SOP127: Dina Ichina And Denis Machankov
Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #127!\n\nToday's guests are Dina Ikhina and Denis Makhankov who are a family duo of young organists from Russia.\n\nYesterday the organists have performed for the first time in Vilnius St. Johns\u2019 Church Organ and presented before the New Year's Eve a concert entitled "Farewell to Old Year", in which the audience enjoyed the works of J. S. Bach, P. Tchaikovsky, A. Chekalin, A. P\xe4rt and other composers.\n\nDina was born in 1986 in Saratov, Denis \u2013 1988 in Ivanovo. Both studied organ music in St. Petersburg under a well-known Russian Federation artist prof. D. Zaretski, later harpsichord under prof. I. Rosanov and have acquired postgraduate degrees in Music.\n\nSince 2014 these organists perform together. The duo concert program consists invariable of pieces by modern composers.\nCurrently, the organists perform in Russia and throughout Europe, also teach at the St. Petersburg N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire and at city music schools, organize organ music festivals in Russia and Estonia. At the same time, the organists work in the famous Arts Palace in Kondopoga, Karelia, and also organize the annual \u201cGrande Orgue\u201d International Organ Music Festival.\n\n\u200bDina and Denis are among the founders and organizers of the project "Organ Concerts in Pechory". The project collects funds for the restoration of the historic Pechory (Pskov Region) organ of the St. Peter church. They were awarded the State Prize "National Recognition 2015" in the Initiative category (Pskov, 2016) and the Pskov Administration Award for this project.\n\nIn this conversation, Dina and Denis talk about their organ playing adventures and give such wonderful advice as not being afraid to try new things, trusting your ears, life-long study, consulting with experts and trying out many instruments with different acoustics.\n\nWe had this conversation at the restaurant so the environment is a bit noisy but since my guests talk rather slowly in English, I hope you will be able to follow it.\n\nListen to the conversation\n\nAnd don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.