SIBIRSKAYA VECHORA

Program Bio
Open World Cultural Leaders Program, October 6-20, 2010
Hosted by CEC ArtsLink and the National Council for the Traditional Arts
Back to More Open World Past Participants in Music

The folk ensemble Sibirskaya Vechora was founded in 2000 and consists of students and alumni of the Krasnoyarsk College of Arts and the Krasnoyarsk Academy of Music and Theatre. The full ensemble comprises 10 members (5 men and 5 women) with an average age of 27, all of them professionally trained musicians.

Sibirskaya Vechora’s repertoire consists of traditional songs from Siberia and other parts of Russia, in their original form as well as modern adaptations. The songs cover all genres of folk music: wedding and dancing songs, lyrical ballads, limericks, youth celebrations. Some numbers contain theatrical stage elements, such as an imitation of a scuffle with the use of traditional weapons (knives, axes, clubs, swords). The ensemble also performs folk dances reconstructed from archival materials. The performances are highly interactive – the audience is invited and encouraged to sing along and join the artists in dancing and games.

In 2008, Sibirskaya Vechora carried out a cultural heritage research project titled ‘Young Voices for Ancient Songs.’ One of its results was the CD “Muziki, Viryazukhi Moi”, which contains 13 songs recorded during ethnographic expeditions and performed by Sibirskaya Vechora. The ensemble has received several national awards and diplomas. This will be their first appearance in North America, where they will perform with four members.

Ensemble Members

Vladimir Dudinsky, born in 1960, is the leader of the ensemble. He studied music at the Krasnoyarsk College of Arts and the Krasnoyarsk Academy of Music and Theatre, specializing in the accordion. Vladimir first began playing folk music with the ensemble Krasnoyarye, of which he was a member from 1984 until 1998. In 1990 he enrolled in a distance learning program at the School of Folklore of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts. Vladimir completed his studies in 1992 with the qualification ‘Folk Ensemble Leader.' He founded Sibirskaya Vechora in 2000.

Alexander Trofimov was born in 1981. He received a degree from the Krasnoyarsk State Academy of Music and Theatre in 2006 with a specialization in folk chorus directing. Alexander sings, dances and plays a range of instruments (gusli, hurdy-gurdy and balalaika) with the ensemble, which he joined in 2001. He is also a master of traditional weapons such as the axe, the sabre and the club.

Anna Trofimova is one of the ensemble’s vocalists and dancers. She was born in 1980 and attended the Krasnoyarsk State Academy of Music and Theatre, from which she graduated as a folk chorus director in 2007. She has been performing with Sibirskaya Vechora since 2005.

Larisa Raspopova was born in 1981. She graduated from the Kemerovo State University of Culture and Arts in 2005 with the specialization ‘Leader of a Folk Choral Ensemble’ and joined Sibirskaya Vechora the same year as a vocalist and dancer.