In Conversation with Art & Culture

Zsolt Bodoni is a Romanian artist, who experiments with a range of media in his paintings to create dimension. His latest venture are semi-transparent multi-layered works with light. In late 2021, his exhibition viewed in darkness at David Kovats London, introduced the artist to the UK. We were really excited to talk to him about his process, the evolution of his practice and what comes next.

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Music by Alexandr Solodchenko

Irina is from Moscow and takes much of her creative inspiration from Russian cultural references that she discusses in this episode, especially film, art, and literature. Irina got her MA in graphic design at the Stroganov Academy of the Applied Arts, the alma mater of Rodchenko and Mayakovsky. She moved to Antwerp, Belgium to study Dutch and then to Moscow to work as a designer and art director at magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Empire. After 10 years in the industry, she took the leap in 2020 to set up her own business, a sustainable e-commerce brand called Kikina Designs aimed at Gen-Z and Russian culture lovers. On her website you can expect to find futurist manifestoes hand-painted on silk scarves, post-Soviet cult classic movie heroes on t-shirts, and silver age poetry on hoodies. In this episode, Irina describes her favourite Russian food, films, and literature with a passion that would make anyone want to eat, watch, and read all of the above.

Find Kikina designs here: https://irinakikina.com/ and here: https://www.instagram.com/kikina_designs/

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Saffy talks about her research into the influence of literary legend Fyodor Dostoevsky on African American literature and the Blackness of Alexander Pushkin. Saffy talks about her favourite novels and recommends the best way for newbies to Russian literature to get into Dostoevsky. She also discusses the existential themes of suffering, salvation and oppression that appear in Dostoevsky’s work and subsequently relate to African American slave culture in African American literature. Saffy also explains why it is argued that Pushkin had an affinity to black culture through his own suffering and feeling like an outsider due to his heritage. Tune in to hear more of Saffy’s fascinating perspective on Russian literature and her and recommendation on how to get a well-rounded insight into Russian culture. Saffy is in her second year of her PhD and hopes to contribute a valuable piece of scholarship to an otherwise not hugely written about topic. She has ambitions to pursue either academia or creative writing or both once her thesis is done.

Find Saffy here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/saffy-mirghani

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This episode is about Music and War.

War has always had a powerful influence on music. At times it has the ability to motivate composers even more than love, religious belief, or money. Throughout the ages, both war and music about war have changed dramatically. The destructive power of war has reached its ultimate capabilities -- the potential to eliminate all life. As war has become more and more horrible, and has caused unprecedented amounts of needless deaths, the world's view of war has changed completely. This change in attitude toward war is evident also in the development of war music.

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Jess is a Canadian born and raised, Elmira a Muscovite. Both currently reside in Vancouver and met for the first time when they became flatmates. Jess is an illustrator and Elmire a piano teacher and copywriter. Jess had lived in Siberia for a few months and speaks Russian, meaning that Elmira and she would talk often about Russian language and culture, including swearing. Together over lockdown they decided it would be fun to create and Instagram account of the most inventive Russian swearwords to entertain their friends. Suddenly their account became an internet sensation and people from all corners of the globe were sharing their content.

Now, the pair have released 3 volumes of their favourite curses and are working on volume 4. Listeners beware, there will be a fair amount of effing and blinding on this week’s episode so if that’s not your cup of chai, move on to episode 3. However, we strongly suggest you get acquainted with the most creative swearing you’ve ever heard and enjoy the curses in all their glory.

Follow @curselikearussian on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curselikearussian/

Find Yuri Dud here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMCgOm8GZkHp8zJ6l7_hIuA

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Many of Rita’s students remember her luminous nature, her laughter and positivity, which is very rare amongst music teachers. Often, too often teacher’s authority is based on fear, humiliation and suppression of a student. But how is it related to Rita? 

In this episode I’ll tell you how Rita (probably totally unconsciously) broke a cliché of dominant teaching method and introduced a loving, kind and patient approach. You will also hear various people talk about Rita: amongst them pianist sir Andras Schiff, cellist Steven Isserlis and her students. At the end you’ll hear a composition dedicated to Rita by classical pianist and composer Prach Boondiskulchok. 

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Listen in to Serian’s Russian journey, starting with her teaching post in Chelyabinsk leading her to dedicate years of study to the field of Russian cinema, particularly Soviet-era youth cinema and the crossover of the themes of bodies, gender, health, and nationalism on screen. What a way to start the new series!

Find Serian and Dr Rachel Morley’s chapter here: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-45160-8_12

Find Lara: https://www.instagram.com/lolszowska/

Watch ‘I Can't Say Goodbye’ (about the paralysed man) by Boris Durov here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4lfA4wE7T8&t=7s

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In the conversation with classical cellist and life coach Tatiana Bejenari we try to find the way to carry on while the East and the West are in the state of a major conflict.

How can we eat, sleep, shop, be creative, make love and smile without feeling guilty and responsible?

We must start with looking after ourselves, our children, partners and parents. We must work and socialise. Because now and here we need to control what we can still control and look after things that are still in our reach. But will this keep us going? Will this keep us alive?

The talk will consist of 7 chapters. Like 7 notes in. From A to G:

The music will be there at the end of each chapter to conclude, summarise and reflect.

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This episode is about one of the greatest compositions of the 20th century - a piano concerto in G by French composer Maurice Ravel.

So why is it great ?

It is a known fact that Mozart could create works of a great length in the matter of days (the famous example is the Linz symphony which was composed in 4 days) and could hear the symphony instantly in a matter of seconds before putting it on paper. The other composers take longer time to come with original and non-trivial music. It took Ravel 4 years of sleepless nights and struggles.

It is written for solo piano and symphony orchestra and consists of 3 movements. First and the third create a virtuosic and musically diverse arc in the middle of which the slow second movement shines like a rare diamond of pure beauty. Here the main theme 36 bars long, it doesn’t repeat itself once and is received on one breath as one big gesture.

In this episode I won’t only tell you how this concerto is linked to the Basque culture and jazz, but will also share with you my favourite recordings of it.

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Episode 5 of Talking music with Olga Jegunova podcast is about Stage fright or Performance anxiety. It is a common state of mind before or during performance and public speaking. Symptoms of it can vary from cold hands, stuttering to nerve ticks and dizziness. If not taken under control, state fright can destroy a performance. Many artists suffer from it. Frederic Chopin, for example, played only 10 concerts because of the stage fright. There is also cellist Pablo Casals, soprano Rene Fleming and pianist Glenn Gould, who has even decided to fully concentrate on recording sessions, and so many more.

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