Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Melody – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Firma Melodiya is releasing a concert recording of the program performed at St. Andrew's Anglican Church.
Melodiya and the Apriori Arts agency continue their collaboration and release an album from the Melodiya Apriori series. The 11th Opera Apriori Vocal Music Festival concert took place on September 22, 2025, at St. Andrew's Anglican Church. The program was prepared to commemorate the anniversary of the festival's founder, producer, and director, Elena Kharakidzyan.
"For a producer to release a second album in the 2025/26 season, six months apart, sounds almost unbelievable, but it's a fact. 'Ariadna' is more than just a concert program for me, opening the festival's 11th season," shares Kharakidzian. "It is the quintessence of my creative vision, perfectly executed and exquisitely performed by amazing singers and musicians."
The main theme of the evening was the myth of Ariadne. This girl was the daughter of the Cretan king Minos and lived in the Palace of Knossos—the labyrinth in which her half-brother, the Minotaur, was imprisoned. Theseus escaped the Minotaur and was able to escape the labyrinth thanks to Ariadne.
The album's program spans nearly 400 years of musical history—from the late Renaissance to the present day—and consists of premieres and rarely performed pieces. Vladimir Zisman, the author of the annotation, writes: "Four female monologues—three cantatas and a long aria, in which Ariadne addresses the imaginary image of Theseus, who abandoned her—are structurally linked into a single tangle of instrumental pieces."
In the first part of the album, the musicians tune to 415 Hz, a scale used in the Renaissance and Baroque eras. In the second, along with the sound of a modern piano, they switch to 440 Hz.
Only female voices are heard on stage—Ariadna seems to "speak" on her own. We see Ariadnas from different eras, the first of which is by Rust Pozyumsky, a contemporary composer and performer on period instruments. In his reminiscence cantata, Ariadna recalls her happiness with Theseus. This piece is being performed and recorded for the first time. Pozyumsky was inspired by the music of Claudio Monteverdi, the composer of the first known work about Ariadna.
Maren Mare's Chaconne, a hit of its time, performed on the viola d'amore (Sergey Poltavsky), theorbo (Asya Grechishcheva), and viola da gamba (Rust Pozyumsky), was the Russian premiere. Another Russian premiere, a cantata by Francesco Mancini, is performed by Dilyara Idrisova, soloist of the Bashkir Opera and Ballet Theatre and one of the stars of Baroque music today. Beginning with Nikolai Sidelnikov's "Ariadne's Dance" (Yuri Favorin, piano), the tuning changes to a modern 440 Hz.
The operatic—or near-operatic—movement is represented by Joseph Haydn's little-known cantata "Ariadne auf Naxos," performed by mezzo-soprano Karina Demurova, a singer with an international career, and Yuri Favorin, and Richard Strauss's opera of the same name. Excerpts from Strauss's opera are performed by Bolshoi Theatre soloist Albina Latipova, Yulia Igonina (violin), Sergei Poltavsky (viola), and Yuri Martynov (piano).
Classicalmusicnews.ru, March 20, 2026
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