“Symphonic Poetry” — Anna Egoyan
Anna Egoyan belongs to a generation of authors whose path to a wide audience began not with literary journals, but with short videos on social media. The poet and spoken-word performer has transformed poetry recitation into an independent stage genre in which not only the words matter, but also the tone of voice, pauses, breathing, music, and an almost theatrical command of emotional tension.
Egoyan was born in Yerevan and spent her childhood and youth in Russia. She studied ballroom dancing, singing, and piano, so performing entered her life long before her professional poetry programs. In high school, a literature teacher encouraged her to take part in recitation competitions, and Anna later earned a degree in philology from P. G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University.
She began writing poetry as a teenager, but Egoyan considers a poem written after the death of someone close to her the true beginning of her serious creative journey. The experience of loss shaped the character of her early lyrical work, placing love, loneliness, separation, memory, and the search for inner strength at its center. Over time, her poetry gained more light, acceptance, and reflection on treating oneself and others with care.
She became widely known after publishing videos in which she recited works by classical and contemporary poets. Her repertoire came to include poems by Anna Akhmatova, Eduard Asadov, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Vera Polozkova, Irina Astakhova, and other authors. Anna does not aim for academic detachment: she selects texts according to her own emotional response and performs them as though she were speaking not to an anonymous audience, but to a single listener.
Her own poetry continues the tradition of confessional love lyrics. Poems such as “The Highest Point of Feeling,” “You Are a Healer and a Magician,” “I Am Not Afraid,” and “We Made It Up” are built around accessible imagery, clear rhythm, and direct reflection on human relationships. Her debut collection, “The Highest Point of Feeling,” was published by AST in 2021, followed by an expanded pocket edition that also included works by poets who influenced her artistic taste.
Another important part of her work is connected with spoken literature. An audio album bearing the same title brought together sixteen poems of particular importance to the author. Together with composer Rostislav Khalikov, she also created the projects “I Can Wait for You for a Very Long Time,” based on works by Eduard Asadov and Robert Rozhdestvensky, and “You Are a Healer and a Magician.” Music does not function as ordinary background accompaniment in these productions: it shapes the rhythm of the recitation, emphasizes emotional climaxes, and leaves room for silence.
This idea reached its most ambitious form in the program “Symphonic Poetry.” Spoken verse is combined with the sound of a live orchestra, allowing individual poems to become part of a unified dramatic composition. The repertoire brings together classical poets, representatives of contemporary online literature, and Egoyan’s own writing, while the emotional arc moves from pain and confusion toward hope, love, and inner reconciliation.
Anna Egoyan’s creative interests are not limited to literature. She played one of the leading roles in the television series “Chaos,” appeared in other screen projects, and collaborated with composer Igor Krutoy, presenting joint performances with him at the New Wave festival. This experience continues her central artistic direction: the search for a form in which poetry can interact with music, acting, and contemporary visual culture.
Egoyan’s significance is connected not only with the popularity of particular poems. She has demonstrated that artistic recitation can exist alongside musical shows and theatrical productions while keeping the human voice as its principal instrument. Her programs restore poetry’s oral nature, allowing lines to be experienced not as static text on a page, but as a living statement created in the very moment of performance.