Basses

Nikolay Mazaev

In the choir since 2020

Born in Ulan-Ude (the Republic of Buryatia), he graduated from the Glinka Choral College in 2016 (the class of Conducting with professors A.D. Nyagi and A.A. Maksimov). Currently he studies Choral Conducting (the class of B.I. Nesterov) at the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory. He is the laureate of All-Russian competitions, including the All-Russian Music Competition in the discipline of Choral Conducting (2019).

He is the head of the Art Sonus Vocal and Choral School Academic Choir, which won the Slavic Spring International Choral Festival-Competition in the category “Mixed Choirs” (St. Petersburg, 2019).

HOW DID YOU COME TO BE A MUSICIAN?

There are no musicians in my family. My parents and my sister are lawyers, whereas I have been attracted to music since childhood. At the Choir College, this love only strengthened. Now I am studying at the Faculty of Symphony Conducting and I am happy that I can observe the work of such masters as Teodor Currentzis. I'm learning a lot from him.

WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR FREE TIME?

I believe that free time can always be found. Although there is a lot of work in musicAeterna, it does not depress, but on the contrary, it inspires. When I have time, I try to go to the gym or read. At the Diaghilev Festival, I purchased Haruki Murakami's book Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa. In this book there is a contemplation of the Japanese phenomenon of "ma" – silence. The mastery of silence is very important for a musician. I also have an interest in poetry, since most of the masterpieces of vocal music are based on works of poets. I especially value the work of Alexander Blok, the great symbolist. For a while I was interested in anime and Japanese culture. Among my favourite authors in this genre, I would mention the work of the dreamer Satoshi Kon, the visionary Mamoru Oshii, and the chronicler Kentaro Miura.

WHO IS THE AUTHORITY IN MUSIC FOR YOU?

As a composer, Stravinsky. He was an innovator who influenced the evolution of music throughout the 20th century. In my opinion, from the point of view of reformation in music, he can only be compared with Johann Sebastian Bach. Just like Stravinsky, Grigory Sokolov is an adept of pure art, but in terms of performance. I happened to hear him play once in Salzburg, and I will never forget this concert. Another authority is Avenir Mikhailov, a Soviet choirmaster, one of the founders of the choral conducting department of the St. Petersburg Conservatory whom I consider my 'pedagogical grandfather' as he was my teacher's teacher. There is little information about him left in the public domain, but his personality can be judged by the words of students and eyewitnesses. He was a brilliant choirmaster and teacher who brought up a whole constellation of outstanding musicians.

WHICH COMPOSITION WOULD YOU LIKE TO PERFORM?

I would like to sing Sviridov's vocal poem Petersburg based on poems by Alexander Blok, to conduct Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 and perform something of my own, but not in the near future.