Olga and Ildar in Concert

Read my review today on the Washington Post Web site:

Charles T. Downey, Husband and Wife Singers Show Russian Style, Languor at WNO
Washington Post, October 5, 2009

The Washington National Opera presented an unusual concert of mostly opera arias on Saturday night. Artistic Director Plácido Domingo took the podium of the Opera House orchestra, its players now seated on the stage instead of in the pit. The celebrated tenor is not a conductor born, but he acquitted himself honorably, with a little help from the players, who came in a couple times with the singers even before a downbeat from the rostrum.

The stars of the evening were the Russian mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina and her husband, the Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov. The crowd, likely expecting a gala program of opera chestnuts, seemed underwhelmed by a subdued first half of Russian music, mostly slow, intense arias set in the evening or dead of night. These pieces, however, were the centerpiece of an odd program, otherwise a hodgepodge selection as most such affairs are. After all, one is unlikely to hear these little-known operas by Prokofiev, Glinka, Rachmaninov, and Borodin from this company any other way. [Continue reading]

Olga Borodina (mezzo-soprano) and Ildar Abdrazakov (bass)
Washington National Opera in Concert
Plácido Domingo, conductor
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Olga and Ildar Previously:
Olga Borodina on disc | Saint-Saëns, Samson et Dalila, Washington National Opera | Rossini, L'Italiana in Algeri, Washington National Opera | Mozart, Don Giovanni, Washington National Opera (and Second Cast)