RECITAL

"FROM SENSUALITY TO DRAMATISM".

Bad Wildbad. Start of the 27th Opera Festival “Rossini in Wildbad” which took place in fully packed Royal resort theatre was marked by a special event: Margarita Gritskova (27) presented a night of songs and arias to the public. The Russian mezzo-soprano, who is often called a “bright star at the opera sky” was a guest as the Emperor Ottone in the Adelaide of Burgundy at the last festival in Bad Wildbad. This time she gave a performance at the night of songs. The singer demonstrated her talent to personate singing late romantic songs by Sergey Rakhmaninov as well as elegy chants by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. Her admirable and inimitable voice timbre especially fascinates the audience.

In the interview held in Vena State Opera the singer once confessed: “Singing is all my life”. This love to singing clearly revealed itself at the concert that took place in the Resort theatre.

Speaking about performance by the Russian singer, Eduard Kiprsky should be mentioned. Being almost Margarita Gristkova’s peer, the young piano player does not just accompany her on the piano, but deeply feels her singing and wins the audience with his inspired playing characterized by extremely light touch and differentiated articulation. Besides, Margarita Gritskova included three of his songs, which she sings very emotionally, into her program (Devotion, Grace and Request). The audience especially liked three of the accurately performed Shubert songs: “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”, “Forest Tsar” and “Death and the Maiden”, since the content of these songs is well-known to the audience.

Seven Spanish folk songs composed by Manuel de Falla leave a completely different impression from the singer’s performance and enchant the audience with their calmness, dramatism, melancholy and sadness. Performing these songs, Margarita Gritskova managed to get the feel of them which won recognition from the public.

The Rossini Festival cannot be imagined without the tunes composed by him. Having performed the arias and cavatina from the “Barber of Seville”, “Adelaide of Burgundy”, “Tancredi”, and “Cinderella”, Margarita Gritskova carried the night of singing to the sphere well-known to the audience and demonstrated her usual impeccable coloratura in bel canto.
Götz Bechtle, Schwarzwaelder-bote.de, July 14, 2015