Daria Rabotkina blogs about her US travels

Concert Artists Guild is proud to present another installment in our new blog series to introduce our artists. This week’s contributor is Daria Rabotkina, who has been proposed for a Grammy nomination for her debut recital disc on CAG Records (deadline for Grammy voting is November 1st!). We hope you enjoy her anecdotes from her travels!

Privet vsem*, or quoting John Cleese, “Dear citizens of America”**,

I am currently in California, performing. The Pepperdine University campus is so gorgeously spread out on cliffs that it seems like I am on Mount Olympus, and the ocean resides down below like a “little lake” from a Bob Ross’ painting. I was warned that a Pepperdine student can be recognized by their thighs, as a result of them hiking up and down those massive hills, and I became immediately impressed. In the morning, the sky and water are of the same, kind of anxious, metallic color, and the clouds form a much higher, scarier horizon line which I see as a giant tsunami far, far away. I am fascinated by tsunamis, and I tend to see them in every shadow, so - no wonder…

Mistake of the month: on the morning of my flight to California, I got this strong allergic reaction from a facial cleanser, and my eyes got swollen almost shut. After a sleepless night, I went to ER at 6am, but they took such interest in my paperwork there that I had to leave and go to the airport for my 9am flight. That was a good lesson: never try new chemicals or food before an important event.

Giving a master class is not entirely new to me, but every time it feels like an adventure. Frankly, I much prefer to teach private lessons, but a master class setting provokes me to exercise the qualities that may otherwise lay dormant. A person like me would not normally go in front of an audience and start speaking, with a body angle half turned to the student, and half to the audience. This is something you either consider comfortable or acrobatics. The latter applies to me. I know teachers who have an incredible ability to involve the audience in the intimate teaching process, with allegories and funny examples, and I am curious whether it is a natural gift or a practiced solution.

I found that the most satisfying element of my little pre-concert talks is a laugh. Seriously, what can be better than having people chuckle? A laugh is a moment of happiness, (unless it’s sarcastic which I adore for different reasons, or some might see the notion of happiness as laughable). Music is such a serious matter by itself that folks deserve a more diverse experience, especially, before or after Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations.

Do skorogo!***

Best,

Dasha

*Hi everyone!

**http://starrgazr.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/john-cleeses-letter-to-america/

***Until later!

1 year ago  /  1 note