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Kirill Molchanov “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” Concert rendition of the opera
Running time:
1 part by 70 minutes; 2 part by 60 minutes
6+
8 May 2021 Saturday 19.00 Grand hall
19.00 Grand hall

Kirill Molchanov
“The Dawns Here Are Quiet”
Concert rendition of the opera

The concert was postponed from 10 May 2020
Tickets for 10 May 2020 are valid.

The State Academic Symphony Capella of Russia
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor – Valery Polyansky

Features soloists of Moscow music theatres:
Vaskov – Ruslan Kozyrev, bass
Zhenya Komelkova – Evgeniya Segenyuk, mezzo-soprano
Sonya Gurvich – Ekaterina Chudotvorova, soprano
Liza Brichkina – Oksana Sekerina, soprano
Rita Ovsyanina – Olga Sioushkina, mezzo-soprano
Kiryanova – Jana Usacheva, soprano
Marya – Elena Evseeva, soprano
Polina – Lyudmila Kuznetsova, mezzo-soprano
Guitarist – Evgeny Liberman, bariton
Elkina – Yulia Tomina, soprano
Countertenor Rustam Yavaev performs “Air” of Haendel

Soviet composer Kirill Molchanov is known to wider audience as the author of popular patriotic and war songs. He was a prolific soundtrack composer, too. But music theatre was important part of the composer’s endeavors, too. He was author of two ballets, drama soundtracks, a musical, and as many as eight operas!

“The Dawns Here Are Quiet” describes the times of the Second World War, as virtually all other operas of his. The novel of the same name written by Boris Vasiliev became the plot of the opera “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”. The heartbreaking story portrays five beautiful girls, anti-aircraft soldiers, who are killed with their officer.

Stanislav Rostotsky was the director of the feature film released in 1972 to great critical and public acclaim in the country; abroad, it was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Molchanov was the soundtrack composer. Opera “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” was first shown onstage of the Bolshoi in 1975. Tamara Sinyavskaya starred as Zhenya, to be later replaced by world famous Elena Obraztsova.

The opera showcases composer’s talent to create great songs with hooks – female characters are “described” by songs, chastushkas, romances, and waltzes. On the other hand, his penchant for cinematography is clear due to his use of “flash backs” and “flash forwards”, to use contemporary terms. For example, either prologue or epilogue are about the post-war epoch.

As the composer wrote, his music is about “vivid memory of heroism of Soviet soldiers, and millions of lives ruined by the War”.