Vadim rep in svetlana zakharova

  • Russian prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova and

    • Artist couple presents two sets of programs in Shanghai

    Russian prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova and violinist Vadim Repin are joining with star dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet to present two sets of programs for Shanghai audiences this week.

    As an enviable artist couple, Zakharova and Repin both have excellent reputations in their respective fields.

    Zakharova joined the Mariinsky Ballet at the age of 17 and was promoted to principal dancer a year later. She took a longstanding offer from the Bolshoi in 2003 and has been a principal dancer for the company since.

    Ma Yue / SHINE

    Svetlana Zakharova (center), Vadim Repin (second left), and Bolshoi Ballet dancers Denis Savin (left), Artemiy Belyakov (second right) and Mikhail Lobukhin (right) pose for a photo after meeting local media at the Shanghai Grand Theater.

    She won Russia's Golden Mask Award twice at the ages of 20 and 21 for her roles in "Serenade" and "The Sleeping Beauty." In 2008, she was awarded the "People's Artist of Russia." In 2014, she performed in the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

    Zakharova's husband Repin became the youngest winner of the violin section of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels when he was 17. Specializing in Russian and French music, Repin has been a frequent guest at international festivals, and joined the recording of Chinese pianist Lang Lang's first chamber music album.

    Both artists have made multiple trips to China. Zakharova remembers that the last time she performed at Shanghai Grand Theater was in 2014.

    'Pas-de-deux for Toes and Fingers'

    "I like Shanghai's architecture and delicious food," she said. "There has been a lot of change since I last came. It's one of the most beautiful cities in the world."

    Repin is more impressed by the high standards and professionalism of orchestras in Shanghai and Guangzhou. He will work with the Shanghai Op

    theartsdesk Q&A: violinist Vadim Repin

    Tonight in Birmingham and on Monday at the Royal Festival Hall he is back on familiar territory with old friends – Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Tchaikovsky (formerly the Moscow Radio) Symphony Orchestra - in one of the pieces which brought him world recognition at 17 as among the handful of truly great violinists in the world today, the Tchaikovsky concerto. The contrast is enough to show the kind of questing player he is, a master balancer of old and new.

    For the full picture, though, his chamber musical collaborations needs acknowledging (although he would insist that  he's aiming for chamber music even when he plays the big concertos). And his work with young musicians: I arrived in Lyon too late to catch his masterclasses with students from the Conservatoire the day before our interview. But he was glowing with that, as with so much else, when we met over lunch at his hotel on the banks of the Rhône.

    DAVID NICE: So we’re here first and foremost to discuss the Tchaikovsky Concerto performances you’ll be giving in London and Birmingham, though I’m especially intrigued by the contrast with the MacMillan, the difference in approach. Have you counted how often you’ve played the Tchaikovsky?

    VADIM REPIN: Well, twice over the past three years. I’ve done it many times before that, of course, it was part of the competitions that I used to enter, and I think for any Russian violinist not only is in a way Tchaikovsky concerto the unavoidable one, it is one of the most beloved, entertaining and satisfactory – your effort is not lost, let’s say. So since this is a special Tchaikovsky season [the 120 anniversary of his death, a fact which had passed me by], I decided to come back to this piece, I played it last month in Paris with the Philharmonia and Ashkenazy, and these will be the second and third times in Birmingham and London.

    Simply by not playing a standard repertoire piece for so long is one way. But th

    Zakharova and Repin share the stage in Pas de deux for Toes and Fingers

    The clever title of this mixed bill, “Pas de deux for Toes and Fingers” ­­– brainchild of Russian ballerina Svetlana Zakharova and her violinist husband Vadim Repin – led me to expect a daring and experimental program. Or, at least, revealing of something more personal than we typically see from the couple in their respective ecosystems, where they are superstars.

    I was wrong.

    The dance content was tepid, unadventurous fare, even by ballet gala standards. A snippet of Raymonda(the boring part), TheDying Swan, a couple of enigmatic contemporary pieces, and the delightful but insubstantial La ronde des lutins by Johann Kobborg gave dance-lovers little nourishment.

    Music-lovers were in heaven, however. Warm, lush tones all around. And Hong Kong’s young and vibrant Gustav Mahler Orchestra, led by Anton Barakhovsky, responded with verve and style to Repin’s pyrotechnic feats in works from Paganini to Mendelssohn, Ravel and more.

    The high point of the evening was indeed a pas de deux, but Zakharova was not in it. Repin and Barakhovsky traded some baroque quips at the top of Igor Frolov’s 1979 Divertimento for Two Violins and Orchestra, then all hell broke loose. They were bitten by the jazz bug – and though the classical music fairy tried to rescue them, they were too far down the rabbit hole. It was great fun, impressive bowing, and further enlivened by the physical contrast between the soulful Repin, who channels all his energy through the sounds of the violin, and Barakhovsky, who is a live wire.

    Zakharova first sailed onstage stretched out in an overhead lift, ported by the handsome and stalwart Mikhail Lobukhin. In a glittering white tutu and tiara, her endlessly long arms and legs stretched to full capacity at a breathtaking height from the stage, she was a magnificent sight – rather like one of those gleaming w

  • Superstar husband-and-wife team, renowned violinist Vadim

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