Artists
Ekaterina Semenchuk
Mezzo-Soprano
Semion Skigin
Piano
Program
Mikhail Glinka
A Farewell to St. Petersburg
Modest Mussorgsky
Songs and Dances of Death
Approximate running time:
1h 30m
without intermission
Ekaterina Semenchuk and Semion Skigin’s song recital spotlights two antipodes among Russian composers of the 19th century: Mikhail Glinka, whose style was strongly influenced by Western European models, was nevertheless revered as the father of Russian music by the younger composers of the “Mighty Handful,” including Modest Mussorgsky. Glinka’s 1840 song cycle A Farewell to St. Petersburg is complemented by Mussorgsky’s somber Songs and Dances of Death, written some three decades later.