Women's stories 26.12.1999 (1999)

The program is dedicated to the singer Valentina Ponomareva.

Valentina Dmitrievna Ponomareva is a Soviet and Russian singer, performer of romances and jazz vocalist.

A representative of the Russian gypsy dynasties Ponomarev and Erdenko.

Valentina Ponomareva was born on July 10, 1939 in Moscow.

Valentina Ponomareva's parents are violinist Dmitry Ponomarev, nephew of the famous gypsy musician Mikhail Erdenko, and pianist Irina Lukashova.

The future singer was born when her parents were still studying at the Moscow Conservatory and lived in a dormitory.

Valentina grew up surrounded by music.

European classics and gypsy melodies are equally familiar to her since childhood.

Valentina studied in many schools, since she had to move with her parents from city to city.

After receiving her secondary education, she entered the music department of the Khabarovsk College of Arts, in two faculties at once - vocal and piano.

During her studies, Ponomareva became acquainted with jazz and became fascinated with the genre.

After graduating from college as an external student, Valentina soon accepted an invitation to play the dramatic role of the gypsy Mashenka in the theatrical performance "Living Corpse" (Khabarovsk Drama Theater).

In 1967, Valentina participated in the International Jazz Festival in Tallinn.

There, Anatoly Kroll noticed her and invited her to be a soloist in his jazz orchestra.

In 1971, the singer left the orchestra and became an artist at the Romen Theater.

In 1973, the Romen trio was formed at the theater, with Valentina Ponomareva becoming a soloist.

That same year, the trio became a laureate of the All-Russian Theater Youth Competition and a laureate of the All-Union Variety Artists Competition.

The Romen trio quickly became very popular, both in the USSR and beyond.

She performs on radio and television, records albums, and tours the Union and abroad.

During her foreign tours, Valentina visits jazz clubs, where she not only listens, but also sings, incurring the displeasure of the "authorities." In 1979, Ponomareva left the theater.

Beginning in 1980, she again takes part in jazz festivals.

In fact, her voice becomes the voice of Soviet jazz.

She is a member of the first "Pop Mechanics" of composer Sergei Kuryokhin.

In the early 1980s, Ponomareva worked for a certain time in the jazz group "Arkhangelsk" under the direction of Vladimir Rezitsky, another pillar of Soviet avant-garde jazz.

In 1983, she met guitarist Konstantin Gogunsky, who became her husband.

Video: Konstantin Gogunsky talks about Valentina Ponomareva.

In 1983, Ponomareva was invited to perform the songs of the main character in the film "Cruel Romance" by director Eldar Ryazanov, but her name was undeservedly not included in the film's credits.

Nevertheless, after the release of the film, romances performed by Valentina Dmitrievna were a huge success, they were constantly requested on the radio.

Valentina Ponomareva talks about her son Oleg and family.

The program uses photographs from the archive of Tatyana Vasilyeva and fragments of the film "Cruel Romance" and concert performances.