La voix Humaine

La Voix Humaine
The Humane Voice

F. Poulenc

Poulenc's one-act solo opera, after a monologue by Cocteau, contains some of his most personal and sophisticated music.Presented in an intimate, site-specific version for Hampstead and Highgate Festival, London

(www.hamandhigh.co.uk)

Ilona Domnich-Soprano
Sergey Rybin-Piano
Sebastian Harcombe- Direction
Alex Stone-Lighting Design

May 17th (Thurs) and 22nd (Tues) 2007 at 8.30pm.
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Rosslyn Hill, LondonNW3
(http://www.liederkreis.com/)

What a tremendous work! And how much preparation is involved...

I am only feeling a bit frustrated that there were only two performances. First time is always a spontaneous, fresh and unknown field. Second time it is starting to get into your blood and you feel freer to take small risks and relax at some places. But then you need at least few more performances so this magnificent piece does become part of you and you can explore it more and find new ways to it. I found myself thinking about Elle all the time, even at times asking myself how would she do certain things if she was me.

When director and I initially talked about this role and Elle's character, he suggested and we together developed a new interpretation of La Voix events. Elle is a young Russian immigrant to Paris before the revolution. Her parents would be killed by the Bolsheviks and her grand mother will bring her to France in a hurry with very few belongings. Then the grand mother will die, leaving her with nothing but her old scarf. Ella is a student of ballet, where she meets him. An wealthy English man older then her , one of the arts supporters. He then rents a flat, subsidises her existence and visits her from time to time. She is completely dependant on him, emotionally and financially. Eventually he becomes tired of her and find someone else who he will marry in the next morning after the conversation with Elle. The evening of the conversation between them is the actual dramatic one act opera.

I can recommend to watch a DVD called Francis Poulenc and Friends, where Denis Duval, the singer- actress, who first performed La Voix Humaine sings excerpts form this opera. This is the most honest and believable performance of all La Voix I have heard.

http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=4513

http://www.liederkreis.com/page.php?domain_name=liederkreis.com&viewpage=HUMAN%20VOICE

BBC 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/intune/picturegallery_2007_july.shtml?select=06

Christmas with ETO

What a interesting and strange evening that was! I learned specially for this concert few scenes from La Boheme during my holidays on Canary Island. In a hotel, without a piano. Which meant that i had a rehearsal on the day with a tenor, one hour before it all started. I was approached by one of the drunk guests in the interval, who begged me to come and join him on the balcony and sing from there. Plus after the concert has ended I fell of the stair case and wiped the floor with my beautiful concert dress.

Apart from that I sang well, loved the way tenor sang and the beautiful hall. Had a nice meal before and enjoyed showing off in Adele's aria and Musetta's Waltz. The audience was very warm and friendly.

Christmass with ETO at the Royal Automobile Club

The Rooms Above

The Rooms above is a music studion where I teach piano, singing, practice with a pianist and rehearse on my own.

I love this space and the piano, Baby grand- Broadwood and sons. Apparently the oldest piano manufactures in Brittan.

I also love the views from the windows. Sometimes I can see people who have roofs as part of their apartment. They use it as terraces or balcony to party or just to have a pleasant meal with friends. Occasionally couples having a romantic dinner. What a lovely addition to ones flat, especially in London.


One never thinks that there is so much life happening on the roofs of the buildings!

Floral Hall

Floral Hall at Covent Garden

16th December, private event
Ilona Domnich-soprano
Mark Chaundy-tenor

Arias and duets, by Puccini, Verdi, Bernstein, Delibes

Lauderdale house

Lauderdale House
Tuesday, November 13 at 7:30

Ilona Domnich- soprano & Nigel Foster- piano
A Daphna Wizo charity event

The program will include: songs and arias by Schubert, Rachmaninov, Delibes, Pucinni, Floyd, Lehar, Strauss and Gershwin.

Box office: 020 8348 8716

WIZO is the largest Jewish women's organisation in UK. It is a non-party political movement of Zionist women providing a powerful voice on human rights issues and concerns relating to the status of women and is the largest Jewish women's organisation in UK.

Very nice tea in a nearby pub! Lots of singing at this recital, mostly famous soprano repertoire: songs and arias. I have only talked once and it felt enough. The music spoke for itself. Most beautiful grounds and gardens are surrounding the LH. Did not think much of the piano and was surprised that at this kind of level the piano is not at the higher standard. would like to sing there again as it was very friendly acoustically for the voice.

Autumn with riverside

Holy Trinity Church ,Claygate
Saturday November 10th at 7:30pm

Ilona Domnich-soprano
David Soar-baritone
Gill Ford- piano
Riverside Opera Chorus

Box office:01372 460257
Finger buffet afterwards in the hall

When one starts singing, one does not know what would be the first impression. The people in the audience, at least the majority, see you and hear you for the first time. Nobody knows what to expect. On many occasions I feel that there is a moment of establishing the status between the singer and the audiences. This balance is fluctuating at the first moments. The audience is in charge, demanding, curious, strong and the singer is vulnerable, exposed.

This turns upside down very soon. In fact once the singer has started singing.. The power of the singing voice, expressiveness overcomes it all and rules over the audience. The singer understands the the audience enjoying it and it gives a boost of energy and freedom for more expression, creation and musical joy.

On this occasion I felt that the status turn over almost immediately, as I could feel magnetic energy and encouraging silence from the audience.

With Riverside Opera I have sang Tatiana in Eugeny Onegin earlier this year. This is my dream role and it was great to be able to sing this role with a small orchestra and in a relatively small theater. In my opinion Tatiana is committing a double suicide. First when she writes the frivolous letter to Onegin, exposing her feelings and breaking the rules. Second time, when she rejects him and decides to stay faithful to her husband, the old fellow. I love and admire the depths of her emotional storm and the strengths that she finds in herself. The music is reflecting so well every detail of emotional development. Tchaikovsky is a real master of touching you by the depths of your soul.
The Richmond Theater






Tatiana at the birthday party

Tatiana with onegin: 'Farewell forever..'

Isle of Skye

Imagine: Fast Wind, Vast Spaces, Giant Rocks, Dark Blue sea, with excitable waves and long distances for your eye to catch. This is the Isle of Skye, where according to a local saying: 'There is no tree for a dog to pee'

Sometimes I feel there very small, microscopic and in great danger. What if the Rocks decide to fall? What if the sea over floods the banks?


But most of the time I feel enormous, partly because of the amount of oxygen that travels through your lungs. Partly, because of this giants that surround me. I always think that these giants must also feel microscopic compare to the size of the universe and therefore we are all part of one thing. We are somehow united.


This is the place to escape from the busy city life and feel real connection to the nature. Sit at the top of one of the heights and look down onto the sea. listen to the rhythm of the waves and sounds of the wind, birds, sheep and cows. Sing with the wind and feel how your voice caries away and disappears. This is my idea of heaven.
http://www.skye.co.uk/

St. Petersburg

St. Peterburg!!! where I was born is remaining the most special part of me , my existence, culture. My view on life, way of thinking are affected by this city and its people, who say that once born there you have a st. Peterburgian blood in you.

The City was founded in 1703. An eastern legend that is now part of the city mythology describes the first days of the city:

'Construction of the City had began, but the Marsh Swallowed all the stones. Blocks after blocks, but all had disappeared and nothing remained on the surface but Swamp. The Tzar Peotr the Great saw that this was still not his city, and with these words he began to lift block after block and assemble them in mid-air. In this manner he constructed the entire city, and when it was complete he let it fall to earth.'

It is Russia's second largest and Europe's third largest city after Moscow and London. Surrounded by Neva River, Gulf of Finland and Baltic sea. St. Petersburg enjoys the image of being the most European city of Russia. It is called with pridy, by its people 'The Northen Capital.

The new city's first building was the Peter and Paul Fortress it originally also bore the name of Sankt Pieterburg. It was laid down on Zaiachiy (Hare's) Island, just off the right bank of the Neva. The marshland was drained and the city spread under the supervision of German and Dutch engineers , whom Peter had invited to Russia. Peter restricted the construction of stone buildings in all of Russia outside of St Petersburg, so that all stonemasons would come to help build the new city.


I do not think St. Peterburg has ever known an easy times. I tend to think about this gorgeous city with deep sadness. Its greatness had a price which was paid by the lives of people for nearly 300 years.

After the Civil War, and murder of the Tsar Nicholai the 2nd and his family, as well as millions of anti-Soviet people, the renaming to Leningrad was designed to destroy last hopes among the resistance, and show strong dictatorship of Lenin's communist party and the Soviet regime.

St. Petersburg was devastated by Lenin's Red Terror then by Stalin's Regime in addition to crime and vandalism in the series of revolutions and wars. Between 1917 and 1930s, about two million people fled the city, educated intellectuals and aristocracy, who emigrated to Europe and America. At the same time many political, social and paramilitary groups had followed the communist government in their move to Moscow, as the benefits of capital status had left the city.

During Second World War Leningrad was surrounded under a siege by the German Wehrmacht from 1941 to 1944. The City was constantly bombed and systematically isolated it from any supplies, causing death of more than 1 million civilians in 3 years.
My Grand Mother, was 13 at the time, she used to run with other children onto the roofs of the buildings and throw sand at the shelled bombs, so it would not explode on the top of the building. She said that people were desperate for food. They were only given 125 grams of bread for a week and few potatoes. Her pictures of that time look dreadful. She looked like a walking skeleton. People were eating rubbish, cats, dogs, mice and rats and sometimes dead corpses.
So, now , even that i did not experience it myself, every time I am throwing food i feel strange sense of guilt, as if could change something. After two years of the siege- blockade, Leningrad became an empty "ghost-city" with thousands of ruined and abandoned homes.

After such horrors there is no wonder that people wanted to revive the city and to make it the most beautiful of all. I have never for example seen such beautiful underground stations in any of the European major cities. Not in London or Paris , not in Barcelona or Berlin. But in St. Petersburg you descend into an underground station and you really feel the greatness of Russia, the generous warm hand of Russian soul its people and of the Russian Nature (endless, wide fields, forests, rivers). The singing soul of Russia, when your voice wants to continue into an endless space and reflect the happiness and the suffering, the love and the misery of this land.

My grand mother Zoya was a history teacher and a tour guide and from very young age I was passionate about this city.When I left Russia I was 13 years old and I was totally in love with St. Petersburg. First few weeks I used to dream that I fly above the city, looking down at all the familiar places and wonder that I have never seen it before form such hight.

Hampstead heath

Hampstead heath is undoubtedly the most inspiring and relaxing green space in London. I absolutely adore it and wish to spend more time there. I can sit and listen to the sounds of leaves trembling in the wind, ducks lending in the water like small airplanes, distant dog's barking and smell the air, filled with combinations of different trees and flowers. When my lungs are becoming bigger then the rest of the body and I feel the urge to either run in the fields or sing. Then I think that a person does not really need much for happiness.


Hampstead Heath was featured on the television programme Seven natural wonders as one of the wonders of the London area. Apparently there are about 20 something ponds, which are fed by the Fleet river which starts on the Heath and flows down to the River Thames at Blackfriars. I tried to swim in a mixed pond, but found it unnatural. It was far too cold and the water was dark, I found myself constantly thinking that a dead body might come into the surface anytime or a monster-fish will bit my leg off.

My favourite places

Tree number one in Regents park. This is the tree where I used to meet my future husband, sit underneath, watch the sun goes down and have lovely, long conversations. Now I return to this tree with our little son and we feed ducks. I love this tree!
There is also tree number 2 on the other side of the park, by the small lake.

Wherever I lived in London, there have been always a tree opposite my window. It is amazing to wake up in the morning and see green leaves moving gently in the wind. They are awake and calling me I start my day.

Bicycle, pilates, power walking

I want to ride my bicycle...

I have got a new bicycle with a toddler sit on the back. It is amazing and at the same time scary to ride with your child through the streets. I can imaging how much Ethan enjoys the ride , the wind in his face and the scenery around him. I can still remember when I was a child the feeling of being carried away. I could close my eyes and sense it now as if I am small again.

But the risk is great, specially on the big roads, which i am trying to avoid.



I love walking, looking at houses, being nosy, staring at peoples windows. I love to imaging what people say, when i can not actually hear them. Also to compare different styles of furnishing their houses. I love walking in London. There is a healthy mixture of everything, from all around the world.
Lets say I walk on the Kilburn High street. On the same street i see Afro-Cuban hair salon, Tai noodle bar, Lebanize restaurant, Italian restaurant, Arab butcher, Russian food shop, Philippino grocery, English pub and Chinese fish stall. Wow!!! I absolutely love it.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Fitness-Nina-Barough/dp/1405300922

Pilates is my love and hate. Once I am into it I can swear by it and talk only about wonders that it does to my body. But once I missed a week I hate going back to it. I hate to be committed and to know that it is all for selfish me, me, me.
http://www.belsizestudio.com/