Classical Journey: Claudia Alvarez Calderón & Ekaterina Shetliffe Coloratura Soprano & Piano Recital of Peruvian and Russian Folk Songs St Mary's Church Totnes Saturday 30 May 2015

Ekaterina Shetliffe &
Claudia Alvarez Calderón

Together again
Claudia & Ekaterina

On today's "Classical Journey" (4 December 2015), we look back to a wonderful recital of Russian and Peruvian music for piano and voice in Totnes at the end of May, and look forward to the welcome return of Peruvian opera colatura singer Claudia Alvarez Calderón to Totnes - after touring Italy as Berta in Rossini's "Barber of Seville".

On the morning of Saturday 30 May this year, Claudia give her second concert performance with Russian pianist Ekaterina Shetliffe. They had performed opera arias at Dartington Space, and made a live appearance on Soundart Radio - when the studio was still in 'Space'.

This time they celebrated the music of their respective native countries, with song by Mikhail Glinka, Rosa Mercedes Morales, Sergei Rachmaninov, Daniel Alomia robles, Thordoro Valcarcel, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Alyabyev.

Page-turning:

Ekaterina's Grade VII Student

Tabatha Carter

A theme of 'birds' dominated the proceedings with Glinka's "Lark" from "A Farewell to St Petersburg" and two romances to Nightingales by Rimsky-Korsakov and Alyabyev, not to mention Robles' "El Condor Pasa".

To the able accompaniment of Ekaterina's piano, Claudia sang faultlessly in English, Spanish, Peruvian 'Kampa' - and Russian. There were Russian audience members who agreed that Claudia's pronunciation (with Ekaterina's help) was pretty near perfect.

To finish the concert Claudia sang a beautiful modern song in Russian, and English. "Moscow Nights" was originally released as "Leningrad Nights" with words by Mikhail Matusovsky and music by Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi. This haunting melody left the audience wanting more.

Next Saturday morning in Totnes, we can hear more of Claudia's singing, accompanied by Father Kristian Paver at the Catholic Church of St Mary & St George (Station Road) in Totnes. This time there will be a Christmas theme, and proceeds from the ticket sales (£7 per head) will go towards childcare in Jordan. Full details below.