8 April 2012 - Performance Events in Russia

Interior of the Moscow Conservatory's concert hall

Since I have been in Russia, I have had the privilege of attending two performances that I would consider to be cultural events.

The first was a dance performance with Igor Moiseyev Dance Company, a famous Russian dance company that is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year and which has focused on folk dance.  A colleague of mine who I will call Larry (protecting the innocent and all) had invited me to the event as a friend (we will call her Allison - also not her name) had received some free tickets to the sold-out event.  I was in!  I should note that both Larry and Allison are probably somewhere in their 60s and apparently attend these types of cultural events all the time, so it was a perfect opportunity for me to see how I was supposed to behave or if there were things that were done a bit differently than in the US or Western Europe.

Larry and I went to the even straight from the office and met Allison in the foyer of the venue.  She is just adorable with the most natural smile and warm manner I had seen in a while.  She doesn't really speak English, though, so Larry was doing a lot of translating between us.  And when he wasn't around, that didn't stop her from speaking to me in Russian like we'd known each other forever and I knew exactly what she was talking about.  For some odd reason, I found myself responding in German.

She brought me a little gift - a small apple made out of light-colored marble or stone with a metal stem.  She presented it to me saying, "Like the Big Apple from America."  Charming!!  Of course, I had nothing in return and felt a bit awkward.  Around this time, her daughter and granddaughter met us.  Her daughter's father (I assume Allison is then divorced?) was actually conducting the pit orchestra (which was actually in a side balcony rather than in a pit, but you get the idea) for the dance company.  As such, he had some comp tickets, which is how we got in.  Allison's daughter is apparently also an accomplished pianist and spoke some English, which was welcome.

The venue was nice and quite ornate, though with not much legroom and with rather narrow seats, but the views were fine an acoustics good.  I didn't notice anything unusual about the event etiquette, other than when the performance was late by around 10 minutes, the crowd started clapping.  I couldn't figure it out as I didn't see anything happening on stage, which I guess was the entire point.  On another, I noticed for future reference that had it not been for Larry, I'm not sure I would have been able to figure out where our seats were, either from the ticket or for the levels since, of course, everything was in Russian.

I did, however, get a further taste of Russian hospitality after the event, though.  Allison's son-in-law was picking up her, her daughter and granddaughter, so Larry had made arrangements for them to drop me by my hotel (this was on my second trip to Russia when I was still staying in the Swissotel).  Since there was only seating for a total of five people (four passengers), that left no room for Larry, so he was going to take the subway by himself.  I said that was ridiculous and I would go with him, but he insisted that I go with the others.  It did not seem that I had a choice in the matter.

So we piled in the car.  I was getting into the back, but the others insisted I ride in the front, which I thought was not right since I was getting out before everyone else anyway, but again, they insisted.  So Allison's son-in-law (we'll call him David) started driving towards the Swissotel.  Now, the Swissotel is right next to a major concert venue of another type, and as we approached, it seemed that it was just emptying.  Add to that the fact that it is really quite difficult to get into the Swissotel due to the way that the streets are laid out, etc.  So I suggested he pull in a spot next to the conference center of the hotel and I would just walk through the parking lot to the hotel.  Great.  Except Allison insisted on accompanying me.  So this adorable grandmother was walking through this darkish, snowy, slightly slippery parking lot with me to make sure that I got back safely, whereas I thought that I should be walking HER back to the car.  It was apparently an example of Russian hospitality, though, and there is just no arguing with it.

The second event was last night.  Larry had asked a couple weeks ago if I might be interested in going to a classical concert if he could get tickets.  After the previous event, I accepted without hesitation.  He was able to get tickets for RUB 1,200 (about $40), despite once again the event being sold out.  This time, we were able to get tickets as Allison's son-on-law, David, was playing viola in the orchestra.  Who knew?

So he and I met at the train station near the office and three stops and a train change later, we were at the venue, which was the concert hall of the Moscow Conservatory, which is a famous music school.  Allison was as delightful as before when we met her, though she noted that we were six minutes late, upon which I had a flashback to be in Germany where things are generally a bit more punctual than in Russia, or so had been my experience until this point.  Anyway, as we headed in, she stopped to point out the poster for the evening's program.  I had to do a bit of a double-take and thought perhaps I was reading it incorrectly.  But I was not.  You can see a poor picture of said poster here.

If you can zoom in on the top right, you'll see that the conductor is no other than Sir Michael Tippett.  And yes, the group would be singing spirituals.  I can honestly say that I never expected to hear spirituals sung in a large concert hall in Moscow - and with not a single black person among the choir, which was also a bit surprising.  But it was really good.  This was the first half of the program and during the intermission I asked Allison and Larry if they were familiar with spirituals and understood the background with slavery and all that.  It seems that they had not and had, without that background, been a bit surprised by what they thought was supposed to be a classical performance, but they liked it and the way the a cappella voices blended together.

The second half of the program consisted of selections from Bernstein's "Wonderful Town," which made for a rather American-sounding evening.  I had heard music from this work before, but hadn't previously seen the entire musical (or portions of it) performed.  The performance was, of course, in English with the exception of a narrator of some sort who spoke in Russian.  I'm not sure whether the original calls for a narrator or if this was just a way to help those who didn't understand English follow what was going on.  So I wasn't sure if I was missing out on something but enjoyed it all.  And what was quite charming at the end is that after the clapping (the crowd here and before got to a point where the clapping was rhythmic rather than random, which I guess is perhaps an encore request?), the cast and orchestra agreed to perform one piece again for us.  But only if we would participate with them.  The song?  "Conga."  Oh, yeah!  So the audience was on its feet and on the ground floor (we were in the balcony) there were literally conga lines going around.  Too, too funny!

I really enjoyed the performance and Larry and Allison said that they had as well, though they hadn't been sure before the concert whether they might like the music and it wasn't "classical" in the sense they are used to.  All good, though.  So after David picked up Allison, in the spirit of Russian hospitality and being a true gentleman, Larry walked me home.  As it turns out, the concert venue was straight down the road from my apartment about seven minutes away.  Who knew?

Oh, and there was another gift involved, this time an egg in celebration of Easter, even though the Russian Orthodox Easter isn't for another couple of weeks.  I do so love the warmth of people I have met here.

My gifts from Allison