The Vitebsk Regional Philharmonic is launching a new project – the Mitsenko Project jazz café, with its first concert scheduled for November 30, as reported to BELTA by the cultural institution.
The Vitebsk Regional Philharmonic is launching a new project – the Mitsenko Project jazz café, with its first concert scheduled for November 30, as reported to BELTA by the cultural institution.
The project's mastermind is the virtuoso soloist and improviser, violinist Vladislav Mitsenko. The musician has performed with Yevgeny Vladimirov's Jazz Sound Club (Minsk) and with David Goloshchekin (Moscow) during his concert in Minsk. Now, the Vitebsk Philharmonic has decided to engage its soloist, as well as performers such as Olga Borbak (keyboards, vocals), Rodion Rebrov (bass guitar), and Alexander Kdanyuk (drums), to organise its own series of jazz concerts.
The first visitors to the jazz café will truly immerse themselves in the café atmosphere – in the foyer on the second floor of the Philharmonic. Sitting at a table, one can enjoy coffee and listen to music. For the first evening, the jazz menu includes the most exquisite "dishes": Bart Howard's "Fly Me to the Moon," Bobby Troup's "Route 66," James Brown's "I Feel Good," Tony Renis's "Quando, Quando, Quando," Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," and others.
Additionally, the hosts will talk about jazz and the featured pieces. Visitors can engage in dialogue and ask questions to the performers. The first concert is an overview – a journey into a specific musical realm. Subsequently, the creators plan to offer themed evenings and promise "a lot of different jazz."
In a sense, the Philharmonic's new project is another attempt to revive Vitebsk's jazz school traditions. In the 1970s, when music of this kind was considered morally corrupting and a "bastion of bourgeois culture," Vitebsk managed to appreciate the aesthetic beauty of jazz. The city hosted the only traditional jazz festival in the USSR, "Dixieland Parade." There were even a "Jazz Steamboat" and a "Jazz Tram" in the regional centre. Furthermore, there was the "Vitebsk Autumn" festival, organised by Rodion Bass, who headed the "Slavianski Bazaar" for many years. Thanks to all this, the city is included in the "Great Encyclopedia of Jazz." Even though jazz festivals and concerts occur much less frequently now, the city has a knowledgeable audience – true connoisseurs who eagerly await the regional Philharmonic's new project.