Philip Chizhevsky conductor biography personal life. Philip Chizhevsky: “The audience needs a current

conductor

Born in 1984 in Moscow. Graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory. P. I. Tchaikovsky in the specialties: choral conducting (class of Prof. S. S. Kalinin, 2008) and opera and symphony conducting (class People's Artist Russia prof. V.K. Polyansky, 2010). Laureate of the All-Russian Competition of Conductors (Moscow, 2008).

From 2008 to 2011 - Artistic director and conductor of the State Choir College of Music them. Gnesinykh, teacher of conducting.

In 2008 he founded the ensemble Questa Musica, with whom he has performed a number of

major projects in Russia and abroad.

Since 2011 she has been a teacher at the Moscow Conservatory. P. I. Tchaikovsky.

Since 2011 - conductor of the State Academic Symphony Choir of Russia (artistic director Valery Polyansky).

In September 2012, the Bolshoi Theater conducted by Philip Chizhevsky hosted the premiere of Sergei Nevsky's opera "Francis", and in October 2012 - the premiere performance of Michael Nyman's opera "Prologue to Dido and Aeneas Purcell" with the State Orchestra of Russia in Perm. In 2013, together with the Ensemble Questa Musica, he staged I. Stravinsky's The Story of a Soldier (choreography by Oleg Glushkov). Since 2014 he has been a conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre. In 2014 he staged Mozart's opera Così fan tutte at the Buryat State academic theater opera and ballet (stage director Hans-Joachim Frei). Is music director the first Baroque Festival at the Bolshoi Theater (season 2014/2015).

In June 2015, together with director Boris Yukhananov, he staged the opera series The Drillers at the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre, which includes world premieres of operas by leading Russian composers: Dmitry Kurlyandsky, Boris Filanovsky, Alexei Syumak, Sergei Nevsky, Alexei Sysoev and Vladimir Rannev.

Since 2016 Philip Chizhevsky has been collaborating with Tokio New Sity Orchestra (Japan, Tokyo).

In February 2016, with Questa Musica, he took part in the Baroque music festival in Linz (Austria). Together with the violinist Roman Mints, he recorded the music of Leonid Desyatnikov ("Sketches to Sunset" and "Russian Seasons"). Artistic Director II International Festival Orthodox singing "Illuminator" (Father Valaam). Within the framework of the V Festival of Contemporary Music "Another Space", together with V. Yurovsky and F. Ibragimov, he performed the Russian premiere of Stockhausen's "Groups" for three orchestras and three conductors.

Twice nominated for the theater award "Golden Mask" for best work conductor (2013 opera S. Nevsky "Francis", Grand Theatre and 2016 opera series "Drillers", Stanislavsky Electrotheatre)

Theater Award Jury Member Golden Mask» 2017

Collaborates with leading Russian and foreign orchestras, including: Tokio New City Orchestr, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra (chief conductor - Alexander Markovits), Brandenburgische Staatsorchester (artistic director Howard Griffiths), Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Theater Orchestra " New Opera"(chief conductor Jan Latham-Koenig), National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia (artistic director Vladimir Spivakov), New Russia (artistic director Yuri Bashmet), Russian Philharmonic (artistic director Dmitry Yurovsky), State Symphony Orchestra. E.F. Svetlanova (artistic director Vladimir Yurovsky), Musica Viva (artistic director Alexander Rudin).

Born in 1984 in Moscow. Graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory. P. I. Tchaikovsky in the specialties: choral conducting (class of Prof. S. S. Kalinin, 2008) and opera and symphony conducting (class of People’s Artist of Russia Prof. V. K. Polyansky, 2010). Laureate of the All-Russian Competition of Conductors (Moscow, 2008).

From 2008 to 2011 - Artistic director and conductor of the choir of the State Musical College. Gnesinykh, teacher of conducting. In 2008 he founded the ensemble Questa Musica, with which he carried out a number of major projects in Russia and abroad.

Since 2011 she has been a teacher at the Moscow Conservatory. P. I. Tchaikovsky. Since 2011 - conductor of the State Academic Symphony Choir of Russia (artistic director Valery Polyansky).

In September 2012, the Bolshoi Theater conducted by Philip Chizhevsky hosted the premiere of Sergei Nevsky's opera "Francis", and in October 2012 - the premiere performance of Michael Nyman's opera "Prologue to Dido and Aeneas Purcell" with the orchestra of the Russian State Academy of Theater Arts in Perm. In 2013, together with the Ensemble Questa Musica, he staged I. Stravinsky's The Story of a Soldier (choreography by Oleg Glushkov). Since 2014 he has been a conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre. In 2014 he staged Mozart's opera "Così fan tutte" at the Buryat State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (stage director Hans-Joachim Frei). He is the musical director of the first Baroque festival at the Bolshoi Theater (season 2014/2015).

Since 2016 Philip Chizhevsky has been collaborating with Tokio New Sity Orchestra (Japan, Tokyo). In February 2016, with Questa Musica, he took part in the Baroque music festival in Linz (Austria). Together with the violinist Roman Mints, he recorded the music of Leonid Desyatnikov ("Sketches to Sunset" and "Russian Seasons"). He is the artistic director of the II International Festival of Orthodox Singing "Illuminator" (Fr. Valaam). Within the framework of the V Festival of Contemporary Music "Another Space", together with V. Yurovsky and F. Ibragimov, he performed the Russian premiere of Stockhausen's "Groups" for three orchestras and three conductors. Twice nominated for the theater award "Golden Mask" for the best work of a conductor (2013 opera "Francis" by S. Nevsky, Bolshoi Theater and 2016 opera series "Sverliytsy", Stanislavsky Electrotheatre)

Member of the jury of the theater award "Golden Mask" 2017.

Collaborates with leading Russian and foreign orchestras, including: Tokio New City Orchestr, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra (chief conductor - Alexander Markovits), Brandenburgische Staatsorchester (artistic director Howard Griffiths), Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, New Opera Theater Orchestra ( chief conductor Jan Latham-Koenig), National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia (artistic director Vladimir Spivakov), New Russia (artistic director Yuri Bashmet), Russian Philharmonic Society (artistic director Dmitry Yurovsky), State Symphony Orchestra. E.F. Svetlanova (artistic director Vladimir Yurovsky), Musica Viva (artistic director Alexander Rudin).

Philip Chizhevsky, conductor of the Questa Musica ensemble, told the site about what stands between classical and modern music, whether it is worth playing a symphony without a conductor, and what has never happened at the Bolshoi Theater.

KSENIA FERZ: Philip, what are your musical plans for the near future?

PHILIP CHIZHEVSKY: ~ Since this season I have been working at the Bolshoi Theatre. And next season, my orchestra Questa Musica and I will give concerts on historical instruments. You have already heard a concert in Moscow with: something similar will begin at the Bolshoi Theater, where, as you know, there has never been a performance of strange music, for example, Handel, on the instruments of that historical era to which this music belongs. We will have several projects with youth artists opera program, which is headed by Dmitry Yuryevich Vdovin.

I believe that any music should be performed authentically: both historical and modern, that is, in the manner and style of the era in which it was written. historical musical instruments: gut strings, low tuning and other attributes are not an end in itself for me. But if it is possible to use such instruments, and if there are musicians who own them, then this adds charm and flavor to the sound.

How are things with current classics? Do you work with modern Russian composers?

~ I have to carry out a big project of five operas contemporary composers. Now we have five names of leading avant-garde composers - quite young, all a little over 40: Sergei Nevsky, Dmitry Kurlyansky, Boris Filanovsky, Vladimir Rannev and Alexei Simak. It will be five performances to the libretto by Boris Yukhananov, who, in fact, will play the role of director. The program is quite voluminous: at first it will consist of 5 separate performances, and then it will be narrowed down to a marathon program of modern operas.

All the living composers with whom I have collaborated write in different styles: everyone is looking for their musical way. The pleasure that we get from performing high-quality music is easy to convey to the public. Feeling the forms of modern classical sounding is possible only by experience. We are pioneers in our era. In some decades, this music will be looked at as a classical repertoire: something will be forgotten, something will remain.

And how does the audience perceive new composers?

~I am happy to work with people who are responsible for the notes they write, and not just abstract, which is a common technique in contemporary art generally.

An interesting fact is that for an audience not prepared in a musical sense, but inquisitive, the emotion that they receive from what they listened to is important. We convey this emotion by playing a Mozart sonata or an avant-garde work - it does not matter. The audience needs current.

In modern classical music, even non-musical instruments can be used: from wooden boxes to anvils. But for slim musical composition their parts have to be spelled out just as carefully as for the strings, for example.

On the one hand play contemporary music it's simpler: no one has done this before you - you do it as you want. When performing classical music, one should adhere to traditions and canons. But the moment of interpretations and transformations in music is also very important for me. Authentic performance is great, but music is not a vacuum, Mozart's masterpieces rush through the ages, so, in my opinion, it is important to bring in the nuances of modern reading, not forgetting the experience of previous generations. Then the music will breathe. And whether we are doing it right or wrong - time will tell, sweeping aside all unnecessary.

Please tell us about your profession as a conductor. In addition to directing the orchestra, does the conductor have the function of communicating with the public through plastique?

It doesn't matter which conductor - restrained or expressive - only the way the orchestra plays is important. If the plasticity of the conductor is justified, and the musicians understand him, then this good concert. Now almost any classic can be played without a conductor. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was the Persimfans orchestra, in which the conductor was replaced by the first violinist-accompanist: he showed the auftakt. With a conductor, one symphony takes three rehearsals, without a conductor - much more.

If we talk about classical music, then the function of a conductor is much wider. It lies not only in how he distributes the aftertaste, but in how he gives direction to this music, how he controls the breath of the orchestra. The orchestra can play rhythmically, perfectly in terms of all the nuances and touches, but the music will be absolutely dead - it will not be interesting to listen to. A conductor is needed in order to add fire, build phrases, round them out, put accents - control the movement.

In communication with each of my musicians of the Questa Musica ensemble, I insist that every time he performs the part as if no one had played it before him, even himself.

Ensemble's official website

On the small stage musical theater named after K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko in May, the Russian premiere of Georg Friedrich Handel's oratorio "The Triumph of Time and Insensibility" will take place.

The performance was directed by Konstantin Bogomolov, who first turned to the musical theater.

Created a new libretto famous writer, screenwriter, artist Vladimir Sorokin.

The ensemble Questa Musica under the direction of Philip Chizhevsky is responsible for the musical component.

Shortly before the premiere, the conductor spoke about this oratorio and Handel's music.

- Philip, as I know, Konstantin Bogomolov planned to stage "The Triumph of Time and Insensibility" three years ago. How did it happen that you became part of the already discussed performance?

- I was invited by Anton Getman, and on my birthday. He said that he already had an agreement with Kostya, and now he needed me and my musicians. True, he set a condition to play historical instruments.

For me, this proposal was the most the best gift! “Triumph…” is a very complex and unusual project. In this oratorio there are four allegorical genderless figures. I suggested to Kostya to make a complete male history and he immediately jumped at the idea. We have four wonderful soloists, we held the first block of rehearsals with the orchestra, we came up with something for the continuo ... But I will not reveal all the secrets.

- You already had experience working on Handel's music - both on the oratorio "Messiah", and on the opera "Rodelinda" - together with Christopher Mulds. Now - one of the early creations of the great composer.

Yes, this is, as you know, his first oratorio. We play the earliest version, written for his Italian patrons in 1707. Handel turned to this work thirty years later (1737), and it turned out to be half English, half Italian. And then another 20 years later (1757) the oratorio was already entirely performed in English.

For Handel, this is an absolutely "avant-garde" opus. I don't like this word. Indeed, in principle, Handel is a rather "combed" composer. All his music is beautiful, harmonious - just Igor Krutoy of his time. And if you listen to the aria "Gentle Morpheus" from "Alceste", then this clean water ABBA style.

Of course, the opposite is true, but the meaning of what I want to say is clear. In his youth, Handel still had a "wolf" scent. And then he calmed down a bit.

— In “The Triumph of Time and Insensibility” there is no the most important thing for the oratorio – the choir. One would like to call this work an opera. But, as Larisa Valentinovna Kirillina writes in her book on Handel, by order of Pope Clement XI, public opera performances in Rome from 1700 to 1721 were not allowed to be staged. Don't you think that Handel thus encrypted his work?

- Certainly. Handel wanted to write an opera. But he was still a young man, and, as they say, he did not need problems. Therefore, the opera became an oratorio. There are quite a lot of composer's finds in the score - for example, a completely written solo part of the organ. This is quite rare in his music.

In addition to chic duets and arias (by the way, one aria later migrated to the opera “Rinaldo”), there are only two accompaniator recitatives and two quartets, one of them is full (“Voglio tempo”). How many similar samples do we know from him, where four people sing at the same time? This is a unique example.

In "Triumph ...", the Italian style of writing is clearly felt, primarily because of the abundance of "bel canto", the embryos of which are very clearly visible. The parts of the vocalists are written in the wildest way! Soloists must have phenomenal technique.

Handel, like many of his colleagues, treats voices instrumentally. Let's say he has two oboes playing small notes, and then he immediately launches this texture in a vocal duet. It feels like he's being a little bit teased. Handel was then 22 years old, he was overwhelmed Vital energy He wasn't afraid to experiment.

But after many years he looked at his young self through the prism of a mature musician, as Bruckner would later do when he returned to his first symphony in last years life.

- Konstantin Bogomolov called Cardinal Pamphili's libretto "rotten". Do you agree with him?

- I guess, yes. In general, if we look at some samples of the libretto of that time, we will hardly find anything super interesting. Everything is clear with Pamphili - here Pleasure says to Beauty: "You will always be beautiful." And Time answers: “No, everything ends sometime ...” Well, everything around it.

And for Kostya, as a theatrical person, a more precise embodiment of this conditional plot is important. What did Sorokin do with the text? He just took and wrote his text! Although, of course, the roll call with Pamphili remained. In my opinion, this is incredibly well done. A very interesting solution. Here we are looking at the picture - if we guess the angle and the angle at which the artist applied this or that stroke, then this picture is revealed to us. It seems to me that Sorokin did the same. He figured out Handel.

— The text of the libretto was in tune with the era. Will it be interesting modern viewer all this complex of symbols and allegories? Or is a cardinal decision needed, as in the case of Sorokin's version?

— I don't think that the oratorio in the original historical production will be boring. But we have our own way. Surely you have seen the production of Krzysztof Warlikowski in Aix-en-Provence, where in the last aria Beauty opens her veins. Everything is different with us. An artist who takes on something new for himself wants to say a lot, convey a lot to the viewer. Moreover, an accomplished artist.

- There was no triumph at the premiere of the oratorio, but do you think we will have it?

I can say one thing for sure - it will be interesting. Even now, in the process of rehearsals, we feel fresh. Naturally, we play on the "veins", but I tell my musicians: friends, forget that you are baroque performers.

We look at this music through the prism of our time - both in terms of structure, and in terms of articulation, strokes, dynamics. We need to look for other ways. Yes, we know that here we need to slow down, but here we need to go forward. But why should we stick to it 100%? We play latest music, but we can perform baroque music from the same "look".

In The Triumph of Time and Insensibility there will be a Handel, perhaps unlike the one we are used to hearing. We are making an atypical Handel. But on historical instruments.

Elena Musaelyan

The young conductor and his wife talk about their ensemble Questa Musica, one of the most pleasant novelties of Moscow musical life

Filipp Chizhevsky is the name that finally extended the list of conductors that are "correct to walk" in Moscow, and moved Teodor Currentzis and Vladimir Yurovsky from the category of "young" to the category of "mature". Chizhevsky received a diploma from the Moscow Conservatory in 2008 choral conductor, in 2010 - opera and symphony. Since January 2011 he has been working at the State Academic Symphony Choir of Russia (directed by Valery Polyansky). But back in 2008, together with his wife Maria Griliches, he founded the Questa Musica ensemble, whose popularity in Lately growing like a snowball. The ensemble specializes in Renaissance and Baroque works, as well as works by contemporary composers. Large-scale projects include the staging of Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas, the performance of Stravinsky's Les Noces together with Mark Pekarsky's percussion ensemble, and operas by Sergei NevskyOutlandon the "Platform" and "Francis" at the Bolshoi Theater, Dmitry Kurlyandsky's opera "Sverlians". Very soon, another premiere on the "Platform" - "Passion" by Alexander Manotskov. ELENA MUSAELYAN talked to the creators of the ensemble.

- Who owned the idea of creating an ensemble Questa Musica?

Maria Griliches: The idea belonged to the composer Sasha Matveeva, who studied at the same time with us at the composition department of the Moscow Conservatory, and, one might say, initially it was her production project.

Philip Chizhevsky: We invited my friends from the Academy of Choral Art and immediately recorded a demo disc, which included compositions that had little to do with each other, it was such a potpourri: both Russian sacred music and folk songs, and classics, and even spirituals.

Griliches: Soon we went on our first tour to Venice and gave a concert of Russian sacred music there. And the second season started with solo concert at the House of Music. This was the beginning of the ensemble Questa Musica- The backbone of the guys who were with us at that time still remained in our main team. Soon after this concert, Sasha separated from us, and Philip and I began to pull this strap together.

The posters indicate that artistic director ensemble - Maria, and conductor - Philip. That is, you shared creative and administrative duties within your family tandem?

Griliches: We do not have a clear distribution that I am only an organizer, and Philip is a creator. We do everything together - for example, there was a rehearsal, and then we say everything together, discuss some creative moments. There were several projects that I conducted, but, of course, chief conductor- Philip. And, of course, he helps me in terms of organization. On some poster they wrote that Philip Chizhevsky is both an artistic director and a conductor, on some they didn’t write, and at first we were zealous about this - which of us was who. And now I don’t care at all, it doesn’t matter to me at all.

- Ensemble Questa Musica unusual for its versatility. As a rule, there are either instrumental chamber ensembles, or vocal-choral, and Questa Musica includes both vocal and instrumental parts.

Griliches: Initially Questa Musica was a vocal ensemble, but later instrumentalists began to join us - at first for separate projects. And then they somehow grew very tightly to us.

When the conductor opens the score, and nothing is clear there at all, one will immediately close it, and the other, on the contrary, will say “wow”.

Chizhevsky: You know, Questa Musica in our understanding with Masha, these are two people, she and I. Because we had projects that were completely different in composition, where I did not act as a conductor, but, for example, sang. There was a performance of Gesualdo's madrigals, when I read the text, and even played on percussion instruments. Let's take such projects as "Francis" by Sergei Nevsky at the Bolshoi Theater, when we had both a choir and a fairly large orchestra. When we performed Stravinsky's Les Noces, the choir and soloists were ours, we invited drummers from the Pekarsky Ensemble, and the pianists were conservatory teachers: Yuri Martynov, Ivan Sokolov, Mikhail Dubov, Vyacheslav Poprugin...

Griliches: Of course, now there is a permanent backbone in both the vocal and instrumental parts of the ensemble. These are about eight singers and about fifteen instrumentalists who constantly collaborate with us. When the same composition is preserved, the growth of the ensemble is seen from time to time. And as an artistic director, I always strive to preserve this backbone as much as possible. Ideally, of course, we would not have to choose one composition for modern music, and another for ancient music. There are some versatile guys out there who are equally good at gut instruments and modern ones, and that's amazing, of course.

Chizhevsky: When we do projects with early music, there are some nuances, for example, with wind players. There are only one or two trumpet players who play natural pipes in Russia, which is why they wander from group to group. It's the same with horns. Incidentally, we do not believe that all music from, say, the Classical era must necessarily be played on gut strings and in the 30th scale. Of course, this is interesting, and if there is enough time, why not? But this is not an end in itself. After all, you can pay more attention to articulation, composition, stroke, and everything will sound very good and close to authentic. After all, we live in the 21st century, and you can vary all this in terms of sound, make some kind of mixes, syntheses, which at first glance are not very digestible.

One gets the feeling that you have not lost the enthusiasm, which usually happens only at the very beginning. It is clear that when everything starts, everyone works only for the idea. How are you coping financially now?

Griliches: This is our main problem, because all the guys who play with us have to work in parallel at other jobs. Everyone has their own work schedule, you have to look for windows for rehearsals, and constantly hassle. There is no such thing as people coming, working and leaving. As for free concerts, I try to keep them to a minimum. We already have musicians of the wrong level, and if I call and say: “Hello, we will have such and such a concert, we need to help” - this is humanly bad, because the work must be paid. And I feel embarrassed, I don’t want to position our ensemble as “ah, this is Masha and Philip, they always have everything for free.” We were invited to the Bolshoi Theater by the Operational Group, so we calculated how many rehearsals we should have and how they should be paid. And through negotiations with the producer came to a common denominator. In December, I conducted Dmitry Kurlyandsky's opera The Drillers, written for our vocal ensemble a cappella. We were invited by the "Workshop of Individual Directing", Boris Yukhananov, who was in charge of the production. And everything was paid for.

But here we have concerts at the Moscow Conservatory, which we love madly, we love the Rachmaninov Hall and are always happy to perform there. However, everything is free there, the conservatory pays nothing.

Chizhevsky: It turned out very well that we were given a grant for Stravinsky's Les Noces.

Griliches: It turned out like this. All last season I shouted through all the windows and doors that there is such a young team, to the Department of Culture, to the Philharmonic - where I just didn’t apply. And I realized that, in principle, no one needs us. But the Department of Culture advised me to apply to " open stage» for a grant. And we wrote an application for "The Story of a Soldier" and "The Wedding", which we did together with Alisher Khasanov - this is a choreographer, we used to do "Didona" with him. I went to the “Open Stage” a certain number of times, submitted documents. And at the end of 2012, they called us from there and said that we had been given a grant for Svadebka. But in any case, even if we had not received a grant, we already had a “Wedding Party” planned, it would just be free. I really love all our guys, I appreciate their work, and for their sake I am ready to go further, to ask, to prove that our ensemble exists, that the public needs us and we are not doing all this in vain.

Have you tried finding your sponsor?

Griliches: Yes, but I don't know how to find it. At one time they sent out a bunch of disks, letters. Then somehow they stopped.

- Did they cheat?

Griliches: Certainly. I will not even dissemble and say that hack is not for us. The only thing, I always set a condition for myself and for all our participants, that this is not a hack, but the same concert, for which we have the same rehearsals as usual. But we have strict limits, there are proposals that I immediately refuse. Naturally, we don’t play in restaurants when people are eating and drinking, as background music… Or if they ask to play music from a cabaret… We had one corporate party - our vocal ensemble was invited, it was a concert classical music in the Pashkov House, which the company arranged for its clients. We performed in the first part, Spivakov with the Moscow Virtuosos in the second part. In fact, it was a concert in good company. If there were more such corporate parties, we would live better!

To the question of the ensemble's repertoire. On the one hand, it is quite wide - from Renaissance music to the most modern. Gesualdo and Sharrino, Charpentier and Messiaen coexist in the programs of your subscription at the Moscow Philharmonic. But at the same time, it creates the feeling that you are deliberately avoiding the romantic “middle” familiar to the average listener. There is a moment of challenge here - we will sing and play whatever we want and we don't care that only a very narrow circle perceives this?

Chizhevsky: You know, we didn't even think about it. When the program is put together, we hope that it will be interesting to hear for other people as well. Now there is more and more audience that can perceive this music, and, by the way, among non-musicians. There are many intellectual youth who have nothing to do with music: actors, artists. After all, music is emotions, and if it is well presented, if we show how much we ourselves enjoy its performance, then this does not remain without an answer.

Our ensemble does not have a clear focus on any particular era. We only do what we are interested in this moment. My deep conviction is that we have no right to play old music if we do not know the one that is being written now. And if we play modern music, we begin to look at the old one in a completely different way. It is very close, and it is always good when old and new music is placed side by side in the concert program.

Perform a symphony by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, any romantic essay, in principle, it is possible without a conductor. But if nothing changes in his presence, then the question arises - why is he needed?

Paradoxically, your ensemble becomes known for projects in contemporary music, although many believe that it scares the listener ...

Griliches: This is largely due to Philip's courage as a conductor. When the conductor opens the score, and nothing is clear there at all, one will immediately close it, and the other, on the contrary, will say: wow, what a score, I will do everything now. In notes Outland Nevsky (this was written for our vocal ensemble and the Dutch team), for example, at first I did not understand anything at all. What do you have to do here - sing, whistle? And this experience gives a very powerful charge. We are very interested in overcoming difficulties and learning new things. Each composer has his own technique, and I wonder if we can cope with this, and with this ... And I want to do it in such a way that it turns out great and hooks not only us, but also the listeners. It seems to me that Philip, like no one else, perfectly interprets modern music, and in his conductor's presentation it really comes to life. When we sang Outland, Mitya Kurlyandsky heard us and composed "Sverlians" already counting on us.

Chizhevsky: And Nevsky met us at a concert in the Rachmaninov Hall, when we performed Gesualdo a cappella and Purcell's Dido on historical instruments. It is interesting that he heard us precisely as performers early music. Although, of course, Gesualdo's madrigals are comparable to the most sophisticated vocal exercises that modern composers can only imagine.

- Philip, your personal conductor's career is developing quite successfully. You performed several times with the orchestra Musica V iva , the National Philharmonic, you work in the Polyansky Chapel. How do you prioritize when choosing between your career and the development of your offspring - Questa Musica?

Chizhevsky: Hard to tell. For me, the priority is always what I am doing at the moment. When I am preparing a concert, I am completely occupied only with it. I really love Questa Musica For me, this is home. But I feel comfortable everywhere, there was not a single case when there were any conflicts with other orchestras. Now I want to offer the director " New Russia»make a Morton Feldman concerto and combine it in the program with Myaskovsky's Tenth Symphony. There is another project - to play the compositions of Sciarrino and Monteverdi. Monteverdi to play historical instruments with our ensemble, and from Sciarrino to play Storie di altre storie for accordion and orchestra, which uses the music of Mozart and Scarlatti. But this is still in the plans.

- Conductor in your understanding - who is this?

Chizhevsky: The conductor is an instrument for the orchestra. He, of course, must have the qualities of both a teacher and a leader. He must offer something and do so that he is believed, must be able to distribute energy and direct it to right direction. Must be a psychologist, maybe say something, but in more, of course, he must show with his hands, how to touch the sounds, weigh them ...

- Do you speak in words about what you want from performers?

Chizhevsky: I try to say as little as possible and show everything with my hands. If something does not work out, I take it personally - it means that I did not show it well enough. I demand that the musicians react to my gesture.

- Everything can be shown?

Chizhevsky: I think so. The task of the conductor is to make everyone feel the same way as I do, but at the same time you can’t impose your will. Every musician should feel comfortable. And in the end, if everyone perceives this music as I do, then it will be a single organism that does not really need a conductor. The conductor can then step aside and enjoy the performance. But before that, he has to do a great job.

The task is to do with the orchestra what it cannot do without the participation of the conductor. It is, in principle, possible to perform a symphony by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, any romantic composition without a conductor. But if nothing changes from his presence, then the question arises - why is he needed? Then, I like to change some things already at the final performance, up to the dynamics. When everything is learned, why not do something sudden. Of course, within reason. But I will never demand at a rehearsal the same thing that I will do at a concert.

The ensemble is now in its fifth year. It is enough time to look back and evaluate what has been done. To summarize, what is in your ensemble that others do not have?

Griliches: Our ensemble has a lively and genuine love for music, we have a soul, inner energy and expression that unites us all. We've already made a name for ourselves, and when they say Questa Musica- it implies a certain quality. And, I think, we already have an established style, our own sound.

Chizhevsky: And also faith in what we do, which helps us to live, play, create, collect musicians.

What are your goals for your 10th anniversary? Questa Musica?

Chizhevsky: Play the opera Parsifal.

- This is the composition to which it should grow Questa Musica! As I understand it, Philip is preparing a mini version of the Polyansky Chapel?

Griliches: Chapels of Chizhevsky. And if you put aside the creative moments, of course, I would like financial stability so that I can calmly look our musicians in the eye. They all have families, not only Philip and I have children, many have children in the ensemble, and it hurts me when I understand that they are forced to work ten jobs, because they love music and our ensemble, they believe in us and want to be with us.