The evening was a special one – amazing, romantic and incredibly beautiful: “the musical drawing-room” of the Elena Obraztsova International Festival of Classical Music “Carmen” invited Satka residents and guests to visit the world of Russian art songs.

The event took place in the Magnezit Cultural Center on December 1 and became an immersion into another reality, which nearly every guest tried to film or photograph – the cosmic scale reality of the Carmen Universe. The center of it was the beautiful grand piano surrounded with the dimmed warm light of dozens of flickering candles, in rich colors of large flower arrangements which added a fine fragrance of the roses to the atmosphere. All the arriving spectators were delighted and looked forward to hearing and seeing more. Someone was reminiscing on the “musical drawing-rooms” of the previous years, others were sharing their impressions – very, very softly, to avoid disrupting the magic around us... It seemed, another moment and Elene Obraztsova herself would come over to the piano…

- “We live for as long as we love. That’s what the great and the inimitable Carmen – Elena Obraztsova – believed. We are here today to reminisce on her amazing journey filled with music that inspired a lot of people. Each chord of those memories strikes us with awe and delight, just like the sounds of our favorite art songs that she used to sing. “Welcome, our dear guests, to our cozy “musical drawing-room”, said the hostess of the evening, the art historian Natalya Vodoleyeva, to the audience once the musical greeting – Khachaturian’s Masquerade Walz performed by teachers of Y. A. Rozum Children’s Art School No. 1 – was over. And all the subsequent instrumental and singing pieces immersed the audience in the world of light, positivity and of course, love, which is the main theme of art songs.

Young artists and their teachers were sharing their creative work and their lyrical mood, demonstrating the whole depth, richness and power of the musical language of romantic music and songs. There were Kira Guts (G. A. Shkal Children’s Art School No. 2), the Elegia band and Marina Alpatova (the Bakal Children’s Art School), Guzalia Samigullina and Olga Latypova (Y. A. Rozum Children’s Art School No. 1), Yekaterina Novozhenina and Sofia Smirnova (Berdyaush Children’s Art School), Olga Fadeyeva and Natalya Zhuravlyova, Irina Krivoshchyokova and Andzhela Malkova (Mezhevoy Children’s Art School), as well as the singers of the Magnezit Cultural Center Anna Dogadina and Ksenia Astakhova, and Ulyana Mikheyeva, a composer and performer from Mezhevoy.

- “This is my first performance on the stage of the Carmen Festival. Such an exclusive event to me! I’m so delighted!” says Mikheyeva. – “Tonight is magic and beauty! I’m happy when I have the chance to show and share my work, especially on a day like this – my daughter turns 12 years old today. This is something very special to me. That’s why my Lullaby, dedicated to my daughter, was played today. The festival itself is magic, a miracle and a celebration. I’m a fan of Elena Obraztsova. I know her work very well and her quote (“We live for as long as we love”), the symbol of this incredible evening, is close to my heart.

- I especially remember Elena Obraztsova’s phrase: “Be yourself.” She always said that you shouldn’t pretend. Be sincere, be yourself. This thought, like a thread, runs with me through many-many years. Once, when Elena Obraztsova’s daughter Elena came to our festival and I co-hosted the concert with her, it was so wonderful! It was then that I also took part in master classes and tried doing classical singing. I was curious to know if I could do that? And I first had this tremendous experience at the Carmen Festival,” says Anna Dogadina. – Achievement is important to me. I need to raise the bar again and again. I’d like to find a teacher and learn classical singing – to plunge into the atmosphere of this music, which balances all events and any mood, distracts you form negative thoughts and aspects of life.

Source: Magnezitovets Photo by: Vasily Maksimov.