RECITAL NO. 7
EVGENIA GREKOVA – soprano
IRINA PURYSHINSKAJA – pianoSaturday, 8 August, at 20:00
"... an important singer has arrived, one who will make her way in the opera world and as a Lieder singer." – Garmisch-Patenkirchen Tagesblatt (at the Richard Strauss Festival)
"... vocal sensation of the evening." – Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Trained in Moscow and Karlsruhe, Germany, EVGENIA GREKOVA also had masterclasses with such legendary singers as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Edith Mathis, Mirella Freni and Marilyn Horne. As a student she was invited to appear with the State Opera in Stuttgart and on completion of her studies was a member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, one of the three largest opera companies in Germany. Widely acclaimed as one of the most talented sopranos of her generation, Ms Grekova has been the recipient of many prizes at international singing competitions – in Zwickau, Graz, Barcelona, Ansbach, Passau and in Salzburg, also in Sicily and Sweden. In 2006 she was winner of the concert category of the 5th UNISA International Voice Competition in Pretoria, in 2007 was awarded the Grand Prize at the Concours Musical International de Montréal, and last year took second prize at the Concorso Lirico Internationale del Mediterraneo, the first prize not being awarded. Ms Grekova has also appeared at Bayreuth in Wagner's operas Siegfried and Tannhäuser. Described as having “a voice marked by discipline, lightness, strength, fullness, balance, security of pitch, dynamic and octave range”, she has in recent years been invited to make guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera and opera houses in Halle, Erfurt, Braunschweig, Mannheim, Gstaad, Monaco, Dresden and Frankfurt, also performing in Russia and China. Her South African tour this year was deferred from 2006 as part of her prize at the UNISA Voice Competition.
IRINA PURYSHINSKAJA, born in Moscow, studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, gaining distinctions in chamber music, song interpretation and solo piano. She immigrated to Germany in 1991, furthering her studies at the Hochschule of Cologne and Karlsruhe. Her subsequent professional career has seen her perform all over Europe, the Middle East, South America and China, while many of her recitals have been broadcast and televised by the various regional broadcasting companies in Germany – Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk in Leipzig, Südwestrundfunk in Baden-Baden and Deutschlandfunk, Berlin. Herself the winner of several piano competitions, she has also received prizes prize for best accompanist at some of the voice competitions won by Evgenia Grekova. In 2006 she and tenor Bernhard Berchtold recorded the complete song cycles of Schubert for the AVI-Music label, under the auspices of the Ruhr Festival. Ms Puryshinskaja is Professor of Piano at the State Conservatory of Vorarlberg in Austria.
PROGRAMME
RICHARD STRAUSS SEVEN SONGS, including Morgen! LEONARD BERNSTEIN I HATE MUSIC – a cycle of '5 kid songs' SCHUBERT SIX LIEDER, including Auf dem Wasser zu singen and Im Abendrot RACHMANINOV SIX SONGS, including Vocalise Book online through Computicket.
This concert is sponsored by
DIE RUPERT-MUSIEKSTIGTING
Go to Recital No. 8
Return to Programme page
