In October 2017 Dmitry Korchak was nominated to the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the Novosibirsk theatre. 16th November for the first time he will conduct Donizetti’s opera “L’elisir d’amore”. Then on 2nd December he will conduct a concert, which is supposed to become one of the main cultural events of Russia – world opera stars, NOVAT’s symphonic orchestra and the chorus will perform Rossini’s Stabat Mater on the grand opening of Isidor Zak concert hall. Later on 3rd December Dmitry Korchak will step behind the conductor’s desk for the concert “World opera in Novosibirsk”.
In the following interview Dmitry Korchak told us about the Novosibirsk opera vision and his personal artistic plans.
Recently you have become the Principal Guest Conductor of the Novosibirsk opera and ballet theatre. How did you end up with this decision?
These days we are realizing the world is not that big, and the musical theatre community is even a tighter circle, where most projects are accomplished due to personal, friendly ties. It’s always about the people who get things done in any given theatre or artistic project. With Vladimir Kekhman we know each other about ten years, and we’ve been friends with Veronika Dzhioeva for a long time and co-performed a lot of times. She invited me to take part in the gala concert of her festival and I accepted this offer with pleasure. The concert was a success and Vladimir Abramovich offered me the post after it.
You are a highly desired vocalist at the world’s best venues, also as a conductor you have plenty of interesting proposals in Russian capitals and in Europe. How did you consider a proposal to work in Russian province?
There’s nothing bad about province, and with that being said I must say that the Novosibirsk theatre had never been considered a provincial theatre. It’s a unique theatre whether we speak of Russian musical culture, history or architecture – it’s like the Bolshoi theatre in Moscow and the Mariinsky theatre in St.-Petersburg. The Novosibirsk theatre is known for its opera and ballet company achievements. It’s a place where legendary people used to work: outstanding artists, musicians, conductors, choreographers. The theatre can be proud of its orchestra – I first got to work with these musicians when we were preparing the gala concert of Veronika Dzhioeva’s festival. This is a big, harmonious, attentive ensemble capable of accomplishing the biggest goals. Also I must mention the incredible chorus of the theatre and the vocalists I’m currently getting to know and I already see their potential opportunities.
I have established warm personal relations and friendly bonds with the theatre’s current top management – Vladimir Kekhman and Vyacheslav Starodubtsev; I deeply trust these people’s opinion. I also hope to find mutual professional understanding and establish mutually beneficial relationship with those new people I meet, since we plan on accomplishing very big and interesting artistic projects.
Now I am busy auditioning the soloists of the Novosibirsk opera and sorting out which projects we can manage on our own and which need guest artists. Here I need to say the company has a number of overwhelming voices.
The theatre’s top management is striving to create a decent image of the theatre within Russian and global musical community, to integrate it into European cultural space. How do you see the theatre’s opportunities in this direction?
I agree, it’s a very important task. But it’s not enough to become a part of the European opera association, we need to understand WHAT exactly we are able to offer to a world theatre community. This domain has its rules and requirements you need to comply with. I assume my experience of working on different stages of the world will help me see what our company, our soloists need to reach European and global level. My priority is to help the soloists feel like European artists, help them present themselves as European artists.
In December 2017 we are anticipating a huge cultural event – opening of Isidor Zak concert hall with the performance of Rossini’s Stabat Mater. The announced cast is impressive and the choice of music is very symbolic. How did you come up with this idea?
It was born this summer during the Rossini festival in Pesaro. I performed the lead part of “Torvaldo and Dorliska” and a tenor part of Stabat Mater. And on this festival, after hearing Stabat Mater Vladimir Kekhman came to a conclusion that considering all the depth and spiritual power of this work it should be the one to start the new chapter of Isidor Zak concert hall.
We wanted to gather a serious world class quartet of soloists. Each of the invited artists – our dearest star Veronika Dzhioeva, world famous bass singer Rene Pape, one of the most wanted, amazingly musical and technically skilled tenor Lawrence Brownlee, soloist of the Mariinsky theatre, winner of Tchaikovsky competition mezzo-soprano singer Yuliya Matochkina – all of them have their schedules booked for years ahead. How did we manage to gather them all in one place? It a matter of certain personal authority and connections I established while pursuing my career in musical world. This is another advantage I can provide for the theatre – friendly relations with a number of musicians around the world. This kind of relation gives me an opportunity to ask them favors and invite to take part in certain projects when they have time in their busy schedules. In return we take obligation to provide the maximum comfort and consider all requests.
I don’t have actual preferences, I just love different music. But I have certain aspects determined by my vocal career – I feel more freedom within bel canto repertoire and I can provide most assistance in that particular sphere.
How does your immense singing experience help you with conducting?
To come to the stage in a fancy dress coat and to conduct a performance is the least part of a conductor’s job. The most intensive work and all rough shapings are done before the show - 95% of work is spent in a rehearsal room. In that place I complete most of my tasks, and use my singing experience. Some tiny aspects are intelligible only for those who have sung on a stage. When a conductor is a singer at the same time like the great Placido Domingo for example, he knows for sure about all the traps and pitfalls, knows how to breathe, which tempo to start with, where the orchestra should follow the singer and vice versa. My experience shows that few conductors know how to work with a singer during a performance, how to breathe with him.
Will the audience witness the tenor side of Dmitry Korchak?
Currently I have different tasks to complete with the theatre, but I think nothing is impossible.