A House Concert of International Calibre
By Marina Kochetova
On September 13, 2026, an intimate gathering near Ottawa’s Central Park became the highlight of the day for its guests and participants. It was a house concert by Elena Obolenskaya—her only solo concert in Ottawa this year. Her many other performances took place in cities across Canada and the United States.
Elena is the founder and vice-president of the Ottawa Creative Literary Club. She holds a Ph.D. and is a singer-songwriter who writes poetry, translations, and songs based on the works of both renowned and contemporary poets. She won the Grand Prix at the Slavic Word 2025 festival and the Golden Microphone at Montreal’s Maple Leaves arts festival in 2010 and 2019. She has also won prizes, including silver awards, in London competitions devoted to Joseph Brodsky and Alexander Pushkin in 2020 and 2025.
The meaning of kvartirnik—an informal concert held in someone’s home—has changed over time. In the mid-1980s, it evoked an underground gathering in the smoke-filled kitchen of a small Soviet apartment: old friends from artistic circles singing to the accompaniment of a guitar. Such evenings gave performers who could not appear at official concerts a chance to be heard. Viktor Tsoi and Boris Grebenshchikov, beloved by generations of listeners, made their way to larger stages through these gatherings. Early recordings of the legendary Vladimir Vysotsky were also made at house concerts where he performed his songs.
A new kind of kvartirnik became especially popular in Ottawa’s Russian-speaking community during the pandemic. With concert halls inaccessible, home performances helped satisfy a growing hunger for culture and connection. Audience members need not be close friends of the hosts: announcements on Facebook allow anyone interested to experience the energy of live music. An encounter with art can lift the spirits, especially in difficult times. People long for live music and conversation. At these concerts, listeners can get to know performers better, while musicians can meet their audience. The setting creates a special atmosphere that brings the two closer together; guests can speak directly with the artists.
Elena Obolenskaya’s house concerts, however, began long before the pandemic. She was perhaps the first Russian-speaking Ottawan to organize such creative gatherings. Initially called An Evening in the Obolenskys’ Living Room, they featured songs written by Elena herself. She would usually devote an evening to presenting a new song cycle.
This time was different. The two-hour concert, named after a line from one of her older songs—Look Ahead by Looking Back—symbolically linked past and future. It was loosely divided into four parts. First came a tribute to great literary figures—Alexander Pushkin, Marina Tsvetaeva, and Boris Pasternak—whose poems Elena had set to music. The second part featured songs based on poems by contemporary writers. The third consisted entirely of her own work, with both lyrics and music by Elena Obolenskaya.
The audience became part of the evening. Instead of simply moving from song to song, Elena spoke with her guests. She shared memories of how particular works came about and the experiences that inspired them. The gathering was a full creative evening, complete with a surprise: affectionate poetic caricatures of several friends in attendance, which Elena read aloud publicly for the first time. They were unexpected and delightful, revealing another side of her work. I have no doubt there are many more sides to discover.
Guests from the literary club then took up the baton. Carried along by the mood Elena had created, they spontaneously took turns reading their poems or singing. A reception had been planned for afterward, but the evening held one more surprise. At the guests’ insistent request, Elena picked up her guitar again and sang songs by Bulat Okudzhava, with everyone joining in.
The gathering ended on a joyful note. Everyone left delighted and uplifted—a fitting reward for the efforts of Elena and her devoted husband, Sergei Obolensky. As Elena puts it, “Poetry and music are a cosmic world beyond the looking glass, where the soul comes alive.”