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Sopranos

Ekaterina Dondukova

In the choir since 2018

She began her musical education at the Piano Department of the Republican Gymnasium-college under the Belarusian State Academy of Music, simultaneously studying choral conducting and music theory.

In 2009, she entered the Gnessin State Musical College, Faculty of Choral Conducting (class of Elena Kuznetsova, Honoured Cultural Worker of Russia).

Concurrently, she studied opera singing under Lyudmila Magomedova (People’s Artist of Russia, soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia) and also performed in the chamber ensemble of the Moscow Conservatory Choir.

After graduation, she entered the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Department of Opera, Orchestral and Choral Conducting (class of Professor Stanislav Kalinin, Honoured Worker of Arts of Russia).

In 2012, she created the music for the production “Zhenshchina i front” at the Hungarian Cultural Centre of the Consulate General of Hungary in St. Petersburg. She also collaborated as a composer with the Meyerhold Centre in Moscow (“Pesn’ Lyubvi”, Natasha’s Dream) and the Telpa-Daugavpils festival in Latvia (Es skrienu).

In 2015-2016, she collaborated with the ensemble Capella’415, including performances of solo cantatas by Georg Philipp Telemann.

In 2016-2018, she worked at Philipp Chizhevsky’s ensemble Questa Musica, with which she performed the opera series Drillalians (Episode III: Alexey Sioumak), Igor Stravinsky’s The Wedding and Mass, Alfred Schnittke’s Choir Concerto, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah oratorio, Henry Purcell’s The Fairy-Queen, works by Arvo Pärt, John Taverner, and Johannes Brahms.

She played Octavia in Dmitri Kourliandski’s opera “Octavia. Trepanation” (directed by Boris Yukhananov) at the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre and Muziekgebouw (Holland Festival, Amsterdam).

In 2018, she joined Teodor Currentzis and the musicAeterna choir. As a soloist, she has participated in several projects, including the first performance and recording of Alexey Retinsky’s Rex Tremendae and score for Medea, Bernhard Lang’s Songbook I, and Alexander Knaifel’s vocal cycle A Silly Horse.

WHEN YOU GO UP THE STAGE, DO YOU FEEL ANY CHANGES DEEP INSIDE?
When we are on stage, we get rid of anything unnecessary; but at the same time, we discover thoughts and emotions that we hardly ever encounter in everyday life. This way, a concert is always an introspective search for one’s own nature.
ARE CONCERTS EXHAUSTING OR INSPIRING?
Both. The night after the concert, you crash down in bed seemingly exhausted — but then you cannot fall asleep till 6 a.m. because you are overwhelmed with emotions, you want to create and bring ideas to life. What you really want after the concert is to have three more concerts.
BEFORE YOU BECAME A MUSICIAN, HAD YOU CONSIDERED A DIFFERENT CAREER?
I played tennis in my childhood and greatly enjoyed it. However, music had become a part of my life even earlier. I had been studying at music school since I was 4. We were taught to love music there, not just to play it. This love has accompanied me through all my life.
WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO AT HOME?
I am a passionate person: once I have heard a beautiful song, I can listen to it on repeat over and over. At the moment, I have several playlists with music ranging from 80s’ pop and 60s’ psychedelic rock to techno and electronic music — with an occasional Handel’s overture thrown in.
WHAT KIND OF MUSIC OR SOUNDS COULD YOU LISTEN TO INFINITELY?
Music is a form of data, so it cannot be consumed infinitely. There is, of course, deep and beautiful music that warrants listening to on repeat. Then again, there is “impossible” music: listening to it even once is a big deal. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6 is such an example. Lastly, sometimes all you really want is silence.

musicAeterna choir events

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Hildegardof Bingen (1098–1179)
O virga ac diadema | O branch and diadem
sequence

Teodor Currentzis
Alleluia

Φῶς ἱλαρὸν | O Gladsome Radiance
the entrance chant of Great Vespers, the Byzantine tradition

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)
 Voskres iz groba |Christ is risen from the grave
Troparion No. 14 from the All-Night Vigil for mixed choir, Op. 37 (1915) 

Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933–2010)
Amen for mixed choir, Op. 35 (1975)

Ἐξομολογεῖσθε τῷ Κυρίῳ | Confess to the Lord
antiphon of the Byzantine tradition

Sub tuum praesidium | Under Your mercy we take refuge
hymn to the Virgin (3rd-4th century)

Alexander Knaifel (1943–2024)
Uteshityelyu | To thee, Comforter
Prayer to the Holy Spirit for mixed choir (1995)

Ave rex gentis anglorum | Hail, King of the English people
hymn to King Edward the Martyr (England, 11th century)

Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)
Ave verum corpus (1952)

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)
A Hymn to the Virgin for double choir (1930)

Teodor Currentzis
Εωθινόν | Morning Chant (2022)

Improvisation on Bikapo sound sculptures

The programme is subject to change.

Musical Director and Conductor Teodor Currentzis
Stage Director Anna Guseva
Choirmaster Vitaly Polonsky
Choreographer Aisylu Mirhafizkhan
Lighting Designer Natalia Tuzova

Performers:

musicAeterna Choir
musicAeterna Dance
musicAeterna Orchestra soloists and guest artists:
Alexander Shirunov, accordion
Sasha Listova, piano
Andrey Baranenko, organ
Alexey Amosov, Andrey Volosovsky, Maxim Sanin, percussion
Yiorgos Kaloudis, classical Cretan lyra
Maria Zorkina, lever harp
Olga Komok, organetto

Bikapo improvisation performers:
Lada Raskolnikova
Alexey Sulin
Mikhail Myasoyedov
Eleonora Myasoyedova

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Hildegardof Bingen (1098–1179)
O virga ac diadema | O branch and diadem
sequence

Teodor Currentzis
Alleluia

Φῶς ἱλαρὸν | O Gladsome Radiance
the entrance chant of Great Vespers, the Byzantine tradition

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)
 Voskres iz groba |Christ is risen from the grave
Troparion No. 14 from the All-Night Vigil for mixed choir, Op. 37 (1915) 

Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933–2010)
Amen for mixed choir, Op. 35 (1975)

Ἐξομολογεῖσθε τῷ Κυρίῳ | Confess to the Lord
antiphon of the Byzantine tradition

Sub tuum praesidium | Under Your mercy we take refuge
hymn to the Virgin (3rd-4th century)

Alexander Knaifel (1943–2024)
Uteshityelyu | To thee, Comforter
Prayer to the Holy Spirit for mixed choir (1995)

Ave rex gentis anglorum | Hail, King of the English people
hymn to King Edward the Martyr (England, 11th century)

Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)
Ave verum corpus (1952)

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)
A Hymn to the Virgin for double choir (1930)

Teodor Currentzis
Εωθινόν | Morning Chant (2022)

Improvisation on Bikapo sound sculptures

The programme is subject to change.

Musical Director and Conductor Teodor Currentzis
Stage Director Anna Guseva
Choirmaster Vitaly Polonsky
Choreographer Aisylu Mirhafizkhan
Lighting Designer Natalia Tuzova

Performers:

musicAeterna Choir
musicAeterna Dance
musicAeterna Orchestra soloists and guest artists:
Alexander Shirunov, accordion
Sasha Listova, piano
Andrey Baranenko, organ
Alexey Amosov, Andrey Volosovsky, Maxim Sanin, percussion
Yiorgos Kaloudis, classical Cretan lyra
Maria Zorkina, lever harp
Olga Komok, organetto

Bikapo improvisation performers:
Lada Raskolnikova
Alexey Sulin
Mikhail Myasoyedov
Eleonora Myasoyedova

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György Kurtág (b. 1926)
Songs of Despair and Sorrow for mixed choir with instrumental accompaniment, Op. 18 (1980–1994)

So weary, so wretched to the words of Mikhail Lermontov (1840)
Night, an empty street, a lamp, a drug-store to the words of Alexander Blok (1912)
Blue Evening to the words of Sergei Yesenin (1925)
Where can I go to in this January? to the words of Osip Mandelstam (1937)
The Crucifixion to the words of Anna Akhmatova (1939)
It’s time to the words of Marina Tsvetaeva (1941)

Grabstein für Stephan | Gravestone for Stephan for guitar and instrumental ensemble, Op. 15c
(1989)

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Ein deutsches Requiem | A German Requiem for soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra, Op. 45 (1865–1869)

Selig sind, die da Leid tragen | Blessed are those who weep, for they will be comforted
Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras | For all flesh is like grass
Herr, lehre doch mich, dass ein Ende mit mir haben muss | Lord, teach me that I must have an end
Wie lieblich sind Deine Wohnungen, Herr Zebaoth! | How lovely is Thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit | Ye now therefore have sorrow
Denn wir haben hier keine bleibende Statt | For here we have no continuing city
Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herrn sterben | Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord

The programme is subject to change.

Performers:

Iveta Simonyan — soprano
Vladislav Chizhov — baritone

The musicAeterna Choir and Orchestra
Conductor — Teodor Currentzis 

 

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György Kurtág (b. 1926)
Songs of Despair and Sorrow for mixed choir with instrumental accompaniment, Op. 18 (1980–1994)

So weary, so wretched to the words of Mikhail Lermontov (1840)
Night, an empty street, a lamp, a drug-store to the words of Alexander Blok (1912)
Blue Evening to the words of Sergei Yesenin (1925)
Where can I go to in this January? to the words of Osip Mandelstam (1937)
The Crucifixion to the words of Anna Akhmatova (1939)
It’s time to the words of Marina Tsvetaeva (1941)

Grabstein für Stephan | Gravestone for Stephan for guitar and instrumental ensemble, Op. 15c
(1989)

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Ein deutsches Requiem | A German Requiem for soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra, Op. 45 (1865–1869)

Selig sind, die da Leid tragen | Blessed are those who weep, for they will be comforted
Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras | For all flesh is like grass
Herr, lehre doch mich, dass ein Ende mit mir haben muss | Lord, teach me that I must have an end
Wie lieblich sind Deine Wohnungen, Herr Zebaoth! | How lovely is Thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit | Ye now therefore have sorrow
Denn wir haben hier keine bleibende Statt | For here we have no continuing city
Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herrn sterben | Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord

The programme is subject to change.

Performers:

Iveta Simonyan — soprano
Vladislav Chizhov — baritone

The musicAeterna Choir and Orchestra
Conductor — Teodor Currentzis