Great Masters: Sergei Prokofiev & Dmitri Shostakovich
The RCAS opens its 2024-2025 season with a sumptuous evening of works by Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. The evening’s program includes two Washington DC premieres; Prokofiev’s The Ugly Duckling, op. 18 and Shostakovich’s Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti, op. 145a.
Tickets: $65*
*Admission includes the performance and a post-concert reception with wine, light hors d'oeuvres, and desserts. Pre-registration and photo ID are required to enter the embassy grounds. Patrons without pre-registration or photo ID will not be permitted inside the embassy.
About the Artists
Anastasiia Sidorova, Mezzo-Soprano
Praised for her “luscious” sound (Opera News) mezzo-soprano Anastasiia Sidorova maintain active performing and teaching careers. She recently graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she held the Curtis Friends Board Fellowship and studied with Patricia McCaffrey.
In addition to two seasons with Opera Philadelphia as an emerging artist, she has performed with Wolf Trap Opera, the Verbier Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the Russian Chamber Art Society, the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, and the Music Academy of the West in California.
Ms. Sidorova is a 1st Prize winner of both The 2023 World’s Biggest Stage Competition and Classical Singer Competition, as well as the recipient of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition Encouragement Award , Gerda Lissner Lieder/Song competition Encouragement Award and Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition Encouragement Prize.
Denis Sedov, Bass
Opera News hails Denis Sedov for “tall and commanding, gifted with a splendid physique and a bass to match” and his ability to “seduce with his voice as well as with his presence.” This season, he joins Opera Nacional de México at the Palacio de Bellas Artes for both Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro and for Méphistophélès in La damnation de Faust. He also sings Gremin in Eugene Onegin with Opéra de Montreal, Ferrando in Il Trovatore with Opera de Baugé, and Sarastro in Die Zauberföte with Williamsburg Opera.
Last season’s performances included Mister X in Kalman’s The Princess of Circus with the Saint Petersburg Theater of Musical Comedy, the title role in Le nozze di Figaro with the Camerata Jerusalem Orchestra, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte with Jerusalem Opera Company, and Polifemo in Handel’s dramatic cantata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo. He also sang Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death with with Kfar Saba Chamber Orchestra, Salieri in Rimsky-Kosakov’s Mozart and Salieri with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 with the Jerusalem Camerata Orchestra.
Risa Hokamura, Violin
Violinist Risa Hokamura came to international attention upon winning First Prize in the 2018 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions at the age of seventeen and the Silver Medal at the 2018 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, where she performed with the Indianapolis Symphony and Leonard Slatkin. Risa has performed as soloist with ECCO, Greensboro Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, among others. In 24-25 she will appear as soloist with Symphonicity (VA).
Risa made her NYC debut at Merkin Hall and her Washington, D.C. debut at The Kennedy Center. She has performed chamber music at Music@Menlo, and been featured in recital with Ithaca College, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, and The Morgan Library & Museum. In 24-25 she will appear with YCA on Tour at Chamber Music Lehigh Valley and BIG ARTS Sanibel.
A native of Japan, Risa studied at the Tokyo College of Music as the Honorary Scholarship student of Koichiro Harada, Mayuko Kamio, and Machie Oguri. She continues her studies at the Manhattan School of Music as the Full Scholarship student under the tutelage of Koichiro Harada and Lucie Robert, and additional studies with Cho-Liang Lin. She is also a recipient of scholarships from the Ezoe Memorial Foundation and the Rohm Music Foundation. Risa Hokamura is represented in Japan by Kajimoto.
Risa plays the 1715 “Joachim” Stradivarius violin on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation and 1734 “Ames-Totenberg” Stradivarius violin on loan from Ryuji Ueno and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.
Risa Hokamura appears by arrangement with Young Concert Artists, Inc.
Martin Labazevitch, piano
Praised by critics for his lyricism, virtuosity and an intensity of performance, pianist Martin Labazevitch appeared in many concert halls and festivals in Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Peru and the United States.
Born in Poland, Mr. Labazevitch studied at the Odessa Conservatory in Ukraine and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. In 2019 he received Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Rome School of Music, Drama and Art in Washington D.C. His main teachers and mentors include Nina Svetlanova, Horacio Gutierrez, Dmitri Bashkirov, Bella Davidovich and Jorge Luis Prats. He has been a soloist with orchestras in Spain, Poland, Lithuania, Japan, and the United States. Of his debut album release on the Delos label, of the Chopin Concerto with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra lead by Ewa Strusinska, the Fanfare Magazine wrote: “His way of Chopin is fluid and convincing. He plays with a superb control of rubato and has the most beautiful way of melting a phrase.” Of the same album, ConcertoNet wrote, “...he pleasantly refrains from overtaxing Chopin’s conclusive Allegro vivace with shimmering grandeur and eloquent precision that could even rival that of Arthur Rubinstein.”
Genadi Zagor, piano
A native of Krasnodar, Russia, Genadi Zagor began his music studies at the age of four with his father, a foremost guitarist and composer. He continued his piano studies at the Moscow Central Music School for gifted children with Tatiana Manuilskaya. Subsequently, he studied with Nelly Mezhlumova, one of the most prominent teachers of the Caucasus. After graduating from Krasnodar's Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music with distinction, he went on to study at the Moscow State Conservatory with Mikhail Mezhlumov. In 1991, Genadi immigrated to Israel and became an assistant to the famous Piano Duo Bracha Eden-Alexander Tamir at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance.
Dr. Zagor holds prizes from the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City; the Eighth Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, Israel; the Leeds International Pianoforte competition, United Kingdom; the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, Japan; and the Francois Shapira Music Competition, Israel. Dr. Zagor won top prizes from the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, San Antonio International Piano competition in Texas, and the Grand Prize at the D’Angelo Young Artists Competition in Erie, Pennsylvania. In 1995, he became a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship for outstanding artists and appeared in a special recital at the Presidential Palace for the seventh President of Israel, Ezer Weizman. In 1997, as a cultural mission leader for the Jerusalem municipality, he performed in Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
Dr. Zagor holds Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance from Michigan State University. He has performed on stages and at festivals around the world as well as radio and television programs. Reaction to his performances has been commonly expressed as “sensational,” “nimble-fingered,” a “lively and imaginative player,” a “triumph,” and an “electrifying performance.”
Vera Danchenko-Stern, Piano
Photo Credit: Jonathan Levin
Vera Danchenko-Stern is Russian diction specialist with over 50 years of teaching experience. She graduated with honors from Moscow’s prestigious Gnessin Institute of Music where she mastered piano, solo performance, chamber music, vocal and instrumental accompaniment.
Her expert Russian diction coaching skills are in demand by world renowned institutions such as the Washington National Opera and the Cafritz Young Artist Program, where she has collaborated on highly acclaimed productions (Tsar’s Bride, Boris Godunov, The Queen of Spades, The Maiden of Orleans), The Honolulu Opera (Eugene Onegin, Ivan the Terrible), and the Baltimore Symphony under the baton of Yuri Temirkanov.
Ms. Danchenko-Stern has taught Russian diction on the faculties of Catholic University in Washington, D.C, and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. She recently conducted master classes at Princeton University, Michigan State University, and Potomac Vocal Institute in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Danchenko-Stern is a jury member in international competitions and a highly regarded Master Class teacher. Many of Ms. Danchenko-Stern’s former students, Timothy Mix (baritone), Magdalena Wor (mezzo), Natalie Conte (soprano), to name a few, were able to use their Russian repertoire to establish and further their distinguished operatic careers.
Ms. Danchenko-Stern is included in the Centennial Edition of “Who’s Who in American Women” and is a National Associate Artist of Sigma Alpha Iota.