musicAeterna Vox
Founded in 2012
The vocal ensemble musicAeterna Vox was created in 2012 by the female artists of the musicAeterna choir who have mastered not only academic, but also folklore, as well as pop-jazz vocal techniques. Their repertoire is based on original arrangements of folk songs (Russian, Gypsy, Greek, Tatar, Spanish, etc.), works by contemporary composers, transcriptions of jazz and blues compositions from Broadway musicals and film soundtracks, as well as Middle Ages and Renaissance music.
In the course of their more than 10 year career the ensemble has mastered a variety of musical styles and directions, found their audience in many countries of the world, and experienced a number of name changes. First, it was JazzAeterna. In 2018, the collective together with the ensemble TrigolOs (Perm) presented a joint programme ‘Vselistvennyy moy venok’ (My Leafy Wreath). It was first performed at the Diaghilev Festival, and then at the largest concert, museum, and festival venues in Europe, as well as within the framework of Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s DAU project in Paris on the stage of the theatres de La Ville and du Châtelet.
In 2019, the vocalists delved into the study of early music and adopted the name musicAeterna 4. At the same time, their contacts with the contemporary music scene were intensifying. The ensemble collaborated with such composers as Vladimir Martynov, Andreas Moustoukis, Vangelino Currentzis, Alexey Sioumak, Alexander Manotskov, Alexandra Filonenko, and Andreas Kameris. The music of the latter was recorded for the feature film by Lilia Timirzyanova ANIMA (2021).
In 2023, the ensemble has taken on a new name – musicAeterna Vox. Its line-up is flexible and varies from two to five members. They repeatedly cooperate with instrumentalists, namely the musicAeterna Orchestra soloists, a folk musician and harpist Irina Pyzhyanova, and a Greek composer, multi-instrumentalist and Classical Cretan lyra player Yiorgos Kaloudis. In 2023, the programme Come Again… Sweet Love enjoyed particular success. First presented at the Diaghilev Festival 2023, it is a collection of works belonging to the period from the 11th to the 17th centuries. Yiorgos Kaloudis acted as the author of the concept, transcriptions, and performer on bendir, tambourine, and the Classical Cretan lyra.
Currently musicAeterna Vox is preparing for the premiere of the cycle Lullabies (The Songs I’ve Never Sung You), specially written for the ensemble by the musicAeterna resident, Cypriot composer Andreas Moustoukis. The world premiere will take place on December 4, 2023 at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
The musicAeterna Vox ensemble maintains an active concert and touring career, continues to create and present to the public new original programmes in which all works – whether medieval motets or early jazz standards – sound in arrangements created by the members of the ensemble, so that the music being performed speaks to the 21st century listeners in their language and tells a holistic story, developing from the beginning of the concert to its finale.
The permanent members of the vocal ensemble musicAeterna Vox:
Elena Podkasik – soprano
Alfia Khamidullina – soprano
Elena Shestakova – mezzo-soprano
Anastasia Gulyaeva – contralto
Elena Gurchenko – mezzo-soprano