Pushkin, a children’s choir sang music written on Pushkin’s poetry and Ludmilla Leibman gave a talk on “Eugene Onegin” and “Boris Gudunov.” Russian singer, Marina Tsejtlina, accompanied the talks organized by District officials, Delaida Glebovskaya, Olga Galitskaya, Olga Sidorova, and Yulia Kushenko, all of whom visited Boston for EBP festivals in years past. Bret Werb, musicologist at Washington’s Holocaust Museum, spoke on, The Genesis and Fate of “We Will Never Die,”the large-scale touring propaganda “pageant” created in 1943 by Hollywood screenwriter Ben Hecht, Broadway composer Kurt Weill, and Zionist activist Peter Bergson.  His talk took place at the St. Petersburg Institute of Arts Research, and was hosted by Galina Kopytova, Chief Curator of the Manuscript Library of the Institute, who lectured at Boston University in 2004.

Young Israeli composer Matti Kovler, doctoral student at the New England Conservatory, who spoke  on “ New Jewish music: from avant-garde to tradition” shared his thoughts on music with students and faculty of the composition departments of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His hosts included Russian composers Alexander Radvilovich, Anton Tanonov, Ekaterina Blinova, Svetlana Nesterova and Nikolay Mazhara, all of whom had participated in EBP’s Boston festival ten years ago. Concerts of Matti Kovlers’ music were organized by Elizaveta Bukhanova in the Moscow Glinka Museum of Musical Insturments and Shaliapin Museum.

After hours, American and Russian musicians performed at traditional Musical Evenings, at the residency of the US Consul General in St. Petersburg, in the famous St. Petersburg Salon Irida hosted by the Chaplygin family, and at the art studio of Luba Kostenko whose exhibit in Boston last fall attracted enthusiastic attention from local artists and collectors.  Well-known St. Petersburg soprano Maria Lyudko, gave a talk on Russian songs and beautifully performed them, accompanying herself on the piano.  American guests enjoyed visiting the Great Philharmonic Hall to hear several concerts of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, attended a performance of Khachaturian’s ballet “Spartacus” and applauded Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” at the St Petersburg Hermitage Museum’s Theatre and Rimsky Korsakov “the Tsar’s Bride” at the Mariinsky Theater. The boat tour of the Neva River at dusk, now a staple for the Americans visiting St Petersburg, dazzled with its imposing and sparkling views of the city. Final good-byes were celebrated at a goodbye dinner at “Teplo,” where toasts were raised to new friendships and the renewal of old friendships.

Fall 2011

The 20^th festival, a major milestone in the life of the Educational Bridge Project, focused on celebrating the 150^th Anniversary of the St. Petersburg Conservatory as we invited back to Boston several of the participants from previous years.

Thus, the festival’s program included performances of the music of four St Petersburg composers who were in Boston ten years ago: Nikolay Mazhara (Capriccio and Impromptu for Piano solo), Svetlana Nesterova (Bazhov’s Tales - On the Departure from St. Petersburg to Boston, Fanny Etudes), Ekaterina Blinova (Three pieces for two pianos ), and Anton Tanonov. Graduate students ten years ago, in 2001, they are all now teaching at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and where Dr. Tanonov is now Associate Dean of the Department of Composition and Conducting.

In addition, seven young St. Petersburg virtuosi, who performed in Educational Bridge Project sponsored festivals in Russia and Boston in 2009, 2010 and 2011, journeyed to Boston to collaborate with young pianists and violinists from music schools of the Boston area: Veniamin Blokh (piano), David Chakvetadze (violin), Ksenya Gavrilova (piano), Alexandra Korobkina (violin), Alexey Stadler (cello), Karina Sposobina (piano), and Anastasia Subrakova (violin). Three violinists, all pupils of the famous pedagogue Saveliy Shalman, represented his school in the best possible way.

In addition to the new venues of last fall, such as the Boston University’s Gotlieb Archive and Research Center, more new venues opened their doors for our festival, such as Berklee College of Music, Harvard University’s Mather House and Hilles Center, Steinert Hall, and Sharon Music Academy

The festival opened on October 25 with talks on the History of Soviet Jazz: by Zinaida Kartasheva, Chair of the jazz orchestras and ensembles department of the Moscow State University of Arts; on Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet …Instead I wrote a quartet, needed by nobody and ideologically sinful,  by Dr. Ludmilla Leibman; The Literati of St. Petersburg: by Diana Vinkovetsky, well-known writer and essayist, and culminated with a presentation at Mugar Library, Tales of Passionate Pursuit with Daphne Kalotay, Diana Vinkovetsky, and Tatiana Yurieva. The program included musical interludes of Russian songs by the children’s ensemble “Lucky Ten,” under Alexander Prokhorov and selected classical works for violin and cello by Paganini and Bach.

The ringing of the Russian Bells in the tower of Lowell House, Harvard University, invited all who came to hear An Afternoon of Classical Music: Performances by St. Petersburg musicians: Veniamin Blokh, David Chakvetadze, Ksenya Gavrilova, Alexandra Korobkina, Alexey Stadler, Karina Sposobina, and Anastasia Subrakova. Included in the program were the Sonata No. 2 for violoncello and piano in Fmajor, Op. 99, by Johannes Brahms and the Divertimento from the Fairy Kiss, by Igor Stravinsky.

Very different was the music presented in the Saarinen Chapel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sound Waves was a program of electronic and acoustic music by Anton Tanonov accompanied by New York soprano Zhanna Alkhazova and Boston musicians, violinist Olga Kradenova and pianist Alexandra Carlson.  

Boston University’s George Sherman Union hosted Little House on Pesochnaya - more of Anton Tanonov’s electronic music with a demonstration of his music for animated films.  At the Berklee College of Music he collaborated with Berklee professor Ramon Castillo to present their piano and live electronic pieces, Funeral of a Voodoo Doll for piano and electronics, performed by Tanonov and Brain by Ramon Castillo performed by Veniamin Blokh and the composer.

The Harvard Musical Association hosted a full length evening concert of chamber music by St. Petersburg and Boston composers:Sharing the Stage. This program included the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Boris Tishchenko, Prelude and Fugue in F sharp major by Sergei Slonimsky, Fantasy by Anton Tanonov, the Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet by Matti Kovler, the Four Italian Songs by Tony Schemmer, and other compositions.

Mather House, Harvard University, was the venue of two interesting programs: one, Bazzini, Rachmaninov and Merlot:  a selection of  virtuoso pieces for violin, cello, and piano performed by Aleksandra Korobkina, Ksenya Gavrilova, Alexey Stadler, and Karina Sposobina and including The Witches Dance by Antonio Bazzini  and the Romance and Hungarian Dance, Op. 6 by Sergei Rachmaninov  

And a few days later a second event took place at Mather House entitled Russian Poetry in Russian Music - Nuances of Meaning: a discussion of the vagaries of interpretation in translating poetry from one language to another and from one art form to another. Songs by Dmitri Shostakovich and Anton Tanonov were performed by singers Yelena Dudochkin and Zhanna Alkhazova, accompanied by pianists Tatyana Dudochkin and Alexandra Carlson.

At Steinert Hall young student musicians (ages 4-16) from the Boston area took the stage in the afternoon event, Piano Music for Two hands, Four hands, and Two pianos, which offered music of Dmitri Kabalevsky, Sergei Slonimsky, Svetlana Nesterova, Ekaterina Blinova, and Anton Tanonov.  A few days earlier students from the Sharon Music Academy delighted listeners with a concert of piano music,Masters and Apprentices, of St. Petersburg composers Valery Gavrilin, Sergei Slonimsky, Anton Tanonov, Svetlana Nesterova, andBoston composer Phillip Mazza.

Final appearances by Anton Tanonov were made at the New England Conservatory sharing the stage with American electronic music composers John Mallia and Katarina Miljkovic of the New England Conservatory and Lou Bunk of Brandeis University and later at a Composers Seminar at the Granoff Music Center, Tufts University, hosted by John McDonald, composer and pianist who has a long-standing connection with the EBP since its first festival in the fall 1997 when professor McDonald hosted Boris Tishchenko and Alexander Mnatsakanyan.