Projects

Russian acapella group

Petersburg Quartet

DUO’s latest project is the award-winning Russian acapella group Petersburg Quartet which dazzled South African audiences during their once in a lifetime whirl around the country.

The thrilling tour took place between 29 September and 21 October 2010. Petersburg Quartet’s unique fusion of Opera, Folk, Gospel, Jazz and Classical music, with influences from around the globe, touched audiences to their very souls.

Founded 15 years ago, the Petersburg Quartet still has all four original members: Igor Krushelnitsky (bass), Pawel Napalkov (baritone), Arseny Garibjan (2nd tenor) and Anatoly Lomunov (1st tenor). The four met at the famous Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatory, and have since created a unique style which fuses their roots in Russian folk and church choral music with jazz and spiritual music from around the world.

The Petersburg Quartet visited South Africa for a five-city tour, with performances in several cities including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein, Stellenbosch and Nelspruit. The tour was the quartet’s first visit to Africa.

The group was brought to South Africa by local businessman Andre du Toit, who was deeply impressed with the quartet after seeing them perform at the Nikolaevsky Palace in St Petersburg. “Their music touched me to the depths of my soul,” du Toit said.

“My wife and I were so inspired by them we decided we had to share this discovery. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to travel to Russia, but we can bring a bit of Russia to South Africa.”

For its South African tour, the quartet focused on “music that will make people think and feel. No matter where people come from, music can make us feel with one soul and one heart,” according to conductor Igor Krushelnitsky.

“Students from all over the world come to St Petersburg to study music,” explained Krushelnitsky. “We have accumulated the music of many cultures here – and those students have taken the music of Russia back with them in their turn. There is a Russian musician in every orchestra.”