Folk forward: Award-winning soprano Olga Orlovskaya performs as part of the Washington Balalaika Society Orchestra, with more than 60 musicians playing music from Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe on traditional instruments. The balalaika is a three-stringed instrument of Russian origin with a triangular body that varies in tone depending on its size. Though it’s been played for centuries, it periodically gets rediscovered in Western culture, where it has appeared in the score of Dr. Zhivago, on Jethro Tull and Kate Bush recordings, and most recently as a major part of Wes Anderson’s Oscar-winning score for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
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