Dalida was more than a voice. She was light and darkness, grace and abyss – chanson and pop, disco and prayer. Vladimir Kornéev first encountered her artistry at the age of twenty. A single song became the catalyst that set him on his own path as a chanson singer.

Now, for the first time, Kornéev tells his own story: from his birth in Georgia and his flight to Germany, from the silence that followed the violence of war to his salvation through music and the theatre stage.

Dalida’s songs become milestones along this journey – mirrors of a life shaped by loss, new beginnings and the rediscovery of one’s voice. Born in 1987, the year of Dalida’s death, Kornéev finds in her an unseen counterpart.

Her songs settle over his life – over exile, love, belonging and the stage. The evening weaves together poetic monologues and cinematic scenes from a moving coming-of-age story with Dalida’s great chansons, from Pour ne pas vivre seul and Je suis malade to Salma Ya Salama, Mourir sur scène and Laissez-moi danser.

Personal memory becomes universal: Who am I? Where do I belong? And what gives my voice meaning? The arrangements, developed together with Markus Syperek, unite the essence of the French chanson with a richly cinematic soundscape.

Piano, guitar, saxophone, bass, drums and Arabic percussion evoke a musical Paris infused with the scents of the Mediterranean and the Orient.

With remarkable vocal and dramatic intensity, Vladimir Kornéev brings Dalida’s legacy into the present day – a moving plea for courage, belonging, freedom and the healing power of music.

A declaration of love for those who teach us about life – and for the love that can turn wounds into wings

For more information about the artist, please visit: vladimirkorneev.com