Notes by Ivan Ozhogin official Fanpage (Иван Ожогин)NEW STAR SHINING IN OPERA ON ICE: https://www.facebook.com/notes/ivan-ozh ... 0915248183Last week the popular ice show “Opera on Ice” brought together champion figure skaters and opera stars in St. Petersburg, Russia, for a breathtaking performance. For the first time singer and star of Russian and German musicals Ivan Ozhogin performed in this ice show.
Spectators were taken by dancing and acrobatic tricks performed on ice and in the air to the sounds of classical masterpieces as well as by dynamic colorful video projections that reflected on ice.
“Three” seemed to be the number of the night for Ozhogin. First, Ivan sang Cavaradossi’s grandiose aria from Puccini’s Toska accompanied by dexterous play of Hungarian violinist Edvin Marton. The world-renowned musician brought one of Stradivari’s unique violins made in the 17th century to the Russian ice show. At the same time Evgeny Plushenko, Olympic champion in figure skating, was carving elaborate and fierce figures on white ice.
In St. Petersburg Plushenko presented some elements of his skating program that he is preparing for the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. He immediately accepted the invitation to dance in “Opera on Ice.” “It is the future for many figure skating shows,” he said in an interview. Evgeny Plushenko also thanked Ivan Ozhogin and Edvin Marton for the vocal and musical accompaniment. As for the audience, it became nearly hysterical at the combination of Ozhogin’s overwhelming voice, Plushenko’s captivating skating and Marton’s cosmic violin play.
Later three thrilling and inspiring voices intertwined in a well-known melody of the old Russian romance “Dark Eyes.” This time Ivan Ozhogin sang together with another tenor Aleksandr Trofimov from the Maryinsky Theater and baritone Oleg Loza, soloist at the Zürich Opera. Finally, Ozhogin performed famous Brindisi, a drinking song from Verdi’s La Traviata, in three pairs with opera singers Alla Petrova, Ilya Rimar, Tamara Kotova, Aleksandr Trofimov and Caroline Sandgren. The symphonic orchestra of the St. Petersburg radio provided musical background to the singers. The famous baritone Vasily Gerello from the Maryinsky Theater was in charge of the opera part of the show.
Ivan Ozhogin appreciated the opportunity to become part of the show: “I feel honored to perform on the same ice stage with recognized musicians and figure skating champions.”
The pleasure appears to be mutual. “It’s very flattering for us that Ivan Ozhogin is now part of our ice show,” commented Olympic champion in figure skating Elena Berezhnaya who organized “Opera on Ice” in St. Petersburg. “We look forward to carry on our cooperation in this and future projects.” In an earlier project, Ivan Ozhogin already worked as a musical consultant for Elena Berezhnaya’s Ice Theater in St. Petersburg and sang the part of the Mouse King in the children’s play “The Nutcracker.”
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by Lara Craft
Fotos: Елена Терёхина, Анна Ласомбра