Sergey Berinsky’s Workshop and Its Traditions in the Creative Work of Composer Marina Shmotova

The author attempts to characterize some aspects of the educational work and creative work of composer M.A. Shmotova, revealing important aspects of the formation of the Creative Workshop association at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The idea for its creation belonged to composer S.S. Berinsky, editor of the Creativity section of the Musical Academy journal, and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. The All-Union Seminar of Young Composers at the Composers’ House in Ivanovo became the platform for the organization of the Sergey Berinsky’s Music Club, where listeners could discover a panorama of the latest music by Russian composers from across Russia. The culmination of the club’s activities and the seminar’s work was the Creative Workshop festival, held in Moscow in 1997, whose program included performances of large-scale and chamber works written during the seminar. The author of this article traces the development of a new generation of composers in the context of the formation of the Creative Workshop association under the leadership of S.S. Berinsky. After his death, composer M.A. Shmotova took on the task of continuing the club, seminar, and promoting contemporary Russian music. An analysis of some of her vocal music confirms the cultural traditions of the Creative Workshop, embracing musical composition as a meaningful phenomenon and fostering creative cross-fertilization through fruitful collaboration with representatives of various national schools in Russia. One such project, in particular, was the cantata Blue Ice of Baikal, written in the Buryat language for D.V. Pokrovsky’s ensemble, saxophone, theremin, percussion, organ, and violin, which was performed at a festival in Irkutsk in 2019.