«Gusli in the Space» — a project dedicated to the duo of Gusli, «Russian harp»,
«Gusli in the Space» — duo «russian harp» and organ.
The main objective of the project is the promotion of contemporary harmonious art based on the native tradition of performing and composing skills. The aesthetics of modern tonal and modal music rooted in the Slavic folk music makes a dialogue with the masterpieces of European Baroque also performed on the organ and gusli. The Russian national instrument that has the tone of great beauty creates an unique scenic product in combination with organ’s sound.
The basis of the «Gusli in Space» is a program of contemporary Russian music (K.Shahanov, V. Bibergan, E.Panchenko. etc.) as well as Russian music of the Soviet period starting with the 60th of XX century when concerts for the Russian harp with the Orchestra by Boris Kravchenko (1929–1979), a Leningrad composer, began to take shape of the modern repertoire of players. The name of the project was given after one of the concerts by Kravchenko («Gusli in the Space», 1969), dedicated to the conquest of space by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
Also in the program «Gusli in the Space», the music of the European Baroque, by Vivaldi, JS Bach, GF Telemann and other great European composers of the 17–18 centuries. Participants in the project made arrangements for duo gusli&organ of some compositions for violin, guitar and mandolin with basso-continuo.
The project was developed by young Russian musicians: Elizaveta PANCHENKO (composer, multi-instrumentalist, member of the St Petersburg Union of Composers, Van Wassenaer concour the 3rd Price, 2016), and
Anastasia FOMINA (gusli player, laureate of international competitions, teacher, winner of the Award of the Government of St. Petersburg) musicians who made a series of concerts in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Siberia and other regions of Russia since 2015.