The music of the winner of the most prestigious awards (Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy) seemed to find a new lease of life, thanks to the orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater of Belarus. Over the past few years, Belarusian musicians have been participating in incredible shows at the largest European venues, performing hits of the world-famous composer Hans Zimmer, which you can hear in popular films and animated films: The Dark knight, Madagascar, Pirates of the Caribbean and many others. Orchestra manager Dzmitry Harbachuk is one of the few, who was lucky to work with Zimmer himself.
‘Of course, I watched all these Hollywood movies: Spider-Man, Gladiator, Batman, Rain Man, The Da Vinci Code, Inception – I know and admire the music written specifically for them, but I never thought I could see Hans Zimmer, moreover work with this brilliant composer! Believe me: the aura of this person is incredible!’
‘And what does maestro say about our orchestra?’
‘Zimmer is amazed by the professionalism of Belarusian musicians. It's not easy to get on a show of this level. But again and again we are invited to participate in the tour- it means that in some ways we are better than others. The last time we worked with the conductor Gavin Greenaway, who was delighted with our artists. He repeated endlessly: ‘It is divine!’ and he kept talking about the special energy of the orchestra.’
‘What's the best part of these tours?’
‘Zimmer's music itself is brilliant, it gives you shivers. And of course- the audience love. A special sense of pride bursts you when they announce: ‘The orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus!’ and all people in the big hall rise in applause.
‘You're going away again on 15 March?’
‘With the programme “The World of Hans Zimmer” we had toured almost the whole of Europe, in some cities we were several times. The shows are sold out everywhere. And our venues are huge arenas, containing 10-15 thousand spectators! In November we performed in Basel, Ghent, Oberhausen, Munich and Rotterdam. We returned to Minsk and received an invitation from the organizers of the tour "The World of Hans Zimmer. A Symphonic Celebration " to take part in concerts in Krakow, Manchester, London, Dortmund, Birmingham, Glasgow, Dublin, Paris, Brussels, Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, Vienna, Prague and other cities in spring. Unbelievable!..’
‘61 orchestra musicians go on tour! Is this usual?’
‘We are a big theatre with big orchestra. Repertoire performances do not suffer from this. And the musicians understand that it is necessary to participate in the tour: it develops us as professionals, especially in such century when you just need to be mobile.