Elene Gvritishvili

In the choir since 2020

Elene Gvritishvili graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg College of Music (Choral Conducting Department, Fyodor Lednev’s class) and currently studies at St. Petersburg State Conservatory (Opera Singing Department, Svetlana Gorenkova’s class). She has been the musicAeterna choir artist since September 2020.

Since 2014 she has regularly performed in both the Large and the Small Halls of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia, in the State Academic Chapel, on the stages of the Mariinsky Theatre, the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theatre, etc. as a soloist and in ensemble. She has collaborated with the baroque ensemble The Pocket Symphony, the medieval music ensemble Laterna Magica, contemporary music ensembles moLot and Just.

With the Choral Collegium Ensemble she performed madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi and Carlo Gesualdo di Venosa, motets and cantatas by I. S. Bach. As a member of the ResonAnce vocal ensemble she performed works from the repertoire of the ensembles The Real Group, King’s Singers, etc. arranged by Mikhail Serkov.

She has repeatedly collaborated with the chief organist of the Petrikirche, Sergei Silaevsky, performing programmes of vocal music by composers of the 16th and 17th centuries. On various chamber stages of St. Petersburg, she performed vocal cycles by Mahler, Strauss, and Berg.

She has performed world and national premieres of works by such composers as Alexey Retinsky, Leonid Rezetdinov, Philip Grange, Andrew Archbold, etc.

She has performed with the chamber cast of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra (Honoured Collective of Russia), the St. Petersburg Conservatory Chamber Orchestra, has worked under the direction of conductors Yuri Temirkanov, Simon Chock, Leo Kremer, and Fyodor Lednev. She has performed at the Earlymusic Festival (conductor Andrew Parrott), Verbier Festival (conductor Valery Gergiev), Diaghilev Festival, Salzburg Festival (conductor Teodor Currentzis).

As a soloist of the musicAeterna choir she takes part in the chamber music performances at the Dom Radio. Since 2022 she has been an artist of the Bolshoi Theatre’s Young Artists Opera
Programme.

HOW DID YOU PAVE YOUR WAY INTO MUSIC?

I've been into singing since I was a kid. My parents listened to the teacher's recommendation and to my requests and sent me to the piano department at a music school. Here, in Saint Petersburg, I studied choral conducting with Fyodor Lednev, a brilliant conductor and teacher who, among other things, introduced me to modern music and the creative work of musicAeterna. Now I am studying at the vocal department at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and working in a dream ensemble. Sometimes it is technically difficult to combine performing with the choir and studying at the conservatory because of the massive and very diverse vocal load.

WHAT DO YOU LISTEN TO IN YOUR FREE TIME?

I listen to a lot of music from different eras; I prefer genres with a bright improvisational beginning, when the skill and flair of the performer are of enormous significance. Of course, I listen to a lot of recordings by internationally recognized belcanto artists, learn and get inspiration from them. My choice of music is greatly influenced by my emotional state and the time of day: I listen to serious music that requires high sensitivity and concentration only at night.

HOW DO YOU RECUPERATE?

There are, however, times when you want to take a break from everything: not only from music, but also from people, events, and social networks. If there is opportunity, I go for a walk somewhere, if not, I try to find time to rest alone and in silence, time for an honest inner monologue. These rare but important moments help to restore mental strength. The rest of the time, music is a necessity for me, it's my way to communicate honestly, at my level, with the world, with people. This communication works best, of course, with fellow musicians, so for me sometimes "a good musician" and "a good person" are synonyms.

WHAT DOES MUSICAETERNA MEAN TO YOU?

I learned about this ensemble in the first year of music college, and since then I have been following its activities, listening to recordings, going to concerts, coming to the Diaghilev Festival. When I started working here, I became convinced that musicAeterna is a utopia, which by the efforts of people who are not indifferent to their work comes to life every day. It seems this cannot be happening! The artists themselves and those who help us are a huge family. Everyone here does their job with colossal dedication, works so that each of our listeners feels this love and becomes infected with it. musicAeterna is one of the few ensembles where work and friendship, almost a family-like bond, are not distinguished.

WHAT AND WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SING IN THE FUTURE?

I do love chamber music, because it allows you to "see" the performers better, you can work on very subtle nuances and achieve some incredible contact, mutual understanding by look, by sigh. I really like German lied, chamber baroque compositions, new and ultramodern music… In my programmes, I would probably combine the works of different eras interpreting one theme, idea, or image. I still don't know whether opera is right for me: over time, musical theatre is getting closer to me, but I understand that it requires complete no-compromise dedication, and I'm not ready to make this choice yet.