Publications

<div style="text-align: justify;">   <p> <font size="4">Sergey Vinogradov</font></p>   <p><i>The Hollywood has seen a lot of celebrities with Russian names – Kirk Douglas, a Hollywood legend and star of Spartacus, was born as Issur Danielovitch, and Oscar-winning Helen Mirren is delighted to be called Elena Vasilievna. The one might think that Yul Brynner, a star of The King and I, spent his whole life trying to forget that he had been born in Vladivostok as Yuliy Borisovich Briner, though, according to the eyewitnesses, he spoke fluent Russian until...

Tamara Skok According to contemporaries of Alexander Pushkin, impression that his voice and laughter made on people was one of a kind. We have picked out some memories about meeting Pushkin in his lifetime. Portrait of A. S. Pushkin by Petr Ossovskiĭ, 1987 *** “Soon we sat around him, and he recited us his The Gypsies. We heard this wonderful poem for the first time, and I will never forget the admiration that filled my soul!.. I was delighted by both - the fluent verses of this wonderful poem, as well as his recitation which was so much melodious that I was...

Anna Genova Joseph Brodsky would have turned 80 on May 24. His life was very short by today’s standards – he lived 56 years only. We spoke about Brodsky “seen through the lens of his time” with Constantine Pleshakov, a historian and writer, professor of political science at Amherst College, USA. For many years Constantine has also collaborated with Mount Holyoke College walking the same streets and breathing the same air as Brodsky did. Let us have an open mind and get an insight into the myths that still swirl around the poet’s name. - Apart from your primary place of work, for many years you...

Sergey Vinogradov Elisabetta Fabbri. Photo courtesy of Vologda State University “I was astonished by power of the Vologda church, and its spirit,” said the famous Italian architect Elisabetta Fabbri having visited the dilapidated Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. While spending a few days in Vologda, the Master of Architecture, a member of the Venice Order of Architects and Conservation Professionals, the conservation architect of Teatro alla Scala and other opera houses in Italy, and the recipient of the presidential order supported the restoration of the church and gave valuable...

Svetlana Smetanina Photo credit: artchive.ru This spring marks 125 years since the release of the highest decree of Emperor Nicholas II on the establishment of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. The uniqueness of the museum was that literally the whole country collected exhibits for its collection - from peasants, who gave away ancient household items, to representatives of the upper classes, who donated the richest collections of paintings to the fund. These days, the Russian Museum is exploring new territories both in Russia and abroad. It confirms that for Russian art there are no borders. The idea to...

Isaak Dunayevsky. Photo credit: multiurok.ru Anna Genova 120 years ago, Isaak Dunayevsky, perhaps the most famous Soviet composer of popular songs, was born in the quiet Ukrainian town. “Could you think thirty-five years ago that a small musician, a fan of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Borodin, would be able to become a master of the easy genre? But it is my extensive musical background that helped and still helps me to create light music by serious means,” Dunayevsky wrote in his memoirs. Light music quickly becomes obsolete. Fortunately, there are exceptions, and such exceptions...