16th March Irina Vashchenko, soloist of the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre will perform Lisa in Tchaikovsky’s “Queen of Spades. The Game” staged by director Vyacheslav Starodubtsev.
Called “the best dramatic soprano of Moscow” by the Moscow media sources, the singer will appear on the Novosibirsk opera stage for the first time in Vyacheslav Starodubtsev’s production: “Of course I’ve heard people saying that this hall is hard to work with – big stage, intricate acoustics. I’m not afraid of that, on the contrary - it’s a new challenge. It’s not only interesting to try out a new stage, but also to participate in a new staging of a classical opera – I’m interested in new renditions and modern readings of classics, but this “modern” aspect must be internal, substantial, not superficial”.
Irina Vashchenko has been a member of the Moscow music theatre company since 2000. In 2001 she graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (studied under a National Artist of RSFSR, prof. I. I. Maslennikova). She performed the following parts with this theatre: Militrisa (“The Tale of Tsar Saltan” by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov), Venus (“Tannhäuser” by R. Wagner), Lisa (“The Queen of Spades” by Tchaikovsky), Marguerite (“Faust” by Gounod), Musetta (“La bohème” by Puccini), Cio-Cio-san (“Madama Butterfly” by Puccini), Tosca (“Tosca”)
“The first part for me to perform in NOVAT is Lisa from “The Queen of Spades”, I sing that a lot. One cannot dislike the music of “The Queen of Spades”, very emotional, beautiful, penetrating. Although, I think Lisa’s tragedy is not fully exposed by Tchaikovsky. In fact I love dramatic roles, those with inner conflict, tragedy, when you have something to act out. This is why it was really interesting for me to prepare Turandot – thins part joined my repertoire only recently, I will sing on5th April in NOVAT. This part is close to me – I love this type of strong, complex characters, and the opera itself touches my heart”.
Besides having a beautiful dramatic soprano Irina Vashchenko has an impressive appearance. She has won a number of beauty contests, but she chose opera as her life work. She is ironic about her titles of beauty queen: “Hard to believe, but impressive looks is sometimes an obstacle for an opera career. There are several parts suiting my voice well, which I haven’t performed yet because some directors think performers of title roles should look more ordinary, more mediocre”.
“The Queen of Spades. The Game” by Thaikovsky, 16th March, 19:00. Lisa – Irina Vashchenko, Herman – Roman Zavadsky, Countess – Svetlana Tokareva, conductor – Karen Durgaryan.
Tickets are available in the theatre box office, on the website novat.nsk.ru, and with our partners.