Tenors

Egor Semenkov

In the choir since 2023

Egor Semenkov studied at the M.I. Glinka Choral College and the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory at the Faculty of Choral Conducting, learning his vocal skills from the People's Artist of the RSFSR K.I. Pluzhnikov. In 2008 he was accepted into the choir of the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella, where he became one of the leading soloists. Since 2012 he has been an artist of the Mariinsky Theatre Choir, where he also acts as a soloist in chamber choral programmes and performs the parts of the Evangelist and tenor in the St Matthew Passion and the Christmas Oratorio by J.S. Bach, and the tenor part in the Stabat mater by G. Rossini. As a guest soloist he has collaborated with the Sverdlovsk State Philharmonic: he performed tenor roles in the oratorio Messiah by G. F. Handel, G. Puccini's Messa, G. Verdi's Requiem, and the Ecumenical Mass by A.T. Grechaninov, and took part in foreign tours and festivals.

Since April 1, 2023, he has been working as an artist of the musicAeterna choir.

HOW DID YOUR COLLABORATION WITH MUSICAETERNA BEGIN?

For the first time with musicAeterna, I performed in the role of Eumolpus in Perséphone. It was a dream debut. While I was preparing for the audition, I seriously doubted that I would succeed. But when I found out that Teodor Currentzis had chosen me for this part, I couldn't believe my luck. This part was not easy for me. But thanks to the maestro, who literally collected all the material with me piece by piece, I made it through. Stravinsky's music is very diverse, and it poses a wide range of vocal challenges to the performer. The French libretto is another complication of this music — in my opinion, I did a good job thanks to coach Ksenia Klimenko.

DO YOU REMEMBER ANY STORIES FROM YOUR CONSERVATORY STUDENT TIMES?

One of my most favourite and funny stories is about the entrance exams to the St. Petersburg Conservatory, namely the solfeggio exam. The exam begins; I listen to the piece and determine the genre for myself: a saraband. Accordingly, the size is 3/2. I calmly write a dictation, hand it over ahead of time and am the first to leave the room. Gradually, the remaining 18 people from the group catch up and begin to share their versions. And that's when I am surprised to hear how all people one by one say the size was 4/4 — all 18 people except me! Only for a few moments I doubted myself, and then I literally laughed out loud. Even before the results were announced, I realized that I was definitely correct. The only one of all. And so it turned out — I passed that exam with flying colours.

WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH BAROQUE MUSIC?

In general, the performance of Baroque music is a special kind of vocal art, and I can say that I am learning on the go. I take advice from and consult with colleagues who have more experience in this repertoire. I listen to recordings, I try to constantly improve in this direction. Unfortunately, Baroque music is not very popular in Russia, and very little time is allocated to it in the system of professional music education. Therefore, you have to fill in the gaps literally on the go.

YOU COME FROM A MUSICAL FAMILY. DO YOU OFTEN ASK THEM FOR ADVICE?

My parents are great musicians. A lot of what I can do, and the attitude to music itself, I owe primarily to them. My father was a conductor and a vocalist by training, but in life he was mostly engaged in singing. My mother is a fairly well-known conductor in Saint Petersburg, the founder and permanent head of the Studium amateur choir, which will turn 40 next year. Interestingly, my father, who is a practicing vocalist, a tenor, instructed me on conducting techniques. He was a representative of the school of the famous professor of the Conservatory Choral Conducting Department Elizaveta Petrovna Kudryavtseva. On the contrary, my mother, who is a practicing conductor with vast experience, instructed me in vocals and preparing solo parts. She has a talent for fine-tuning the voice box, especially when the voice is not in its best condition. To this day I am preparing solo parts with her, and both parts of Eumolpus and the Evangelist passed through her hands.