UMS Concert Program, February 9, 1989: International Presentations Of Music & Dance -- Osipov Balalaika Orchestra

Season: 110th
Concert: Twenty-fifth
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

lntetfiatipnal Presentations
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Osipov Balalaika Orchestra
NIKOLAI KALININ Artistic Director and Chief Conductor
Bolshoi Opera Soloist Galina Borisova, Mezzo-soprano
Babkina Folk Ensefnble Nadezhda Babkina, Artistic Director
Thursday Evening, February 9, 1989, at 8:00 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Russian Folk Songs
Variations on "The Moon is Shining"
The Orchestra
A Medley of Folk Songs
Babkina Folk Ensemble -Nadezhda Babkina, soloist
The Wide, Wide Steppe
Domra ensemble -Galina Sazonova, soloist Gusli duet -Maya Voronetz and Alia Scdakova
Semyonovna
Bayan solo and Orchestra -Ilya Kurtev, soloist
Variations on a Theme from a Russian Folk Song Kamarinskaya
Balalaika ensemble -Anatoly Tikhonov, soloist
This concert is part of Winter Fest '89, a community-wide celebration of the arts, Feb. 9-12.
The Osipov Balalaika Orchestra appears by arrangement with Classical Artists International, New York, and Goskonzert, U.S.S.R.
The University Musical Society expresses thanks to Ford Motor Company Fund for underwriting the printing costs of this program.
Cameras and recording devices are not allowed in the auditorium. Halls Cough Tablets, courtesy of Warner-Lambert Company, are available in the lobby.
Twenty-fifth Concert of the 110th Season Eighteenth Annual Choice Series
A Suite of Dance Melodies
Folk wind instrument ensemble -Sergei Butushin, leader (Zhaleyki, Svireli, Rozhki -Flutes, Reeds, Horns)
Fantasy on "The Ancient Linden Tree" Fantasy on "The Peddlers" (Ditel)
The Orchestra
INTERMISSION
Dance of the Buffoons, from The Snow Maiden.................Tchaikovsky
The Orchestra
Russian Song............................................. Rachmaninoff
The Orchestra
Nocturne ....................................................... Glinka
Gusli duet -Maya Voronetz and Alia Sedakova
Variations on "The Nightingale" .................................Alyabiev
Domra solo with Orchestra -Sergei Lukin, soloist
Jota Navarrese................................................. Sarasate
Domra duet -Sergei Lukin and Nadezhda Abramova
Ancient Russian Romances...................................... Traditional
Galina Borisova, mezzo-soprano
Folksong Medley .............................................. Traditional
Babkina Folk Ensemble -Nadezhda Babkina, soloist
Evening Bells ................................................. Mosolov
The Orchestra
Grand Finale
The Orchestra, Soloists, and Babkina Folk Ensemble
Melodiya Records
About the Artists
The Osipov Balalaika Orchestra, under the direction of Nikolai Kalinin, returns to the United States for an eight-week performance schedule in forty of the nation's most prestigious concert halls, beginning on January 24 in New York and ending on March 9 in California. The 85-member ensemble of balalaikas, domras, and a rich assortment of ancient folk instruments is augmented by two Bolshoi Opera soloists and the dancers and singers of the Babkina Folk Ensemble. The orchestra's stunning American debut in 1969 was followed by return visits in 1971 and 1977, each of these tours including a performance in Ann Arbor.
The core of the ensemble is the three-stringed balalaika, triangular in shape and encompassing a wide range of sizes. Other instruments added through the years include the domra, the medieval gusli or plucked psaltery (predecessor of the harpsichord), the 'Vladimir' or wooden shepherd's horn, the kuglikli and zhalciki (flutes and pipes), harmonicas and accordians, treschyotki (rattles), and a battery of percussion. In the United States, the balalaika became part of the American consciousness in 1965 as the instrument associated with "Lara's Theme" in the classic film Dr. Zhivago.
The Moscow-based orchestra was founded in 1888 by Vassily Andreyev, who had the folk balalaika transformed into a family of five instruments -the sixth, and largest member of the family, the "octobass" balalaika, was added in 1912. Naming his ensemble the "Great Russian Orchestra," Andreyev took his musicians on tour to Paris, London, Berlin, New York, and Chicago, and composed some forty works for them to play.
After Andreyev's death, the orchestra was reorganized and honored as the "State Russian Folk Orchestra." It took the name of its most famous conductor, Nikolai Pctrovich Osipov, who was appointed director in 1940. During his tenure, Osipov was responsible for increasing
the range of the orchestra by adding other instruments and for his transcriptions of a number of works by classical composers for performance. Well known as a balalaika virtuoso, Osipov had been a soloist with the orchestra before becoming its director. Victor Dubrovsky took over the position of music director in 1962 and led the orchestra on its debut tour of the United States in 1969. The ensemble is currently under the direction of Nikolai Kalinin, appointed artistic director and chief conductor in 1979.
The ensemble's repertoire includes the lilting Russian folk melodies and rhythmic dances so closely associated with the sounds of the balalaika, as well as powerfully evocative folk songs and some of the most beautiful arias of Russian opera, scored specially for folk instruments. In addition, the Osipov Balalaika Orchestra has attracted the attention of many renowned Soviet composers who have arranged or written works for the orchestra; they include Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, Glinka, and Rachmaninoff.
The Osipov Balalaika Orchestra has delighted audiences throughout the Soviet Union, the United States, and in Great Britain, Australia, France, West Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland.
Nikolai Kalinin is now making his American debut on the current tour of the Osipov Balalaika Orchestra. Since his appointment in 1979 as artistic director and chief conductor, he has toured extensively with the orchestra throughout Europe and the Soviet Union. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory and, while a student, created the Moscow Youth Orchestra that he directed for twenty years. The maestro is a People's Artist of the Russian Federation.
Nadezhda Babkina created the "Ensemble Russkaya Pesnya" (Russian Song Vocal Ensemble) in 1975 while a student in the folklore and vocal departments of the Gnessin Institute and has been its artistic director since then. Well known as one of the leading interpreters of Russian traditional music, she has won numerous competitions, including the prestigious International Folk Song Competition in Bratislava in 1978. Ms. Babkina has led her eight-member ensemble throughout the world, most recently in France, Spain, and Japan. She is a People's Artist of the Russian Federation.
Galina Borisova was invited to join the Bolshoi Opera Theatre in 1965 while still a student at the Moscow Conservatory. She has since performed more than fifty roles at the Bolshoi, including the title role in Carmen, Amneris in Aida, Azucena in Trovatore, Koncha-kovna in Prince Igor, and Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro. In 1975, she performed with the Bolshoi at the Metropolitan Opera in Eugene Onegitt, War and Peace, The Gambler, Boris Godunov, and Queen of Spades. A year ago, at the Boston Opera's Soviet-American Festival, she was hailed for her performance of Plyushkin in Schedrin's Dead Souls. The mezzo-soprano is an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation.
In 1979, Galina Borisova appeared in Ann Arbor with The Moscow Pops.
Osipov Balalaika Orchestra
Nikolai Kalinin, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor
Victor Vorobycv, Technical Director Praskovya Blcnkova, Head Wardrobe Mistress
Evgeni Mcshaninov, Administrator Natalia Anikina, Interpreter
Igor Avdcyev Nadezhda Abramova Nikolai Anoshkin Vyachcslav Bagrash Vladimir Bycloblotsky Yevgeny Bclkin Vyacheslav Belov Alexander Bclyakin Yuri Birzhev Tatyana Boldyreva Anatoly Borisov Sergei Butushin Olcg Buzyukin Andrei Volodin Alexander Volkov Maya Voronctz Alexander Gorbachev Mikhail Grescv Antonina Yelnikova Lev Vasin Oleg Zatravkin Yekaterina Guryeva Vladimir Yonchekov
Yuri Kisilyakov Vladimir Klyuchkov Boris Kozlov Sergei Dorokhin Svctlana Danilyan Igor Konvalov Oleg Konkov Nikolai Kostakov Sergei Kotov Tatyana Levkina Ilya Kurtcv Lyubov Lconova Sergei Lukin Vyachcslav Maksimov Anatoly Marchuk Sergei Mclnikov Sergei Morozov Valentin Nazarov Alexander Nikolskij Vyacheslav Novikov Sergei Potapov Vladimir Pyrtikov Tatyana Rcmizova
Alexander Rumantsev Galina Sazonova Alia Sedakova Vitalij Sergeyev Lyudmilla Sidorova Vyacheslav Smirnov Alexander Slobodin Valery Sukharcv Oleg Tarasov Anatoly Tikhonov Vladimir Ulyanov Georgij Khlystov Alexander Khmyrov Vera Tsarcnko Valerya Chevina Valery Chernykh Alexander Chetoyev Dmitri Sheludyarkov Baysir Shtukin Leonid Shubcrt Alexander Yakovkenko Gennady Ycremeyev
Babkina Folk Ensemble
Nadczhada Babkina, Artistic Director
Nina Vorna Ludmilla Alexeyevna Taciana Shkola Tatyana Savonova
Yelcna Milayeva Alexander Pivovarov Vladimir Levashkov
Ivan Kuzmich Vladimir Zascdatclcv Alcksandcr Ycvtcyev
Classical Artists International Tour Production Staff
Paulcttc Zitofsky, Tour ManagerInterpreter Chuck Rcnaud, Technical Director Natalia Kavaliauskas and Andrew Stivelman, Interpreters
Coming Concerts
Mummenschanz ....................................Sat., Sun. Feb. 11, 12
New York City Opera National Company............Sat., Sun. Feb. 18, 19
Verdi's "La Traviata" Richard Stoltzman and Friends............................Wed. Feb. 22
"New York Counterpoint"
Folger Consort & Western Wind...........................Mon. Mar. 6
"Fresh Aires & Madrigals" -Elizabethan madrigals and virtuoso instrumental music
Paul Taylor Dance Company.........................Tues., Wed. Mar. 7, 8
Israel Philharmonic Zubin Mehta ........................Tues. Mar. 14
Kopytman: Memory (Gina Bashari, alto); Schoenberg:
Verklarte Nacht; Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major
Faculty Artists Concert (free admission) .....................Sun. Mar. 19
The Chieftains.............................................Wed. Mar. 22
Emerson String Quartet ..................................Wed. Mar. 29
Mozart: Quartet in E-flat, K. 428; Janacek: Quartet No. 2
("Intimate Letters"); Brahms: Quartet, Op. 51, No. 2 Alicia de Larrocha, pianist.................................Thurs. Mar. 30
Schubert: Impromptu, Op. 90, No. 1; Schubert: Sonata in
A major, Op. 120; Espla: Three Dances, Op. 54; Montsalvatage:
Sonatina pour Ivette; Turina: San Lucar de Barrameda
Stuttgart Wind Quintet ...................................Wed. Apr. 5
Dennis Russell Davies, pianist
Thuillc: Sextet, Op. 6; Ligeti: Six Bagatelles";
Bolcom: "FiveFoldFive" (1985); Poulenc: Sextet Munich Philharmonic Sergiu Celibidache................Thurs. Apr. 13
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 ("Jupiter");
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 ("Romantic") St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Leonard Slatkin .........Thurs. Apr. 20
Steven Stucky: Dreamwaltzes; Haydn: Symphony No. 85;
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10
96th Annual May Festival -April 26-29, 1989 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, 8:00 p.m.
Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig
Kurt Masur, Music Director and Conductor
The Festival Chorus, Donald Bryant, Director
Annerose Schmidt, Pianist Hermann Baumann, Horn
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Violinist Jessye Norman, Soprano
Gail Dubinbaum, Mezzo-soprano Stephen Bryant, Bass-baritone
Vinson Cole, Tenor J. Patrick Raftery, Baritone
Wednesday -Mendelssohn: "Ruy Bias" Overture; Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4;
Schubert: Symphony No. 9 ("The Great") Thursday -Beethoven: "Leonore" Overture No. 3; Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1;
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor Friday -Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major; Mendelssohn: "Die erstc Walpurgisnacht"
(Festival Chorus, Dubinbaum, Cole, Raftery, Bryant) Saturday -Strauss: "Four Last Songs" (Norman); Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
Series tickets now on sale; single tickets available March I.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1270 Telephone: (313) 764-2538