Olga Peretyatko's recital — a night to remember

It is rare that a critic gets to write rave reviews, but Olga Peretyatko’s performance on Sept. 19 made that an easy task!

Accompanied by fellow Russian pianist Semjon Skigin, their very first notes captivated the house from beginning through the closing encore. Her mastery of dynamic range from her pin-drop pianissimos to her rafters-shaking fortissimos coupled with her pitch-perfect execution penetrated the entire evening’s performance.

The first half was a collection of lullabies from a multitude of countries, but everyone remained awake with rapt attention to the experience of her energy and vocal versality.

Languages sung included Italian, German, French and English, and to the audience’s delight, also included Zheng Jian Chun’s song “Ost-Nord Folks Lullaby,” sung in Chinese. This was the first song she performed with a microphone, presumably for the reverb effect so popular with Chinese audiences, and even though (or perhaps in part because) she sang with a Western-style voice, her performance pretty much brought the house down. (She has previously recorded on CDs this and other songs performed last Thursday evening.)

When she sang the Brazilian music of Santoro and Pimenta, she continued using the mike to emphasize her chest voice to express the music’s passion, and set the mike aside when she returned to her commanding head voice. The mood changes were quite powerful, and even without understanding the words, the audience clearly understood the underlying passions she expressed.

Halfway through the first half, pianist Skigin performed a heart-touching rendition of Schumann’s “Träumerei.” From this and from the rest of the recital it was easy to understand and appreciate how he is one of the most sought after accompanists. His versatility includes mastery of many schools of performance technique, as seen for example in his switching from using the body to provide weight as taught in the Russian School to the dexterous and delicate touch as taught by the French School.

The second half of the recital was a tribute to “the Genius of Pauline Viardot,” and included various songs and arias Viardot had been famous for singing as well as some of her own compositions and arrangements. Olga spoke Russian as she introduced each selection; Chinese subtitles above the stage helped clarify what she was expressing.

When Olga sang Bellini’s “Casta Diva” from the opera “Norma,” – well, she nailed it! Both times she expanded the repeated A5 that then moved to the Bb5 was sufficient to bring tears of gratitude to many in the audience.

Her full control of her passaggio became vividly evident when she sang Viardot’s “Upon the Hills of Georgia”: moving from head voice to chest voice, the change of timbre was imperceptible, but she could also at will create a dark chest voice that took the sense of passion to a new level.

While the accompaniment beginning of “Una Voce Poco Fa” from Rossini’s opera “The Barber of Saville” introduced the second half, the sung portion was the final song of the Viardot portion of the recital. In spite of no stage setting, her acting was magnificent, and the timing and expression of the humor of the aria was laugh aloud material. The Chinese audience is not that familiar with Western opera, and I do wish they had more familiarity with the story line so they could better appreciate the humor that was so wonderfully expressed. But it was already more than enough to hear the beautiful clarity of her voice and her trills and coloratura flourishes for which she is so well known.

In the audience were many musicians and students among those who simply love music, including already established fans of Olga. Ren from Hubei along with several voice students and their coach from the SZ-HK Conservatory were enraptured with the performance. Several people lined up outside the stage door to get autographs and photos with Olga and Semjon: Thomas from Hong Kong took up most of her time, as he had all her CD albums and various news stories that he wanted her to autograph, and she happily complied. Also present was Angela, a soprano from the Shenzhen Opera and Dance Theatre; originally from Harbin, she found the performance quite inspiring. Caroline from Fujian is a government worker who loves good music, and wanted to clench her memorable experience with an autograph.

I also met Victoria and Evgeny, both professional singers from Russia who have been in Shenzhen for more than three years. What is especially fascinating is that Victoria was one of Olga’s students in Russia! She assured me that Olga is not only a great singer but is also a great teacher.

A short documentary video about Olga’s performances in Germany, Paris and other places was released just a few days ago; she says there are no current plans to make one about China, but who knows? She has previously performed in various parts of China, and has upcoming performances scheduled for Hong Kong and Beijing, among other places. If you have the opportunity, I strongly encourage to attend any of her performances, as experiencing artistic perfection is something too rare for people to miss.

This series of concerts celebrating the Belt and Road will continue through October 30 of this year.