ELENA MINDLINA *STAGED WORLD PREMIERE* D. Shostakovich/A. Blok ’Gamayun, The Bird Of Prophecy’ (II)

*DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH* / *GAMAYUN, THE BIRD OF PROPHECY* (No.2) ’Seven Romances On Poems By Aleksandr Blok’ (Op. 127) *Elena MINDLINA* - soprano *Roger WILKIE* - violin *Mike KAUFMAN* - cello *Dmitry RACHMANOV* - piano *Aleksey BURAGO* - stage director *’I dedicate this performance to Ukraine* *and to the millions of people around the world suffering from this war.’* -- *E. Mindlina* This work is a result of our great need for an outcry of unbearable pain, shock, and despair; our great need to fulfill our human and artistic duty to not be silent and to protest against the tragic, brutal, senseless war in Ukraine started by Putin’s Russia; our humble attempt to fight this evil with beauty and love. This unique, *staged version* of Dmitry Shostakovich’s masterpiece was created in collaboration with and under direction of the extraordinary Russian-American stage director *Aleksey Burago* -- a founder of The Russian Arts Theater & Studio in NYC. () *’Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok’, created by the two men, who suffered greatly under Stalin’s regime is scarily relevant to what we see happening today: the bloody regimes of the 20th century reincarnated by the bloody tyrant Putin. I believe that both geniuses *Dmitry Shostakovich and Alexander Blok would be proud knowing that their voices - full of pain, hopelessness, and despair - joined by ours are sending this strong message against the war in Ukraine and against Putin’s regime.* -- *Elena Mindlina* Chamber Music Festival at CSUN Cypress Hall (CA), 2022 ®All rights reserved by Elena Mindlina ____________________________________ ГАМАЮН, ПТИЦА ВЕЩАЯ / А. БЛОК (1899 г.) На гладях бесконечных вод, Закатом в пурпур облеченных, Она вещает и поет, Не в силах крыл поднять смятенных… Вещает иго злых татар, Вещает казней ряд кровавых, И трус, и голод, и пожар, Злодеев силу, гибель правых… Предвечным ужасом объят, Прекрасный лик горит любовью, Но вещей правдою звучат Уста, запекшиеся кровью!.. II. GAMAYUN, THE BIRD OF PROPHECY *English Translation by Julie Curtis Over the smooth and endless waters Which the sunset has turned to purple, She utters prophecies and sings, Too weak to raise her uncertain pinions... She prophesies the cruel Tartars’ yoke, A succession of bloody executions, Earthquakes, and famine, and flames, The power of tyrants, the death of the righteous... Seized by primordial terror, Her beautiful face burns with love, But with prophetic truth resound Those lips stained with blood!