Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation Lidia Zarkina is a musicologist, animateur and conférencière at concerts and festivals, author and presenter of philharmonic cycles and concert programs, dedicated to memorable events and prominent musicians.
She makes her concert programs very individualized in terms of key themes and musical content. Always informative and interesting, her program texts serve as a link between the music and the hearts of the listeners. Lidia has created such successful programs as Dedicated to You (a concert dedicated to Bulat Okudzhava, a Russian musician and singer-songwriter), But Love Is a Melody Too (to coincide with St. Valentine’s Day), The Union of Magical Sounds, Feelings and Thoughts (a concert dedicated to poet Alexander Pushkin), То Love All Ages Yield Surrender (a concert of songs based on love poems), and бшЮThe Dream Sang to Me (a concert dedicated to poetess Anna Akhmatova).
Lidia got degree in musicology at the Chelyabinsk State Institute of Culture (now the Chelyabinsk Academy of Culture and Arts). Since 1977 she has been working with the Chelyabinsk Concert Association that later was transformed in to the Chelyabinsk Philharmonia. As an educator, Lidia has prepared dozens of themed talks and lectures on music for small children, teenagers, and university students. Lidia has planned concert series for the Chamber Choir under the baton of conductor Valery Mikhalchenko and worked on art-and-music project Beacons of Russian Culture in collaboration with the Chelyabinsk Regional Picture Gallery. As an author, Lidia has written journal articles, co-authored the encyclopedia on Chelyabinsk and Chelyabinsk Region, and created scenarios for television and radio shows.
Lidia has represented many outstanding musicians who visited Chelyabinsk on tours, such as conductors Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov, Yury Bashmet, Yury Simonov; the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Virtuosi Di Roma, the Moscow Chamber Choir under the baton of Vladimir Minin; pianists Rudolf Kehrer, Dmitry Bashkirov, Denis Matsuev, Boris Berezovsky, Nikolai Petrov; vocalists Galina Pisarenko, Galina Kalinina, Bela Rudenko, Irina Arkhipova, Boris Shtokolov; violinists Edward Grach, Lutz Leskovits, Graf Murzha; cellists Alaxandr Knyazev, Daniil Shafran, Mark Drobinsky; and organists Ludger Lohmann, Olivier Latry, Gari Grodberg, Giampaolo Di Rosa, Rubin Abdullin, J. Gordon Christensen. Lidia has hosted many chamber, organ and choir music festivals. She has introduced music in major venues of Chelyabinsk (the Glinka Opera and Ballet Theater, the Prokofiev Hall, the Rodina Hall of Organ and Chamber Music, the Naum Orlov Academic Drama Theatre) and Russian cities, such as Orenburg, Kurgan, Novgorod, Perm, Tyumen, Surgut, Tobolsk, Izhevsk, Votkinsk, Vologda, Sochi, Moscow.
Lidia is a brilliant communicator of music to audiences, from nursery children to older generations. Professionalism, erudition, intelligence, and charm are the components of her popularity. Lidia was given numerous letters of commendation and certificates of appreciation for her contribution into cultural life of Chelyabinsk.
