Delos Diary - The War Songs Tour V

Delos Insider

Eureka! Constantine Orbelian has been able to eke out enough time from his impossibly busy schedule to continue his wonderful series of articles narrating the fascinating story of the Hvorostovsky-Orbelian-Moscow Chamber Orchestra tour of Russian "Hero Cities."
This tour, remember, was to be an 8-city celebration of the end of World War II, climaxing on Sunday June 12 with an open-air concert in Palace Square, St. Petersburg.
This Novosibirsk segment (concert of June 7) should be especially intriguing to the American music lover. Few realize that this enormous Siberian metropolis ranks with Moscow and St. Petersburg as a major music center with its own great cultural institutions which produce world famous artists on a regular basis… but let Constantine continue this story in his own words.

Novosibirsk

He sang and the people wept! ( Headline from Novosibersk’s "Vedomosti" Newspaper)

We arrived on June 6th in the early afternoon. We had departed Krasnoyarsk with some really splendid summer weather and arrived in Novosibirsk with the same good weather, giving us the idea that Siberia is not so bad after all…

We were met at the airport with what has already become the norm: the Minister of Culture of the Novosibirsk region met us with flowers at the bottom of the stairway as we deplaned, along with the local representative of Sberbank and other notables. All of the TV companies in town were there to greet us too; and of course a small "arrival" interview was held with Dmitri. One again, police escorts were called in to get our motorcade from the airport to the Hotel "Sibir" without the hassles of traffic and other inconveniences such as red lights.

We checked in and had lunch; and then off we went to the press conference, which was held at the hotel. It seems that Dmitri had been to Novosibirsk once before around 17 years ago, when there was a group of young, talented artists performing there from his home town of Krasnoyarsk. In all these years it never seemed to work out for him to get back there for a concert during one of his tours of Russia. Either the dates were wrong, or there simply was not enough time to make the four-hour trip from Moscow, recover from jet lag, do a concert, and then return. This is not exactly an easy place to live: I must remind you as well that the median temperature here is -40 Centigrade in the winter and +40 in the summer.

Novosibirsk is one of the most cultured of Siberian towns. The original name was Novo-Nikolaevsk and it was known for being a major artery on the Russian railway system. On a cultural note, this city was also famous in Soviet times for its excellent symphony orchestra, ballet and opera house. The opera house is a story in itself; what a place! The first performance at this gorgeous opera house, which would be a crown jewel in any European capital city was on May 12, 1945. Just imagine: at the time that Russia was fighting the enemy on their Western Front, the Siberian steppes were providing the artillery and tanks for them to do so, and building opera houses at the same time!

The local conservatory is also one of the best in Russia. Maybe not very many people know that renowned violinists Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin come from Novosibirsk, and were educated at this conservatory.

At the press conference all of the usual questions were asked; and a few of Dmitri’s friends showed up, whom he hadn’t seen in many years. Besides the actual concerts, one of the wonderful things about this tour is that old friends have been able to make a new connection with their colleague, with whom they had lost contact for one reason or another.

We then had a wonderful dinner set up at a local restaurant with the Governor of the Novosibirsk region Mr. Victor Tolokonski, along with the local head of Sberbank and other important guests. The toasts were endless; and the good rapport that we developed with all of the people there only reinforced my intuitive feeling that this place was going to be something special.

The concert was to take place at the local Ice Hockey Stadium, where 10,000 people were expected to attend; and as in other cities, a large plasma screen was set up in the plaza in front of the Stadium for people who were unable to get in.

I drove out to the Stadium in the late morning just to get my bearings and to see what the place looked like. I was very impressed with the stage and the way things looked. The huge "Victory" Banner, depicting the Victory Medal that so many Veterans were given at the end of the war, was already hanging at the back of the stage; and most of all I was happy to see that it was quite warm. Honestly, I had been worried about the temperature for the musicians and for Dmitri. After all, we still had two more concerts to do after this one; and the last thing we all needed was for anyone to come down with a cold or flu.

Since one end of the Stadium was taken up with the stage and the huge "Victory" Banner, chairs had been set up on the "ice" to accommodate 3,000 people. This area was covered with a special wooden covering, and also with something resembling Astroturf to make it look nice, and for people not to freeze their feet off during the concert.

When 10,000 people filled the Stadium, I realized that I had been wrong in thinking that it was going to be too cold there. It turned out to be very warm; and no one even thought about the fact that we were actually performing on ice!

When the Governor introduced the orchestra, choir, Dmitri and me, the entire hall cheered us on, and Dmitri was met with shouts of "Bravo." Please keep in mind that he was here only once before, as a young man from Krasnoyarsk. In Novosibirsk there has been no personal presence built up from years of continual performances, enabling people to "get to know" the artist as we know him in New York, London or San Francisco. But they greeted him as if he were Yuri Gagarin or John Glenn… In short, he was greeted and met by the public as a National Hero.

The concert was as touching as the others have been; and the audience reaction was even more spontaneous than in some of the other cities. The sound system was superb in Novosibirsk, and our sound people gave the audience what they deserved.

I can only quote the local "Vedomosti" Newspaper with the people’s reaction to this event:

"Even though it was terribly warm outside, and the traffic was awful getting to the Stadium, the Novosibirsk public was there long before the concert began. Veterans donned their best suits and pinned their War Medals on their uniforms; many of them brought flowers. When the concert finally began, Hvorostovsky sang in such a way that shivers ran up and down the spine of everyone present; and no one could hold back the tears. The two hours of listening to Hvorostovsky sing flew by like a second. One was left breathless after each song — with Veterans weeping, singing along with him, coming up to the stage and giving him flowers, gifts, notes and letters. Grandmothers brought their grandchildren up to the stage for him to give the little child a pat on the head or a hug. Everything was wonderful and very touching. An 85-year-old survivor of the Leningrad Blockade came up on stage to give Dmitri a large bouquet of flowers from the local Veterans’ organization, and said, “Dmitri… Your voice and performance inspire us and make us believe in the future of our country!

"Veteran s stood outside in the plaza in front of the Stadium, not wanting to leave the place where they had been given such happiness. No one wanted this evening to end, and it was also great that all of the Veterans had a chance to see each other at such a wonderful event. Thank you, Hvorostovsky!"

We left with Dmitri and went back to the hotel. We were exhausted, and very happy!

This was just the middle of the tour!

Off to Ekaterinburg tomorrow.