This concert of the Novaya Opera’s soloists is a kind of anthology of the Russian chamber singing of the early 19th century to the mid-20th century. An offspring of Russian poetry and music, the romance (this word often means both romance per se and song) is not just a unique artistic phenomenon but also a universal expression of Russian national consciousness. The Russian romance is a novel in a small way. The earthly and the heavenly, life and death, human passions and their apotheosis – love – are expressed in just a few pages of sheet music. The Russian romance is inclusive. Among its authors were both amateur musicians and great composers (Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff); romances could be heard everywhere – from homes to the best concert halls and palaces.