Natalia Rikker is a musicologist, compere, journalist, and the jazz music commentator in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Biography
editNatalia is born in 1978 in Chelyabinsk, studied in Chelyabinsk State University. From 1999 to 2010 had worked in local music radio station. Since 2004 hosts music concerts at different stages in Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Moscow, etc. Since 2010 teaches history of modern music in South Ural State Institute of Arts n.a. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. A good education, presenting skills, a keen understanding of jazz music, and a great musical erudition help Natalia masterfully host concerts of Ural Dixieland Band. Well-known in the music crowd as a bright compere, she also collaborates with Chelyabinsk jazz bands (such as the big band of Stanislav Berezhnov, a Latino band Shiko, and others), the Chelyabinsk Symphonic Orchestra “Classica”, the Folk Dance Ensemble "Ural", and soloists of the Chelyabinsk Philharmonic. Her presenting is marked by wit, ease, and extempore.
Natalia is an art director and presenter at the Chelyabinsk International Jazz Festival What a wonderful world. Since 2013, she has been the organizer and presenter at the International Music Festival "Spring Beat".
In order to popularize Chelyabinsk musical art, Natalia has worked with Chelyabinsk radio stations, authoring and hosting music programs, including popular Jazz Time, which had been on air every week for 4 years. She has also collaborated with TV channel "Culture South Urals". She has written many articles about musical life in Chelyabinsk for local and national journals, including online magazine Jazz.ru. She took part in the creation of encyclopedic reference book Jazz in Russia, edited by the famous Russian jazz theorist of Vladimir Feiertag.