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© Olya Runyova Ⓘ
Sopranos

Valeria Safonova

In the choir since 2004

CAN YOU IMAGINE YOUR LIFE WITHOUT MUSIC?
I think I could. I’m a mother, and my child is as important to me as my work. With time, I’ve come to the conclusion that the essence of life isn’t limited to success or occupation — although music certainly makes me happy. Music gives me the sensation of immortality. I fear death most of all — death, old age, disease. But when I’m totally immersed in your work, in music… I can’t even call it “happiness”. It’s pain, it’s joy, it’s tears. But that’s when I feel death doesn’t exist. Happiness is when two notes make a connection to your heart. Nobody can take this feeling away from you, and you don’t even need the stage or the audience to experience it.
WHAT IS THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL CAREER FOR A PERFORMER?
It’s hard to say for certain. A whole range of skills is required. First and foremost, it’s natural ability, of course. That alone is not enough though. Certain character traits — the ability to work hard, endure difficulties and present oneself — are just as crucial. I lack those traits: I can’t get over myself and be an active contender for certain roles or insist on auditions. I suspect such qualities can be even more important than talent for a successful career — at least for a soloist.
WHAT THREE MUSIC PIECES DO YOU CONSIDER THE PINNACLE OF MUSIC?
There’s a vast amount of music that I love. I can’t name just three, five or even ten pieces.

What I can say is that some pieces of music feel otherworldly and ingenious. They don’t require any work: you don’t have to suffer and struggle with them. All you have to do is set them free. Two names are sacred to me: Bach and Mozart. Two composers whose every note is ingenious
WHAT DO YOU VALUE THE MOST IN WORKING WITH MUSICAETERNA?
MusicAeterna is Teodor Currentzis: he had his musicAeterna before us, and he’ll probably have one after us, too. Teodor is a true musician for whom compromise is never an option. Working with him is never easy but always rewarding. Of course, you can only live a life of absolute creation when you’re young, free, strong and passionate. That’s what makes musicAeterna beautiful.

musicAeterna choir events

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June 10, 21:00
St. Petersburg | Dom Radio
IM ÄTHER. Concert of choral music by Andreas Moustoukis
Choral concert

Andreas Moustoukis (b. 1971)
“Liturgy of St. Leontius” for mixed choir (2021)

Im Äther for mixed choir, 4 double basses, electronics, percussion and the ondes Martenot (2023, world premiere)

performers:
musicAeterna Choir and Orchestra Soloists

Conductor Vitaly Polonsky

MusicAeterna resident composer Andreas Moustoukis presents the result of his two-year work at Dom Radio. Together with the “Liturgy of St. Leontius”, fragments of which have been repeatedly heard in the concerts by the musicAeterna Choir, on June 6, the world premiere of his new composition – IM ÄTHER (“In Ether”) for mixed choir, 4 double basses, electronics, percussion and the ondes Martenot will take place. This is a micropolyphonic work based on the poems by Paul Celan interspersed with quotations from world cinema.

The author explains the essence of the new work as follows: “Im Äther (στον αιθέρα) is the need to breath out in the stratosphere were the gravitation is low and all the time is becoming one and a single moment of a crystal silence. The past, the present and the future stop to exist between then and now in a violent and compensating ‘why’, they just exist timelessly in the cosmic black as if they were small red shining dots of love, the tears of eternity.”

Photo: Selena Zhigulskaya