Natalia O’Shea (Наталья Андреевна О’Шей) performs self-composed Celtic folk rock in Russian. She has released music as part of the popular folk band Melnitsa (Мельница) and as a solo artist under her stage name Hellawes (Хелависа). She is also a linguist and a specialist in Celtic languages. Hellawes studied piano at music school, but her […]

Alsou is a Russian singer of Bashkir and Tatar descent. Born in Tatarstan, the USSR, in 1983, she has lived in Siberia, Moscow, New York, and London and holds dual Russian and British citizenship. Professionally, she is known only by her first name. Her full name is Alsou Ralifovna Abramova. Her father, Ralif Rafilovich Safin, […]

Alla Yurievna Perfilova, better known by her stage name, “Valeria,” is from the small town of Atkarsk in the Saratov Oblast in Russia’s southwest. Raised by a family of classical musicians, she studied music her whole life. After graduating high school, Valeria moved to Moscow and entered the prestigious Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow. […]

Dima Bilan was born in Karachay-Cherkessia, a republic in Russia’s Caucasus region. He entered a specialty musical school in the fifth grade, where he studied primarily the accordion. He also took part in several youth contests in Karachay-Cherkessia and in Moscow. He entered the prestigious Gnessin Musical Academy in 2000. He met his future producer, […]

The International Winter Festival is an annual musical festival that takes place in December at Arts Square. This year, there were performances and exhibitions by the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, the Mikhailovsky Theater, the Theater of Musical Comedy, the Museum-Monument “St. Isaac’s Cathedral”, and the Russian State Museum. This year the festival celebrated the anniversaries of […]

Growing up listening to symphonic works of Beethoven, Liszt, and Wagner and being involved with orchestra throughout my musical career, I have developed a deep love for the symphony orchestra. During my time in St. Petersburg, I have mainly viewed musical concerts at the Mariinsky Theaters. Although I have enjoyed all the performances that I […]

The Russia School of Classical Music has greatly contributed to the genre of symphonic music. By the beginning of the 20th century, many Western composers were influenced by Russian music. Studying in St. Petersburg, I am glad that I have the opportunity to attend symphonic concerts that feature Russian composers. I have already seen several […]

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was one the greatest Russian composers who lived during the Soviet Era. Prokofiev composed for many genres (symphonies, operas, ballets) and he composed music for movies, including Sergei Eisenstein’s films Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible. Being a huge fan of Valery Gergiev as a conductor, a musician, and as a music […]

The history of Soviet music cannot be discussed without mentioning the Decree of 1948 and the anti-Formalist campaign that followed. Dmitri Shostakovich was one of a select number of Soviet composers who were denounced by this powerful document. After its publication, several of Shostakovich’s compositions were banned from performance, he temporarily lost his job at […]