Tugan Sokhiev: “The Bolshoi Orchestra has a special sound. Biography Does it ever happen that this bar is lowered?

On October 25 and 26, concerts of the National Orchestra of the Capitol of Toulouse took place at the Moscow International House of Music, the main conductor and artistic director of which is our compatriot - maestro Tugan Sokhiev. The renowned band performed as part of the festival “Vladimir Spivakov invites....

You have already performed with the Toulouse orchestra in Moscow as part of the world's symphony orchestras in 2009, this time you were invited by Vladimir Spivakov...

We know Vladimir Spivakov and even collaborated together on stage. He came to Toulouse and wonderfully played the rarely performed Second Mozart Concerto with our orchestra. We were also invited to his festival in Colmar two years ago. Everything went great, with great success. And this year we received an invitation to this festival. So, we came to Moscow with great pleasure and are grateful to him for this opportunity.

Tugan, under your leadership there are two European orchestras - the National Orchestra of the Capitol of Toulouse and, more recently, the German Symphony Orchestra. You perform at the most famous concert venues in the world... How do you perceive your success, how do you feel?

I don’t even know what to answer you... I’m just doing what I do. You just have to try to do your job well. That's all.

I watched the film “Tugan Sokhiev, Crescendo subtito”, where you say that you firmly decided to become a musician at the age of seven. Have you always been true to your choice since then?

Always, always. I was very firm and decisive in my choice.

Returning to adolescence: You practiced the Ossetian harmonica, then the piano... But how exactly did the “dark business” become the work of your whole life?

In general, the Ossetian people are very musical people. The first thing a child always comes across is some kind of national harmonica or something else. This is in every home, that is, on which you can make some sounds... My parents were not professional musicians. We didn’t have a piano at home, and the size of Soviet apartments didn’t even allow us to have a piano at that time. When this small box was not enough for me, I began studying both the piano and the theoretical department at the music school. I graduated from two departments because I wanted to enter the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and there a certain base was required. In general, the level and basis for entering opera and symphony conducting were very serious, I needed knowledge of theoretical subjects, although I had already studied conducting for two years in Vladikavkaz with my first teacher Anatoly Arkadyevich Briskin. This was a student of Ilya Aleksandrovich Musin. Actually, that’s how I ended up in St. Petersburg, or I could have come to Moscow... My acquaintance with Briskin influenced this decision. I am very grateful to fate. If I had not gotten to him, I would never have met Musin. I think these significant meetings, of course, determined the course of my entire career.

Your work schedule is very tight, despite this you are still a conductor Mariinsky Theater. Is it important for you not to lose touch with the theater and city where your creative path began?

Yes, definitely. Because I came to St. Petersburg to study, got my first operatic experience there, took some steps and experiments. My operatic experience began at the Mariinsky Theater. While still studying at the conservatory, every evening I ran across the road to the Mariinsky Theater to watch rehearsals, performances and generally understand what an opera theater is. Therefore, even today, working there, it is a great honor, joy and happiness for me to come to this theater every time, stand at the controls and conduct this wonderful orchestra. In the theater, both in the pit and at the control panel, there were great people such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and others. Therefore, it is very important for me to return to where I, in principle, received everything that I can use and be proud of today.

You were only twenty-three years old when you became music director of the Welsh Opera House. Was it a useful experience?

It was a very rewarding experience and a painful one. Three years later I left there... Even then, the model of the opera theater that today, unfortunately, exists all over the world, was evident. When the opera is dominated by a director who does not understand anything about music, who cannot even read the opera clavier, who simply does not know the notes. And then a conflict arose, I said that I would not do this anymore, I would not take part in it. In principle, since then I have conducted little operas in the West - only in those cases when I am satisfied with the direction, when I am satisfied with the singers and other moments. I don't accept all these wild performances.

- Yuri Khatuevich Temirkanov has the same opinion...

I don’t think that everything needs to be staged beautifully, like Temirkanov’s. Two of his stunning productions at the Mariinsky Theater - “ Queen of Spades" and "Eugene Onegin". You can stage it in a modern way, when it does not harm the music, when the listener in the hall does not spend three hours trying to understand the director’s intention, but simply enjoys the stunning arias that the composer wrote. To do this, you can go to an ordinary theater to understand and watch, but they come to the opera to listen to music. Today's opera directors don't understand this. Yuri Khatuevich probably thinks the same way, I know that, I fundamentally agree with him.

Since we mentioned Temirkanov... He claims that “real art expects to interest the best part of society.” This means that classical music may not be massive, but the number of audiences in the halls is getting smaller each time. What trend can be seen in Europe? And how can we make classical concerts more attended?

In Europe it depends on the country. In Germany everything is very bad, if you don’t take large cities. The audience is elderly, over 55-60 years old, there are very few young people in the hall. There is an audience, but it is all of age; in twenty or thirty years it will no longer be there, and who will replace it is very difficult to say. In France, this matter is better: they create projects for children, school and pedagogical programs. But in general, of course, it is worth paying more attention to this. In general, everything always starts from childhood, from education. If in schools today there is no longer such a subject as music... Of course, this does not mean that then all children need to become musicians, but any normal student of a secondary school should know that there is such a composer as Bach, there is Mozart and Tchaikovsky, that they wrote some kind of music, that besides Lady Gaga there are other musicians, and this should be done by the school, parents... Then we have some chance in the future.

- That is, the state does not take the last place in this?

Well, of course, the state, but who else? Today, when they can’t decide what to do with history textbooks, there are 350 of them and none of them are what you’re talking about...

You say that the main task of a conductor is the ability to present, to show the impulse that the composer put into the work itself. And what human qualities should a conductor have?

I think the gift of persuasion. You need to convince one hundred to one hundred twenty people that this is the only correct option, for this the conductor first needs to understand what the composer wanted. It’s difficult, but when you understand or it seems to you that you understand, then you have to try to convince of it - it’s difficult, it’s not easy, but...

- You can do it.

Yes, I know, thanks! (laughs)

I read your interview where you say that Toulouse, France is your second home. Don’t you feel the same connection with Berlin and Germany yet?

Where did I say that? This was probably said in context, but yes, after Russia... Berlin did not become my third home, because there are completely different obligations there, even though I am the chief conductor there, I have spent only one season there so far, I need to work a little more , look. I have been with the Toulouse orchestra for eight years now. Sometimes you don’t even need to say anything, we understand each other just at a glance. When this amount of time has passed in Berlin, if I’ve worked so long, then maybe we’ll be third, but I don’t know, we’ll see...

- Are you thinking about working in Russia?

I work in Russia...

- Like in Toulouse, for example, having an orchestra under the direction...

But so far no one in Russia has offered me the scale, the creative freedom that exists, say, in Toulouse or Berlin. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I work at the Mariinsky Theater, where the chief conductor and artistic director And general manager- Valery Abisalovich Gergiev, who, by the way, gives me complete artistic freedom in the theater, I am very grateful to him for this. That I will wait ten to fifteen years in Russia until someone offers me some kind of orchestra? You have to make music somehow...

Of course, but what do you think needs to be created in Russia so that creative people stop emigrating? It turns out that almost all the best forces are abroad.

Now, if only I had the same conditions for creative work like in Toulouse... By the way, the salaries of my musicians in Toulouse are much less than the salaries of orchestra players in Moscow or St. Petersburg. It’s just that people come to work there to do work, and it’s all very well organized there. When people play a concert, the difference is this: you look at their faces, you see that they are enjoying what they are playing, you look at the Russian orchestra members - as if they were dragged in like barge haulers, they were given violins in their hands, and now they sit with these unhappy faces on stage.

- Perhaps there are no conductors who could “infect” the orchestra with their enthusiasm and lead them...

I don’t know, in addition to work, there should be enthusiasm in life, and when everything around is already shaky, and unsteady, and not stable... Everyone has families, children, and needs to earn something... Here in Moscow, too people live very decently, but in the provinces... You ask how much any artist of any philharmonic society in some provincial town- even the concierge doesn’t get that much here. On the other hand, Moscow is an expensive city.

- It turns out that there is no enthusiasm anywhere...

- It sounds sad, but let's hope for the best. Thank you very much for the interview.

RIA Novosti

The impeccably dressed 36-year-old Sokhiev is a handsome man, bursting with non-Moscow energy and Mediterranean health, the leader of two European orchestras.

The director of the Bolshoi Urin has been putting events together with great difficulty for several months now. modern history theater After the unexpected departure of chief conductor Vasily Sinaisky from the Bolshoi Theater in December, plugging the holes in the sinking ship became even more difficult. But Urin persistently searched for conductors both for current performances and “for the kingdom.”

New music director Bolshoi Theater in addition to talent, he had to have Russian training, experience, charm, and positivity. The names of Vladimir Yurovsky, Semyon Bychkov, Vasily Petrenko (all have been working abroad for a long time) were in the air... The name of the chosen one before last day was a secret: Urin, theater man, — kept a pause!

Tugan Sokhiev’s first press conference was attended not only by journalists, but also, it seems, by the same number of Bolshoi Theater employees. The director of the Makvala Kasrashvili opera and the ballet, Sergei Filin, stood at the wall. And this was clearly their first meeting too. After all, the new chief conductor did not stay in Moscow for even a couple of days, and after the press conference he immediately flew to the USA, where he will make his debut with the famous Philadelphia Orchestra.

Tugan Sokhiev (emphasis on the “o”) was born in Vladikavkaz, studied in St. Petersburg - started with Ilya Musin, finished with Yuri Temirkanov. He has been collaborating with the Mariinsky Theater for 12 years now, and therefore he will never escape conspiracy theories about secret connections with Valery Abisalovich, who has long been striving for the unification of the Mariinsky Theater and the Bolshoi Theater. Even if he is completely independent in choosing his preferences and path.

Musical Moscow is quite familiar with Sokhiev: back in 2009, he opened the IV Festival of World Orchestras in the Hall of Columns - he conducted the French orchestra of the Capitol of Toulouse. He didn’t make a stunning impression, but I remember that he was accompanied to Moscow by the vice-mayor of Toulouse, who couldn’t get enough of him. Recently the French awarded the conductor the Order of the Legion of Honor.

At the same time, Sokhiev heads the German Symphony Orchestra in Berlin. How did he agree to the Bolshoi? Well, he grew up with us, not a foreigner to repeat that this is “a theater where they throw acid.” It seemed even from his radiant, flushed face that he really understood well what a historic chance he had been given.

The contract with him is concluded until January 31, 2018. Tugan Taimurazovich only managed to consult with his mother and Gergiev. Throughout this season, he will fly in about once a month to get acquainted with the orchestra. He will stand behind the controls for the first time at a performance in September 2014. Two premieres for the 2014/2015 season have been agreed upon with Urin (most likely, they are barely scheduled). And - as was announced at the press conference - plans are being thought out for another three years in advance...

Sokhiev, of course, will attract new people to the theater interesting performers. He speaks sharply about his attitude towards radical directing (a sore point!): “There is neither a director nor a music opera. There is something that the composer wrote. And the director even sounds somehow indecent.”

Even in the future, he does not intend to complete contracts with either France or Germany; he will continue to collaborate with the Vienna Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras. At the same time, he assures: “I will work here, at the Bolshoi, as long as necessary. But, of course, it won’t work.”

Starting in July, Sokhiev will begin working closely in Moscow. Will he be able to start a new chapter in the history of the Bolshoi Theater? To create such an atmosphere so that at press conferences of the theater they will finally stop asking why the door handles are not like under the Tsar and when Volochkova will dance in Swan Lake...

Russian conductor Tugan Sokhiev is a native of the city of Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz), the capital of North Ossetia. From childhood, he showed versatile abilities - along with musical talent, linguistic talent was revealed, the boy attended school with in-depth study English language(Tugan Taimurazovich still speaks fluent English, as well as French and German). But still, first of all, the boy was attracted to music. Tugan’s parents were not professional musicians, but Ossetians are an amazingly musical people. Not everyone’s apartment size allowed them to have a piano (the Sokhievs didn’t have one), but the Ossetian harmonica was in almost every house, and the children became acquainted with it very early. It was with this instrument that Tugan Sokhiev’s path to musical art, he mastered it at the local music school, but gradually he becomes cramped within the capabilities of the harmonica, and he learns to play the piano. Tugan firmly decided to become a musician at the age of seven.

The next step was studying at the Vladikavkaz Music College. Here Sokhiev studied in two departments - piano and theory. Even then, he set his goal - to become a conductor, which is why he needed solid training in the field of music theory. Sokhiev began studying conducting at a music school, his mentor was Anatoly Arkadyevich Briskin, a student of Ilya Musin, and this fact influenced the decision young man, when the question arose of which conservatory to enter - Moscow or St. Petersburg. Tugan Sokhiev chose St. Petersburg, where Ilya Aleksandrovich Musin taught.

Having set himself the goal of becoming an opera conductor, Sokhiev during his student years tried to become better acquainted with the world of the opera theater. At the Mariinsky Theater he attended not only performances, but also rehearsals. But his debut took place not in St. Petersburg, but in Iceland, where Sokhiev conducted a production of Giacomo Puccini's opera "". Soon career young musician makes a dizzying turn - in 2001, twenty-three-year-old Tugan Sokhiev becomes musical director of the Welsh National Opera. He worked in this theater for a short time - only three years, and left it under very dramatic circumstances. In the theater, directors who “ruled the show” had little understanding of music in general and opera in particular, and often did not even know how to read music, but the conductor and even the musical director were obliged to obey. Sokhiev could not tolerate this state of affairs, and ultimately it led to a serious conflict. The conductor is very concerned that such a model in modern musical world has become dominant, so he rarely conducts in opera houses in the West and only if the director’s decision suits him. Tugan Taimurazovich calls the “experiments” of some modern directors “wild productions” and does not want to participate in them.

After leaving the Welsh Opera, Sokhiev became the chief guest conductor of the National Orchestra of the Capitol of Toulouse, and in 2008 he led this ensemble as music director, and after two years became the chief conductor of the German symphony orchestra. In Europe, the appointment of a conductor is largely determined by the opinion of the musician, and Sokhiev was chosen by the orchestra members - after all, he was familiar with this group. The orchestra was going through a difficult time at that time, the question of merging it with another group was raised, but Sokhiev managed to rally the musicians under the banner of the idea of preserving the orchestra, and this was done. Heading the German Symphony Orchestra, Sokhiev followed the tradition of this group - to introduce little-known works to the general public. The works of composers such as Messiaen were performed.

In 2014, Tugan Sokhiev became musical director and chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theater. In this position, the conductor clearly defined the direction of the repertoire policy. On the one hand, the repertoire should include well-known operas - such as "", "" or "" - which the public is guaranteed to go to see. But at the same time, the public needs to be introduced to works that are little known to them or even unknown at all. This is how “The Damnation of Faust” and “” appeared in the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater. However, even in good times famous operas the conductor finds something new - for example, "" is often presented as a children's fairy tale, but Tugan Taimurazovich is convinced that it is very deep history, which poses questions that are not at all childish.

As a conductor, Tugan Sokhiev worked at the Bolshoi Theater on productions of “Carmen” and “”, and a concert performance of “”. When creating a performance, the conductor attaches special importance to the selection of a “timbre palette”, the combination of voices of various singers - the conductor compares this work to “playing solitaire.”

Tugan Sokhiev tries to visit the theater as often as possible as a spectator - after all, even in Moscow there are different opera houses, and how many there are in the world! According to the conductor, you cannot isolate yourself within the confines of your theater - you need to know what your colleagues are doing, and only then does it become possible to move forward.

Born on October 21, 1977 in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia. Graduated music school and St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov (opera and symphony conducting), class of Professor I.A. Musina, in 2001.

Despite his youth, T. Sokhiev is a laureate of many prestigious international competitions.

He conducted the orchestras of the Mariinsky Theater and the St. Petersburg Conservatory at concerts in memory of I. Musin (1999-2000).

At the Mariinsky Theater he conducted the premiere of Rossini's opera "Journey to Reims", where the main roles were performed by soloists of the Academy of Young Theater Singers.

Guest conductor of the State Philharmonic Orchestra of North Ossetia, chief conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia. In 2001 he made his debuts with the Icelandic Opera, the National Opera of Wales, the Danish Radio Sinfonietta, the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tuscany Orchestra.

He has conducted the orchestras of the Bavarian State Opera and the BBC.

Since 2005 he has been the first guest conductor of the Orchester National de la Capitole, Toulouse, France.

An Ossetian conductor led the orchestra of the Capitol Theater in Toulouse

Ossetian conductor Tugan Sokhiev became the head of the national orchestra of the Capitol Theater in Toulouse. This was announced on Tuesday by the mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc.

According to the mayor, 27-year-old Sokhiev is “one of the most remarkable conductors of his generation,” which is why he was asked to lead the orchestra, which had previously been led by Michel Plason for 35 years.

A native of North Ossetia, Sokhiev is a graduate of the St. Petersburg conducting school, a student of Ilya Musin and Yuri Temirkanov. Despite his youth, he had already had the opportunity to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the French public remembered him for his performance at music festival in Aix-en-Provence in the summer of 2004.

Last year, Sokhiev also came to Toulouse twice to perform there with the national orchestra of the Capitol Theater, and has now signed a three-year contract with it, which includes, in particular, 15 annual concerts.

RIA Novosti.

Russian conductor Tugan Sokhiev will continue his work as the head of the oldest symphony group in France - the National Orchestra of the Capitol of Toulouse.

As Culture News learned, Sokhiev’s re-election was announced today. The contract with the musician will be extended until 2016. Tugan Sokhiev became the orchestra's music director two years ago. The 33-year-old conductor replaced the famous Michel Plasson in this post. Sokhiev was born in Vladikavkaz and graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. The young maestro headed the National Opera of Wales, performed with the most famous bands world, including the Royal Stockholm Orchestra and the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra. With the arrival of Tugan Sokhiev to the Orchestra of the Capitol of Toulouse, the repertoire of this group was significantly enriched with works by masters of Russian classics.

Tugan Sokhiev became the new musical director of the Bolshoi Theater.

A new musical director of the country's main theater was introduced in Moscow. Tugan Sokhiev was appointed conductor of the Bolshoi. A native of Vladikavkaz, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, recent years He collaborated with famous European groups: in particular, the Capitoline Orchestra of Toulouse and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra performed under his direction.

“This all happened very unexpectedly, very quickly for me. I will definitely spend these six months getting to know the team: the singers, the orchestra, and the choir, of course. Because you can’t make any plans without clearly understanding the picture what we have today, that is, what forces we have, what talents we have, what voices we have. This is very important. You can’t plan something so abstractly. You need to accurately and clearly understand today’s picture. time will pass,” Tugan Sokhiev told reporters.