From 25 April to 16 May the XXIII Moscow Easter Festival will take place. This season marks the first time in the festival’s history that it will include artists from the Bolshoi Theatre – a joint symphonic programme presented by the combined symphony orchestras of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres. For the first time the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will also join the event on a large scale, presenting the Far Eastern Easter Festival from 9 to 14 May in Sakhalin Region, Primorsky and Khabarovsk krais (regions). The festival will maintain its traditional extensive geography and rich programmes – Symphonic, Choral and Carillon. The main principles of the festival remain unchanged: charitable, educational and enlightening activities.
The tour route of the combined symphony orchestra of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres will cover twenty-four Russian towns and cities – over twenty-two days musicians will travel more than fifteen thousand kilometres. Distinguished soloists and musical groups will perform at central venues in Moscow and the regions. Performances will commemorate notable dates and anniversaries of great composers: this year the festival honours Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Modest Musorgsky and Mikhail Glinka, whose works will resonate prominently at the festival.
The grand opening of the XXIII Moscow Easter Festival will take place at the Moscow Concert Hall Zaryadye on 5 May – on Bright Sunday. On 9 May an open symphonic concert conducted by Valery Gergiev will occur at Poklonnaya Gora (Poklonnaya Hill) during the day. In the evening a gala concert under the direction of Valery Gergiev will be held at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, featuring soloist Denis Matsuev. The event will host veterans and participants of World War II, non-profit community organizations, and students from children’s schools of arts in Moscow.
For the first time the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will present the Far Eastern Easter Festival, which will run from 9 to 14 May and will cover four major cities of the Far Eastern Federal District: Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The festival’s opening will take place on 9 May at the Great Hall of the Primorsky Stage in Vladivostok. A gala concert will feature the Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and soloists of the opera company of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, the Combined Choir of the Vladivostok Diocese, and the Orchestra of the Staff of the Russian Pacific Fleet.
In the new season twenty-three ensembles from Russia and Belarus will perform sacred music. Over forty-five choral performances will take place in churches and concert venues in Moscow and nearby cities. Gerontological centres, family centres, as well as centres for social support and rehabilitation of disabled children, will open their doors for spring charity concerts.
The solemn opening of the Choral Programme will take place on 6 May in Moscow, in the Hall of Church Councils of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The concert will feature the Chamber Choir Nizhny Novgorod, the Academic Large Choir Masters of Choral Singing of Orpheus Radio, and the Mariinsky Chorus.
Choral performances will not only take place in the capital – vocalists are also awaited in Odintsovo, Serpukhov, Krasnogorsk, Balashikha, Podolsk, Shchyolkovo, Zaraysk, Yegoryevsk, Kolomna, Klin, Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Solnechnogorsk, Tula, Vologda, Rzhev, Rostov Veliky and Alexandrov. Additionally, within the framework of the Far Eastern Easter Festival, on 12 May, an accessible performance of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil by the Chorus of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will take place at the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Vladivostok.
A highlight of the Choral Programme in the capital will also be a gala concert, which will take place on 12 May at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. That evening, ensembles from St Petersburg, Ufa, Minsk, Yakutsk, Grozny and Moscow will perform for the audience.
As part of the Carillon Programme of the XXIII Moscow Easter Festival, dozens of bell music concerts will occur. This year the programme will encompass twenty-three churches in Moscow, St Petersburg, Istra, Sergiyev Posad and Vologda.
Public concerts of bell music will take place at the best historical and modern bell towers and belfries in Moscow and in Moscow Region. Over thirty professional bell ringers from Moscow, St Petersburg, Vologda, Yaroslavl, Tutayev, Kostroma, Veliky Novgorod, Kazan, Petrozavodsk, Pskov, Tyumen, Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Krasnogorsk, Sergiyev Posad, Minsk and Vitebsk will participate in the bell concerts.
The Moscow Easter Festival, founded in 2002 by Valery Gergiev and the Government of Moscow, has become one of the largest and most anticipated cultural events in Russia, gathering hundreds of thousands of listeners each year. In 2003 it received the status of a nationwide project with the support of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.
In 2024 the festival will take place with the support of the Government of Moscow, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and by the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill.
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