"It is very easy to be smart for other people's money"

The Apriorori Opera Opera with Solo concerts of Jonas Kaufman and Rene Papa, the annual charity project “Get up and go to help children with cerebral palsy, programs with impeccably selected heroes from the young generation of domestic pianists and strings - behind all this, if you look closely, the only person named Elena Kharakidzyan. On the eve of the new season, the Apriori Opera , starting in February, Ekaterina Biryukova decided to talk to her.

- To begin with, tell me: who are you - an agent or producer?

- I am everything. And as an agent, I work with several of our young and not very young musicians. And as a producer I do my projects, trying, of course, these musicians to use these musicians in them. And as a music editor, I make all printing products. In general, I treat this like this: you can call a pot, only do not put in the stove.

- Do you perform agent functions only within the country?

- Yes, exclusively throughout the country. After all, we have no particular alternatives. There are concert agencies - Moskonzer, Philharmonic. But they are mainly engaged only in the organization of concerts. And Western agencies (the largest are Askonas Holt , IMG ) still work a little different. Here, for example, young musicians are Lucas Genyushas and Vadim Kholodenko . Once I sent proposals for regional Philharmonics and concert halls: "Take it, take it!" Well, how can you find out differently about a young musician? He himself will not come, he will not knock on the door. Accordingly, it is necessary to offer, engage in PR, arrange an interview. Vadik had a turning point in 2013, when he won the Cliber competition. After that, the reverse process began - it became in demand. But Vadik is now playing very little in the country. He has a general management in London, and only two to three weeks a year stand out for Russia. Genyushas, ​​oddly enough, did not have such an effect in the country after the second place at the Chopin contest - then the whole “extra -Russian” world showed interest in it. But the interest inside the country has appeared now, after the Tchaikovsky competition.

Once I realized: if you want to listen to a good concert, you must make it yourself.

- When did you start doing all this?

-Try to organize something-in 2000. But actually, I have been living in this all my 40 years. I grew up in the Muscontus, the entire Soviet Union on tour with my parents traveled. That is, I know everything about backstage since childhood. All childhood on the Kremlin Christmas trees performed, engaged in music, dancing. And for everyone it was obvious that I would become an artist of the musical theater. I had to sing and dance at the same time. I already had documents in the theatrical one, but at some point I was just moving me, and I went to the Faculty of Philosophy at the RSU. After it - even at the Institute of European Cultures. And as a result, still then came to where she came from. I can't even call it work. This is something completely organically derivative of me.

In 2002, she won a grant-she went to the Summer Academy on Art Meneration in Salzburg. Since 2007, I worked through the Art-Brand agency with the Gergiev Foundation, made all the printing products to the Easter festival, these are all all red bricks-buglets and not only. And I still make printing products to my own events-such a multi-station, I can’t say that I am less interesting to do something. When I was preparing the first festival “Apriori Opera” and brought Kaufman, it turned out that I couldn’t find the translation of the “Winter Way” that he sang anywhere. I can not find a translation of Müller's poems. I did it myself. The next concert is Stefani d'Ustrak with Berlioz: “Summer Nights” and “The Death of Cleopatra”. There are no translations again! I also made them. And just the other day they called me from the Bolshoi Theater and said that my translation of the “death of Cleopatra” was still the only one, and asked to use. So I debuted in a large libretto as a translator, which was printed in the program with my copy.

- “Opera Apriori” - your main project?

- Yes, this, I think, is a matter of my whole life. The festival has a certain concept invented by me. He must represent as far as possible all the varieties and all the genres of vocal music. At the first festival, I had a customer, and I was a performer. In 2011, I already started to deal with it. That is, in order to bring Kaufman in April 2014, negotiations with his manager Alan Green, with whom we made friends, we began in November 2011. And when the festival had to be launched, various kinds of unforeseen circumstances occurred, very unpleasant. All those sponsors went overnight under which all this was done. To say that it was a disaster is to say nothing. December 4, 2013 this happened, I remember how now. And on December 18, we had to launch the first concert of the festival. And almost in a day I managed to turn gray, grow old, die and revive. Aki Phoenix. And I had to go to Va-Bank-without support and without a guarantee, closing my eyes, jumping into the abyss.

Now I understand that this was the same gift of fate. But at first it seemed that the earth was leaving under his feet. If I alone conducted all the negotiations, made all the contracts, all the programs, it turned out that no one else, except me, risked either a name or a reputation. If I canceled everything at that moment, it is quite possible that no one would communicate with me more. But as a result, everything worked out. Of course, with great blood. I had to look for money with my own hands, get into debt. I still have "tails". Only after that I realized that it is very easy to be smart for other people's money. Here you have a certain budget. Make a good event for him? Yes, it is how to whistle the "kalin"! And it’s quite another thing when you do absolutely everything yourself - you yourself came up with, you yourself found partners, you yourself are negotiating with the musicians and their management, you yourself are interested in people, you do everything until search and renting notes yourself.

- And for what time was the concert of Rene Papa, who will be at the nearest festival, was planned?

- Since spring. He did not have a Wagnerian program for a complete concert. The department is Wagner, the department is other arias. But I said that I only need Wagner. That's two hours-non-stop. Made!

He flew in the morning, played a concert in the evening, flew away - no, nothing good comes of it. I need people to come in a few days, rehearse, acclimatized.

- This time you just get the season ofMaxim Emelyanychev . Of the four concerts of the festival, he conducts two. At the same time, I'm not sure that this name is so familiar to the public.

- This is a perfect accident that it happened. Rossini with a “little solemn Messa” arose one of the first, and yes, I invited Maxim. And at the baroque concert, completely different performers were planned for me. Then it just happened that the dates do not coincide in any way. And I do not meet if someone comes directly from the ship to the ball. He flew in the morning, played a concert in the evening, flew away - no, nothing good comes of it. I need people to come in a few days, rehearse, acclimatized. And it seems to me that this is a completely different result than when a person goes on stage directly from the plane. Well, this is my purely personal opinion. But in this case, it happened that way: they did not match the dates. And the name of the counteratrador Max Emanuel Tsenchich came up with the replacement. He does a huge ascetic work in relation to the baroque opera, cleanses a lot of dust, and gets it from the storerooms. And it turned out that the new disc with the Neapolitan Arias, Tsenchich writes with Maxim Emelyanichev! They now have a promotional tour in support of this album. And our Moscow concert also fits into it. Maxim is now simply wildly in demand in the West. I think his career will develop much faster than ours - only several agents will come to the concert with Rossini.

That's an amazing thing! We seem to be in Europe and at the same time - completely on the outskirts. Promotions of new discs do not affect Russia. Kaufman and Deutsch and Schubert at the first festival were just that isolated case when Moscow was on the list of music capitals along with Milan, Vienna, London and Prague. We have no specialized review of the output CDs, as in all musical publications in Europe. Not only our new products, but also what comes out in the West.

- We generally had a failure with a sound recording industry for many years. And now it seems like the era of disks is a thing of the past ...

-But now the “melody” is reviving. Well, there are iTunes , but the discs come out, the musicians continue to record them. A material carrier for any musician is the same “imperishable” as for any writer - a book. It is one thing - you write on the blog, and another - you shut off your finger and turned the page. Good paper, a beautiful publication - for me this so -called wrapper is very important. It should be pleasant to pick up. Therefore, I am now doing this with the company "Melody". Lucas Genyushas’s disc “AMANSIPARY OF CONSUNONAS” has already been released with cycles Leonid Testnikov, Valery Arzumanov and Vladimir Ryabov.

“Are you his producer?”

- The author of the idea. I came to the Melody and said that we had already missed the generation of forty -year -old musicians - this is Boris Berezovsky, Vadim Repin, Nikolai Lugansk, Maxim Vengerov - which is recorded in the West. They are already connected by the hands and feet of Deutche Gramophone or other large recording companies. Yes, and some young people too. For example, Julia Lezhnev - she has a contract with Dexka. And the idea was to catch the next generation. The guys also have contracts with Western firms, but so far they have not signed any exclusives.

I offered “Melodies” a number of young names with whom I work. They chose several so far. The first was to be Vadik Kholodenko. We recorded it back in November last year. It’s just for technical reasons that the disk release dragged on. But I hope that before the New Year he will come out. The next scheduled entry is the duet of Lucas Genyushas and Ailen Pinch. Well, there are still some plans. I would very much like the third concert of this festival “Opera Apriori” to be recorded too. Katya Semenchuk will sing the “expectation” of Tariverdiev and the “Russian notebook” of Gavrilin, which has not been recorded since the time of Zara Dolukhanova. In any case, we found nothing.

- And Katya Semenchuk is not connected by contracts? At least with Mariinka?

- Oh ... I had an idea to make a double disk, because Katya still has a very interesting program that she sang this year on the Stars of White Nights with Dmitry Efimov, - Rakhmaninov and Metner's romances. And I thought that we would make a double disc - the twentieth century in vocal music. But Valery Abisalovich ...

All the time I am engaged in writing letters to the "Turkish Sultans."

-That's it. Removed from the tongue ...

- Yes, Valery Abisalovich has its own label. And I immediately realized that as soon as Katya asks for permission ... In general, I open the veil - this disk with the romances of Rachmaninov and Metner, I hope it will come out on the Mariinsky label. The main thing is that people hear this work, this music. Because it is great, and because Katya sings it just out of place.

- Do you fundamentally get away from a completely traditional repertoire?

- I do what I wonder. Lucas disk I am constantly listening now in the car. Endlessly! It Makes My Day ! And I want to listen to Tariverdiev and Gavrilin performed by Katya Semenchuk and Balakirev Sonata performed by Vadik. I probably do everything out of selfish reasons. Once I realized: if you want to listen to a good concert, you must make it yourself.

- All concerts of “Opera A priori” are held in the Great Hall of the Conservatory. Are you given it on a common basis? Any person can rent him?

- On the common. I don’t know whether any person or not, because in order to give him, you need to write an application. And in the application you need to indicate the program, performers. I do not know whether it is possible to rent a large hall of the conservatory for the concert of Stas Mikhailov. I doubt it strongly. Although who knows? I only know about my own path. All the time I am engaged in writing letters to the "Turkish Sultans." Every day. In all possible and impossible authorities. For example, I would like our charity concert “Get up and go!”, Which we have already spent three times, was lifelong. In order for people to form a neural connection - on October 3 we go to the BZK, we collect money for children with cerebral palsy for the Foundation "Addresses of Mercy". And so that I have not written these letters to the conservatory every year! Moreover, she, the conservatory, is a co -organizer, and the provision of the hall is its charity contribution. From the second concert in 2014, this action became our joint project. The case, in my opinion, is unprecedented. I am very grateful to the MGK for their participation. No one makes money on this. Artists play and sing for free. We give everything to a penny to the Foundation "Addresses of Mercy".

And for three years in a row I have been writing letters to the first channel and on the Culture TV channel to be shot this concert. In our country, there is no Tribute C ONCERTS system, as around the world, when musicians collect money to save the forests of the Amazon or to help the starving children of Africa. The concert is broadcast, there is a running line during the broadcast, and millions are collected! This is just the case when "with the world on the thread." But we have no broadcast or shooting. Despite the names of the musicians who act. Almost the best of the best. It does not work. But this does not mean that next year I will not write this letter. If you just sit and wait, nothing will work out at all. It is necessary to do something, with such an inner “e-hee”, while there is strength and desire for this.

- Have you tried to cooperate with the state?

- I also honestly write applications to the Ministry of Culture. The concert for the 100th anniversary of the genocide was partially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of Armenia. It took me seven months of constant whining. I constantly called and wrote. It was necessary to convince two sides at once. It is clear that the budget was huge, with six zeros: two choirs, rno, six soloists from different countries, 230 people on stage. Without private business and the personal participation of some gentlemen of Armenian origin, in particular, Mount Nakhapetyan and the Armenia community Futura , as well as without the participation of the Armenian church, I would not have done it at all. Yes, I have partners. BMW , Ritz Carleton. But all this partnership, as well as the media, does not fall from the sky, no one comes and does not say: let's help. This must somehow be conveyed, told, offered. I call you to sit in this boat with me. This is incredibly interesting, but I need help and support, and I literally swarm the earth every day.

-Do you have some state?

- Previously, there were people who were involved in certain projects. But then the crisis struck. There is no way to pay a salary, but so, on “internal resources”, no one else works. On the other hand, I am a little skeptical about volunteers. A person must explain what and how to do. It turns out that it also goes away for this time. I myself will do this in three seconds, and I will spend much more on training. Of course, there are several people with whom I would like to work. Literally two or three people are enough-just to sleep longer. But so, in principle, I do everything myself. Although I know that many get the impression that 10 people are sitting in the office and "work" works. " No. The only thing I do not do is not selling tickets. But I am engaged in a new system that technically avoids intermediaries. Everything needs time. And patience. For the prerogative to do what you want, you always pay the highest price.