Czech conductor Leoš Svárovský is impressed by Armenian musicians
It’s nice when foreign musicians visiting our country for the tour are saying lavish words of praise addressed to Armenian artists. Recently, Czech conductor Leoš Svárovský (photo) invited by the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia in a conversation with us expressed his admiration about the opera Diva Hasmik Papian. “Let me first of all state that she first of all is a beautiful woman and the world knows her long ago with her mellow soprano. I am conducting around 90 concerts per year and for the clear reason I cannot say specifically since when I have started to cooperate with Hasmik Papian. It was about 7-8 years ago, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra had invited the Armenian singer and wonderful tenor Miroslav Dvorský to a gala concert. Opportunely, the two artists are great friends. That evening, Ms. Papian along with other performances fascinated the audience with Tosca’s aria from Puccini’s eponymous opera in her interpretation, especially since this opera is my favorite one… Until now, Leonora’s and Manrikoy’s duet with the performance of the Armenian soprano and Miroslav sounds in my ears… This was an inexplicable high performance,” – said the conductor expressing his memoirs and impressions of the concert.
He also added that he has performed with other Armenian artists. He singled out renowned opera singer Maria Guleghina’s name. Caption: Hasmik Papian and Miroslav Dvorský in “Cincinnati Opera” (US). In Verdi’s “La Traviata”, La Traviata and Alfred.
To the observation that our audiences know him as a symphonic conductor (this was the maestro’s 3rd visit to Armenia), Leos Swarovski replied, “During the year, my performances with symphonic orchestras make 60-70 percent while about 30 percent – as an opera conductor. I also attended numerous opera festivals. The first one was in 1993, I attended the annual Salzburg Festival which was founded in 1948 by Herbert von Karayan. That year I was an assistant to the popular maestro Georg Solti. Incidentally, until this festival I was a conductor of opera performances at the Prague National Opera Theatre for about 5 years since 1991… ”
During the conversation, Leoš Svárovský gratefully recalled not only his father for his successes in the music art who was once a known bassoonist but also Georg Solti.
Captions: Carmen Tosunian (center), opera singer Angela Georgiou and Valery Gergiev in the Carnegie concert hall
We remembered the year of 2012 when violinist, RA Honored artist, principal concertmaster of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia, Carmen Tosunian took part in the concert of the “World Orchestra for Peace” at the “Carnegie” concert hall which consisted of musicians from 35 countries under the conductorship of Valery Gergiev. The evening was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Georg Solti. Carmen Tosunian informed us that the “World Orchestra for Peace” was founded in 1995 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the UN by maestro Solti and after the death of the renowned conductor of the 20th century, Solti, the orchestra is conducted by Valery Gergiev.
Samvel DANIELYAN
