Wednesday night, just before returning to practice from their All Star-slash-bye-week break, Caps stars Alex Ovechkin and Dmitry Orlov, together with their wives, Nastya and Varvara, and Tatyana Ovechkina attended a concert at The George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium by famed Russian singer-songwriter Aleksandr Rozenbaum.
Rozenbaum was a longtime friend of Nastya’s mother, Russian actress and director Vera Glagoleva, who died in August 2017 at the age of 61.
Of course, the whole affair was well-documented on Instagram.
Rozenbaum is most famous for singing blatnye pesni, which loosely translates as “gangster anthems.” He is a national favorite in Russia, transcending class and social barriers.
Like many singers of the genre, Rozenbaum’s songs are musically fairly simple, but lyrically complex. They often focus on themes like war, incarceration, manly friendship, and criminal misadventures.
In 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin named Rozenbaum a People’s Artist of Russia, an official government award given only to the brightest stars of the Russian performing arts universe.
As a testament to his popularity, Rozenbaum is even the subject of a song by Saint Petersburg-based alternative-rock group, Tequilajazzz.
After the show concluded, the Caps Russian contingent met Rozenbaum backstage.
“I was very happy to see Nastenka, the daughter of my dear friend, Vera Glagoleva, and her husband, Sasha Ovechkin, at my Washington concert,” Rozenbaum wrote on Instagram. “We had a lovely time together.”
“Thank you, Aleksandr Yakovlevich! We love you!” Nastya wrote in a separate Instagram posting while Ovechkin added, “Bravo, @rozenbaum.ru !! Thank you for such an incredibly emotionally charged concert! We hope to see you soon.”
The concert was likely sentimental for the Ovechkin family. Thursday, the day after the show, marked Vera Glagoleva’s birthday. Nastya shared several photos and videos in remembrance of her mother.
Headline photo: @nastyashubskaya
