Oriented on making people closer

Many articles have been written and many video reports have been shot about the unique classical music concerts organized and conducted by these two enthusiasts. The fame of their creative activity has gone far beyond the borders of our homeland. Senior teachers of the Maya Kulieva Turkmen National Conservatory, Stella Faramazova and Meylis Muratgeldyev, are visiting the STUDENT.

— Stella Vladimirovna, you have been organizing and conducting cycles of thematic concerts for a long time, which go on throughout the concert season. Why did you choose this format? Why cycles?

— The creative heritage of some classical composers is so rich and diverse that it is impossible to cover everything in one concert. And it is convenient for our guests. Those who, for some reason, could not get to the previous concert, can come to the next one. And the concert venues were also different, we often changed locations. My colleague, singer Meylis Muratgeldyev, deals with organizational issues. He has to combine the professions of a teacher, a musician and a concert entrepreneur.

— Meylis Muratgeldyevich, is it difficult to be multifunctional?

— Organizing concerts is not an easy task. Sometimes you have to solve the most unexpected issues and solve them not only quickly, but also efficiently. But we have a unique opportunity to approach the "concert" issue from all sides. From the point of view of an artist performing on stage: we try to take into account such important points as the acoustic capabilities of the hall, the sound quality of the instruments, the temperature in the room, the conditions for rehearsals…

From the point of view of the audience, we try to ensure that the concert is not prolonged, boring, so that they feel comfortable in the hall.

As entrepreneurs, we have to think about such important things as concert dates, stage rentals, drawing up and printing evening programs, advertising and distributing tickets, coordinating the work of all team members, both artists and technicians... and a thousand and one more little things. It's difficult, of course, but for every flaw and blunder, we can only scold ourselves and "wind up" the science called "how not to do next time."

— You have gathered around you a team consisting of titled figures of musical culture – folk, honored artists, laureates and winners of prestigious domestic and foreign competitions. Just like you, they have achieved a lot, their careers have taken place, they are respected people, they are invited to television, they have already made history. It would seem that it's time to relax, relax and reap the fruits of your success. How did you manage to gather such a large number of famous artists in one team? And what are they motivated by? After all, concert activity is a very hectic and energy-consuming activity, filled, in the language of psychology, with stressors.

— Well, since we have touched on the professional terms of psychologists, they have such a thing as addictive behavior. From the English addiction. Our artists are passionate, hopelessly passionate about music people. The stage, the love and attention of the audience are addictive, almost addictive. They want to go out to their fans again and again and tell through music about themselves, about their life, about their experiences, they want to constantly experience those exciting sensations that the stage gives the artist.

And yes, you're right! We have only stars in our team. These are great and beloved singers Gulnara Nuriyeva, Bibi Amanova, Bahar Durdieva, as well as talented musicians: graduate of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music (class of Professor V. Igolinsky) violinist Aibolek Muhieva, winner of the Delphic Games in Bishkek in 2023 violinist Seyran Ataniyazov, the country's best cellist Kakageldy Hojalekov and a wonderful violist Elman Nasyrov, pianist Maya Beimanova.

—Yes, with such a powerful composition, you can take any peaks!

— That's right! But there are also invisible members in our team. These are modern Turkmen composers. For example, we work closely with Ayna Shirova. She has a conservative, academic education, graduated from a master's degree in France, has good taste, professionalism, knows various writing techniques, and has sufficient experience in this field. She is equally successful in both vocal and instrumental genres, as well as author's compositions, as well as arrangements and treatments.

As an example, we can cite the fact that Ayna wrote music for the famous ensemble of violinists under the leadership of the People's Artist of Turkmenistan Harold Neymark, her music has been played and is being played at various concerts, including state ones. Her compositions are performed in music schools, colleges, conservatories, and can be heard on Turkmen television channels. In addition, the works of this composer were performed abroad: in Russia, Germany, France, and America.

Ayna Shirova is often invited as a member of the jury of composing and musicology competitions. For example, this year she will be part of the jury of the composition competition at the Nury Halmamedov International festival "Sounds of Dutar", held in Moscow.

Ironically, for some reason, everyone knows the names of singers, musicians, conductors, presenters, and even the names of cameramen filming concert performances are necessarily indicated somewhere. But the personality of the composer always remains in the shadows, behind the scenes. His contribution is, as it were, "devalued." But it is with the work of the composer that everything begins! He composes and supplies all performers with a repertoire. It is important and necessary to talk about this, without waiting for the composer to pass posthumously, naturally, into the category of classics.

For our project, Ayna Shirova specially composes works adapted specifically for our performers and for our compositions. For example, her piece for string quartet and piano entitled “A Walk in the Rain” will be performed in the April concert. This work reflects the beauty of a spring drop.

— I have always been interested in how the themes of concerts and program numbers are chosen. Does it all happen randomly, or is there some special recruitment algorithm? For example, five songs plus four instrumental melodies…

— The theme of the serial concerts is chosen by the general council. The team members offer their ideas, and the most interesting and unbroken topic is chosen by a common solution. It happens that the plots of concerts are suggested to us by the listeners themselves. As for the program, the numbers are arranged according to the principle of the “golden ratio”. This pattern was once deduced by Leonardo Da Vinci. Its essence lies in the fact that the climax should be shifted from the middle, breaking the symmetry.

Take a closer look at canvases with landscapes, still lifes and portraits painted by master painters, or at least in photographs. You will see that the most successful of them are those in which the main character or the main object is depicted not exactly in the middle of the picture, but with a slight offset from the center.

All masterpieces in music, painting, literature, poetry, dance and other forms of art are consciously or unconsciously created according to this principle. In our case, the brightest and most winning numbers come in the second half of the concert.

— Does this mean that the most interesting thing will sound only at the end of the evening? Then the audience doesn't have to come to the beginning of the concert at all?

— Well, let’s plunge into the drama now. The fact is that the movement towards the climax is undulating, with ups and downs. In our case, this is an alternation of calm and fast, funny and sad, vocal and instrumental works. If we are talking about a concert related to the work of one particular composer, then this may be a movement from his early opuses to mature ones. All musical numbers are the details of one big puzzle, they are arranged in such a way that the moment of climax is perceived as a logical continuation of the entire concert and thus, in addition to aesthetic pleasure, give listeners a sense of completeness. Therefore, it is important to come to the very beginning and not miss a single detail.

— What kind of audience are your concerts designed for?

— They are for everyone. We have a very grateful audience, responsive and positive. For us, musicians, concerts are a part of our profession. But for an ordinary listener, going to the theater or to a concert is a whole event preceded by a long logistics chain. I’ll explain. Usually people buy expensive tickets in advance, postpone all their business for later, negotiate with nannies or grandmothers to leave their young children, adjust their schedule and the schedule close to the date and time of the concert, think over transport, outfit in advance, take into account the weather…

And then they come to the concert and leave disappointed – the singers were out of tune, the musicians played without a soul, the works are "raw", under-studied and under-taught to the “mind”, the equipment and equipment are not configured… And recently, many classical concerts have turned into entertainment shows with corporate elements, with tricks and special effects.

To avoid such situations, we pay a lot of attention to rehearsals and sound quality. Our listener deserves good music performed professionally.

— Stella Vladimirovna, last year you gave 30 concerts. These musical evenings caused a huge resonance. They were talked about and written about, there were also reviews in foreign publications and on TV channels. You certainly managed to put a very bold check mark in the topic of serial concerts. Not everyone decides on such a thing, and not everyone can repeat it. Your serial numbers have now become a kind of brand, a business card.

— Yes, we did a great job last year. Our musical evenings were held at the conservatory, in the walls of the Russian House, at separate concert venues… We plan to continue at this pace. A series of concerts “Masterpieces of Classics” will be held very soon, the first of which will be held on April 20 at the capital’s cinema and concert hall “Turkmenistan”. We are looking forward to our guests at this musical evening. And we also conceived a musical project dedicated to Magtymguly. Within the framework of this project, concerts composed of music by Turkmen composers will be organized.

— Sometimes heated debates ensue in Internet forums about whether listeners need to prepare specifically for concerts: to get acquainted with the history of the creation of a particular work, to know the details of the composer’s biography.

— Before going to the theater for the opera, it was customary to read the libretto of the opera in advance, to know its plot and literary source. When we were students, we were taught that you must come to the opera with a clavier (the piano version of the symphonic score of the opera). We students didn’t get seats in the hall, and we didn’t have much money for tickets back then. The theater administration usually sent us to the balcony to the left of the stage, where, standing on our feet, we listened to the entire two- or even three-hour opera and followed the progress of its performance by notes. And among the students of the musicology department, it was considered mandatory after visiting the theater to write a small note in a newspaper, or at least in a wall newspaper.

But in order to love music, you don’t have to do all this! We came up with a trick for our audience. The concert host makes an oral liner before each number of the concert program, telling something interesting about this work.

— This means that you not only promote and popularize good music, but also educate.

— The true vocation of every musician is to bring light. We have a smart and thoughtful audience that comes for real art. Music is a unique language that is accessible to absolutely everyone. Come to our concerts – we will study it together!

Angela BATYROVA

Photo: author's