Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble

Dmitri Pokrovsky and His Ensemble. Boston USA, 1988

The Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble (Russian: Ансамбль Дмитрия Покровского)^[1] was founded by Dmitri Pokrovsky (1944-1996) in Moscow in 1973 as an experimental singing group under folk Commission of the URSS Сomposers Union.The appearance of this team completely changed in modern society the understanding and view of folklore. For the first time in this Ensemble came together scientific approach to the study of folklore and brilliant stage presentation of it. Professional musicians belonging to the city culture had to master a large number very dissimilar styles of Russian village music. The Pokrovsky Ensemble became the first professional groups who began to study the Russian folk music from authentic village musicians in numerous folklore expeditions. Participants of Pokrovsky Ensemble has been recording, learning and then performing very different traditions, styles and manners of folk singing, playing and dancing, trying to penetrate the rules of its existence, understand the laws of its development. Dmitri Pokrovsky was one of the first musicians who tried to bridge the gap between the old and new music. The credo of The Pokrovsky Ensemble that Russian traditional folk music is a living treasure of Russian culture and is the basis for all classical and contemporary Russian music. Pokrovsky Ensemble became the starting point in the search for new ways to stage implementation of folk music and marked the beginning of a Russian wave in the World music.

Album ”Earthbeat” cover

The Ensemble participated in Paul Winter Consort tour promoting their joint album Earthbeat and many various international festivals (Tokyo Summer Festival, Berliner Festwochen, etc.). The Ensemble has worked with numerous famous musicians and composers (Michael Tilson Thomas, Thomas Ades, Vladimir Martynov, Iraida Yusupova, Anton Batagov, Alexey Aygi, Vladimir Nikolaev, Alexey Shelygin, Tatiana Grindenko, Labèque sisters, Felix Korobov, Vladimir Dashkevich, Teodor Currentzis, M. Shmotova etc.). It has performed at American White House, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera, Vienna, Tokyo, Los-Angeles, San Francisco and Berlin Philharmonias, etc.^[2][3][4][5] Innovative interpretation of Stravinsky's masterpiece “Les Noces “in 1994 brought Ensemble undeniable success and international recognition.^[6] The Pokrovsky Ensemble has toured throughout the former USSR and Russia, the United States, Germany, Austria, England, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Israel, Finland, Japan, Italy, Belgium etc. Ensemble recordings include “Faces of Russia” (Trikont label, USA)“Wild Field“, a survey of Russian folk music released by Peter Gabriel’s Real World label, “Earthbeat”, an artistic collaboration with the Paul Winter Consort (Living Music,USA ),^[7] Igor Stravinsky’s ”Les Noces“(Electra-Nonesuch ,USA),^[8] ”Night in Galicia” (V.Martynov) ( CCn'C Records,Germany), ”Mother Russia” (Fivepro.Rec,Russia), “Voices of Frozen Land” of Alexander Raskatov (NBELIVE,Netherlands) etc. The Ensemble has successfully cooperated with several theatrical directors and filmmakers (Yuri Lubimov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Mikhail Schweitzer, Andrey Smirnov, Valery Fokin, Kama Ginkas, V.Mirzoev etc.).

Since Dmitri Pokrovsky’s death in 1996 Maria Nefedova (Russian: Нефедова Мария Петровна) and Olga Yukecheva (Russian: Юкечева Ольга Львовна) have been its music director and stage director respectively. The Encemble goes on tours, performs new programs of folk, sacred and modern music include "Faces of Russia", "The Man Lives Like The Grass Grows" - russian spiritual music, "Russian Wedding", "Russian Christmas", "From Romance to Limerick", "Russian Lenghth Song", "Vivat,Russia!" - songs and music of Peter The Great time, "Russian Folk Theatre", program "Romancein Letters" in honor of the Victory in Patriotic War of 1812 (Russian: ”Романс в письмах”, Moscow International House of Music, 2013), Russian Tales (Russian: ”Парасказки”, Moscow International House of Music, 2013),^[9] The Tale of Igor's Campaign (Russian: ”Слово о полку Игореве”, Moscow International House of Music, 2013),^[10] "Stimmung" (Karlheinz Stockhausen)^[11] etc. The Pokrovsky Ensemble, is still the only in the world.

Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble, 2009, Moscow

References