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On June 26th finalists in the piano, violin, and cello categories rehearsed with an orchestra.

In the morning the panel of jurors for violin and piano met in Moscow with the competitors who will not be in Round III.  There was a similar meeting in Saint Petersburg for the cello category.

As is traditional for the International Tchaikovsky Competition, members of the panel of jurors travelled to Klin.  Liana Iskadze from the violin jury and Peter Donohoe from the piano jury visited the Tchaikovsky house and museum.  The tour for the day included the museum’s exhibition called “Tchaikovsky—A Symphony of Life.  His Creative Path and Fate as an Artist” (curated to commemorate the composer’s 175th birthday anniversary) and another called “A Musical Springtide for the World” (outlining the history of the International Tchaikovsky Competition).  Then the jury members of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition continued another tradition by planting a tree on the grounds of the museum.

Friday gave a little respite to the vocalists between the first and second rounds of the competition.  The day also allowed the jurors to enjoy a stroll through Saint Petersburg and a visit to the Hermitage.

On Saturday the semi-finals begin—Round II with a programme no less challenging than in Round I.  The jury will listen just as intently to the voices of the twenty young singers that remain of the original forty.  The programme in Round II really amounts to one half of a full-scale solo recital.  It requires another romance by Tchaikovsky, other than the one sung in Round I.  Then there is to be another lied or song in the chamber vocal genre from a list of composers ranging from Schubert and Glinka to Mahler, de Falla, Ravel, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Sviridov.  And it will be very interesting to hear folk songs, either with piano or a capella, from the participants’ countries of origin.   There will be a major aria chosen by the competitor and an aria from an opera, cantata, or oratorio composed after 1950, which means an aria from a modern opera.  Round II begins in the Mussorgsky Hall with three sopranos:  Diana Kazaryan, Mane Galoyan, and Gelena Gaskarova.