After eight years, Russian soprano Olga Peregatko collaborated with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra again. She arrived two days before the rehearsal and was familiar with the journey. The continuous rainy days did not affect her mood at all.
A Russian friend in Shanghai took her on a citywalk, including the Bund and the City God's Temple. They also went shopping and had massages, and also tasted soup dumplings and Pu'er tea. These are all shared on her Instagram account with more than 200,000 fans.
In the 2016 Shanghai New Year Concert, she collaborated with Italian conductor Daniele Gatti. This time, she was replaced by Zhang Jiemin, the resident conductor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. The two collaborated for the first time and had a perfect understanding.
On the evening of April 19, Olga Peregatko performed with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra again. Photo by Cai Leilei
“I love her so much!” Olga said, “She can speak Italian, everything I want. She understood everything and helped me realize it immediately. At the beginning of my career, there were very few female conductors, but now I believe that a good conductor and a singer can satisfy each other and follow the music. "It's important."
Last time, most of the repertoire was decided by the conductor, but this time it was all up to her. She sang Donizetti's "Don Pasquale", Bellini's "Norma", Verdi's "Trovatore", "Sicilian Vespers", Gounod's "Vasco da Gama", Bizet "The Pearl Fishers", Massenet's "Manon" and other classic arias from Italian and French operas. "They are all arias that I love very much. This concert is a comprehensive showcase of my current career."
Olga on the opera stage
Olga Peredyatko was born in St. Petersburg, with Anna Nery Beko and Aida Galifrina are known as Russia's three major sopranos. Her beautiful singing voice and bright and charming appearance gave Olga the reputation of "Opera Barbie". She has won the highest award of Italy's "Franco Abbiati" Award and the "German Classical Echo Award" for the best solo album of the year. prize.
In addition to her native Russian, Olga is also proficient in Italian, German, English, French is also good, and she can understand Spanish. In 2021, she recorded an album "songs for maya" ("Songs of Maya"), which contains 23 lullabies from all over the world, all sung in local languages, including a Chinese lullaby "The Moon is Bright" "The wind is calm".
's album recording plan had been put on hold due to her busy schedule. Until the COVID-19 epidemic, stage performances were canceled and she lay down for two weeks. Pianist semjon skigin said: "Now you have no excuses, let's get started." So, in the disinfected room, they started rehearsing five meters apart.
"Song of Maya"
In the third week of rehearsals, Olga discovered that she was pregnant. At that time, no one except her husband knew the news. But one day during the rehearsal, Skikin suddenly said to her: "What happened to you? Why is your voice different?"
Olga immediately shed tears. "Actually, it was because I was already singing for the baby in my belly. Maybe, somehow, God asked me to make this album."
Later, the record was published and was named "Song of Maya", Maya It was my daughter's name, and she grew up listening to these lullabies.
"Maya's birth changed everything for me and now I don't care about anything. As long as she's okay, I'm fine and everything is fine. That's the most important thing. Rumors, Facebook, who said that I don’t care about anything, what really matters is your family,” Olga said.
Maya is now three years old and often calls herself an "artist". She learned to dance, sing, and play drums, and her dream was to become a ballet dancer. "The schedule this time is too busy. I must bring her next time, maybe next year. Next year I will perform "La Traviata" at the National Center for the Performing Arts. I decided to let her learn Chinese. I really hope she can understand and understand Read Chinese. ”
Photo by Olga and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Cai Leilei
The human voice is like a delicate instrument, always undergoing subtle changes as time goes by.In Olga's view, what a smart singer should do first is to stay in his or her comfort zone and not try to change easily. But when the time comes, don’t hesitate, adapt to the changes and take bold steps to change.
Sopranos are divided into coloratura sopranos, lyric sopranos, dramatic sopranos and other types. Many people believe that there are clear lines between genres that cannot be easily crossed. But Olga disagreed. "A certain voice can only sing in certain genres and repertoires. This is a strict rule."
She gave an example. Although Leonona in "Il Trovatore" and Gilda in "Rigoletto" have the same voice. It is written according to the genre, but Leonora is more solemn and solemn, while Gilda needs to show the characteristics of a girl, and her voice needs to be transparent and clear. The two characters are very different in personality and age, but their singing techniques and voice types are similar.
Olga on the opera stage
Olga, who debuted as a coloratura soprano, had already begun to challenge some "heavy" roles before giving birth to her daughter, such as Puccini's "Manon Lescaut". It’s the Lyric Soprano’s classic repertoire.
What makes Olga happy is that she can now control more and more of Puccini's works. She has played Liu Er in Puccini's "Turandot", and not long ago she made her debut in "Swallow" in Turin, Italy.
"Society and the audience's perception may be slower. Many people's impression of me is still the same as that of fifteen years ago. They think that I am a coloratura soprano and I will be a coloratura soprano for the rest of my life." Olga said, " My experience is to change according to the change of your own voice. Don’t try to imitate others, just be yourself and let everything take its own course.”
