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Alexandra Szemerédy, Magdolna Parditka, Stage Director
Alexandra Szemerédy, Magdolna Parditka, Stage Director
Alexandra Szemerédy, Magdolna Parditka, Stage Director
Alexandra Szemerédy, Magdolna Parditka, Stage Director
Alexandra Szemerédy, Magdolna Parditka, Stage Director
Alexandra Szemerédy, Magdolna Parditka, Stage Director
Ruslan and Lyudmila at the Staatsoper Hamburg, The Nutcracker, Die Walküre, Die Passagierin and Christmas Eve with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Eugene Onegin and Tosca at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, a CD recording of Peter and the Wolf with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, a concert at the opening of the Münchner Opernfestspiele with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and the Bayerischer Staatsopernchor. Additional appearances include performances with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orquestra do Algarve.
He participated in the International Music Festival ArsLonga XX with the “Beethoven Marathon” and ArsLonga XXI with the “Tchaikovsky Marathon” at the Zaryadye Concert Hall in Moscow, and took part in the Diaghilev Festival. Throughout his career, Azim has held key positions such as Chief Conductor of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra ‘Entre Nous’, the 26th Kyoto International Music Festival, and the Moscow State Chamber Orchestra (the Pavel Slobodkin Centre). He was also a full-time conductor of the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra.
Aram Khachaturian — Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from the ballet Spartacus
Aram Khachaturian — Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from the ballet Spartacus
Edvard Grieg — Lyric Suite
Edvard Grieg — Lyric Suite
S. Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dances
S. Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dances
Tchaikovsky || Eugene Onegin - Waltz
Tchaikovsky || Eugene Onegin - Waltz
The young conductor Azim Karimov and the brilliantly organised Bavarian State Orchestra presented this phenomenal music to the ears of the enthusiastic audience with great brilliance, differentiation and great emotion.
This remarkable production of The Passenger has now enjoyed an outstanding revival at the Bavarian State Opera.
Karimov leads the orchestra and singers through Weinberg's demanding score in a structured and clear manner in terms of gestures and design. He shows a fine feel for the dramaturgy of the music and works out the situations and emotions of the characters reflected in it in a differentiated way. Overall, his interpretation favours a cool, almost rough harshness appropriate to the theme of the work, but he is also able to become softer in the lyrical moments.
But it is above all the orchestra, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, that truly surprised, so vigorously and powerfully was it conducted by Azim Karimov, pupil and assistant of Vladimir Jurowski, who demonstrated here that he possesses all the qualities of a true opera conductor. First, the overture was a celebration of color and energy; then he was able to accompany the voices without ever overpowering them, giving the orchestral moments a very particular relief and above all highlighting the orchestra’s sections, notably the woodwinds, which have an essential role (English horn, clarinet) and steer the ensemble toward a certain introspection and melancholy. The interest of his conducting is that he seamlessly embraces all styles, sometimes Rossinian or Donizettian, sometimes more idiomatically Russian, without any rupture, with a kind of logic and depth that probes the score in all its corners to extract an explosion of diverse colors and youthful energy at times, and chiaroscuro at others. It was known that Karimov promised a lot; he confirms that he will be a conductor to watch, and probably not only in the Russian repertoire. Another Russian conductor (in exile) adds to today’s range of precise, intelligent, and sensitive conductors who know how to make music and not just conduct an opera.
Conductor Azim Karimov set a breathtaking tempo in the well-known overture, with astonishing precision, and maintained a gripping sense of tension throughout, while also accompanying with the utmost sensitivity. He ensured a transparent balance in Glinka’s wonderful, multi-layered ensembles, in which each character “sings” his or her own state of being in a musically distinct way.
Karimov’s interpretation of Glinka’s score remains the cornerstone of the production; the performance took into account Glinka’s indications for the three orchestral sections, including the performance of the March of Chernomor by an ensemble of 40 musicians (this piece is included in a recording of the production) and the presence of live tubas in the funeral ensemble of the second scene of Act V, emphasizing the choral intensity of Lyudmila’s mourning. The restoration of the glass harmonica in the orchestra, which is usually replaced by the celesta, proved especially pleasing. Despite the unfavorable physical conditions of the venue, A. Karimov succeeded in integrating the sound of the different groups of performers and ultimately achieving a balanced timbre.
