ELENA SHARKOVA conductor

Throughout Russia’s tumultuous history, its government forced into exile scores of its best talent: composers, performers, writers, dancers and artists. Those who stayed were forced to work under brutal censorship and live in fear. The Voices in Exile concert illuminates and celebrates the strength, ingenuity and faith that kept composers such as Schnittke, Sviridov, Chesnokov, Gubaidulina and Rachmaninoff working despite the heartache of immigration and the darkness of the brutal regime. Life-affirming songs of faith and soul-searching laments are intertwined with poems by Pasternak, Tsvetayeva, Akhmatova and more.