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On Wednesday night Washington Performing Arts Society at the Kennedy Center hosted a Russian art song recital of the internationally acclaimed Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky and his longtime concert partner, Estonian pianist Ivari Ilya. As the audience’s excitement about seeing this renowned recitalist was building up, it was disappointing to see quite a few empty seats in the house.

Across town the Proms were sounding their final hurrah for another year, but Wigmore Hall opened their 2012/13 season with an altogether more serious repertoire of Rachmaninov and Shostakovich songs.

Rimski-Korsakov, Rachmaninov, Glinka, Tchaïkovski… Les jeunes artistes en résidence à l'Académie de l'Opéra ont offert à Paris des effluves printaniers venus de Russie, servant un répertoire de miniatures poétiques qui sont autant de gemmes.