- Valentina Ponomaryova (singer)
Valentina Dmitriyevna Ponomaryova ( _ru. Валенти́на Дми́триевна Пономарёва) (born
10 July 1939 ,Moscow ), often also spelled Ponomareva, is aRussia nsinger , performer of romances and ajazz vocalist.Biography
Valentina's father is a Gypsy violinist Dmitriy Ponomaryov, her mother is a
Russia n pianist Irina Lukashova. Valentina was born when her parents were students of theMoscow Conservatory and lived in a studentdormitory . Valentina was growing among classical European and Gypsy music.Her parents travelled a lot so Valentina studied at many schools. After she finished her school she entered the
Khabarovsk Arts Institute . She studied bothvocal andpiano . As a student she learnt aboutjazz and took a great interest in it.Valentina took external degrees and was invited to a
theater to act the part of a Gypsysinger in a dramatic play "The Living Corpse " (byLev Tolstoy ). Her role included several songs and was a great success with the audience.In
1967 Valentina took part in the International Jazz Festival inTallinn . There she was noticed and invited to join Anatoliy Krol's jazz-band, which was quite famous in theUSSR .In
1971 the singer left the band and became an actress in the Gypsy "Romen " theatre in Moscow. In1973 , trio "Romen" performed on stage, with Valentina as a singer. In1973 the trio was the laureate of the USSR Variety Performers Contest.In
1988 she voiced the Woman in the cult animated feature film "The Cat Who Walked by Herself ". [http://www.jazz.ru/mag/43/novok.htm] .Her complete recordings with the legendary
Trio Romen is being re-released (2008) byJon Larsen 'sHot Club Records .External links
* [http://www.valentinaponomareva.ru/pressa/press.htm Press about Valentina Ponomaryova (collection on her own site)] ru icon
* [http://kkre-39.narod.ru/ponomar.htm Biography and examples of songs] ru icon
* [http://www.newsvm.com/articles/1999/10/26/valen.html Interview] ru icon
* [http://romanykultury.info/face/face.php?row=25 Ponomaryova's bio in the Gypsy magazine "Romany Kultura i Dzhiiben"] ru icon
* [http://www.specialradio.net/art/003.shtml An article where the singer is mentioned as "the greatest female singer of Russian improvisatory music"] ru icon
*imdb name|id=2606618|name=Valentina Ponomaryova
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