Hello, here are a few news for this week and some other things.

► The Russian Stravinsky
►▼ In New York
►▼ In St Petersburg
►▼ On Mariinsky Label
► Wagner events
►▼ Here and now
►▼ This June
► Mariinsky on tour
►▼ Orchestra in Moscow and Tallinn
►▼ Chorus in Vilnius
► This week at the Mariinsky

The Russian Stravinsky festival continues at the Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center in New York, showcasing the Russian roots of the music of one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. The festival is being run with the participation of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as well as our opera soloists and chorus, and Valery Gergiev conducts all of the concerts featuring Igor Stravinsky’s works.

On Friday 21 May we are starting a nine-week Stars of the White Nights — a festival of an incredible artistic intensity. The opening concert, which will be performed at the Mariinsky Concert Hall, features the performance of Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex. Last week this very work was performed at The Russian Stravinsky festival by the combined forces of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariinsky Chorus and a selection of international opera singers (including the Mariinsky ones) under the baton of Valery Gergiev. It should be noted, that the performance in St Petersburg will be starring a prominent French actor Gérard Depardieu as a Narrator to the work. Valery Gergiev will be conducting.

Monday 24 May sees our sixth release on the Mariinsky Label. The disc contains recordings of two Stravinsky’s works: Les Noces and Oedipus Rex. Although these works are separated by less than four years, they each represent high-points in two distinct phases of Stravinsky’s career. The concept of Les Noces is highly innovative, albeit the music remains rooted in Russian folk traditions. Stravinsky dedicated the ballet to Serge Diaghilev, whose Ballet Russes gave the premiere, and it marks the crowning glory of Stravinsky’s so-called “second Russian period”. The opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex is the first great work of Stravinsky’s neo-classical period. It features a major change in his compositional style, influenced in part by the loss of “Russian identity” following his emigration. It is sung in Latin with Jean Cocteau’s original French narration spoken here by Gérard Depardieu.

Ballet, Mariinsky Theatre
Stravinsky Rubies
Choreography by George Balanchine (1967)
Stravinsky Le Sacre du printemps
Choreography after Vaslav Nijinsky (1913)
Stravinsky The Firebird
Choreography by Michel Fokine (1910)
Wednesday 12 May, 7:00PM
More info | Tickets: 960…3840 rub.

Opera, Concert Hall
Stravinsky Oedipus Rex
Opera-Oratorio in two acts after Sophocles (concert version)
Oedipus Sergei Semishkur
Creon Ilya Bannik
Jocasta Nadezhda Serdyuk
Tiresias Fedor Kuznetsov
Narrator Gérard Depardieu
Choir and Symphony Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre
Conductor Valery Gergiev
Friday 21 May, 9:00PM
More info | Tickets: 800…2000 руб.

Stravinsky Les Noces
Stravinsky Oedipus Rex
Soloists (pianos), Narrator Gérard Depardieu, Opera Soloists, Chorus and Symphony Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre
Conductor Valery Gergiev
To be released on 24 May 2010
Learn more

On Tuesday 4 May we are presenting Wagner’s last opera Parsifal on stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. This opera is not among the ones which are often performed — usually, only once or twice during a season. The reason is that this is a work of immense artistic complexity for all of the performers — everyone, including the soloists, choir and orchestra members and certainly the conductor ought to be completely focused and deeply involved into realising this large-scale music work. Performing this opera so rarely, we would like to emphasise the importance and the very special occasion of an event on its own (the opera was called by composer as stage consecration festival drama — Bühnenweihfestspiel). The event often becomes a true music feast for all lovers of Wagner’s music. According to the composer’s will, Parsifal was only allowed to be performed in Bayreuth until the end of its copyright period in 1913. St Petersburg was one of the first cities where the opera was staged right at the end of the copyright agreement.

Tony Palmer’s production, which is performed this Tuesday, was brought into the repertoire of our Theatre in May 1997. It features a very precise interpretation of Wagner’s opera, as it strictly follows all of the composer’s remarks and displays each and every important detail and symbol preserving the spirit of the story and its rituals. This must be an extraordinary operatic event in St Petersburg this May.

We continue exploring Wagner’s music at the Stars of the White Nights music festival. Performances of Wagner’s works have already become an integral part of the previous festival years. We are proud to have most of Wagner’s operas in the Mariinsky repertoire. The upcoming festival provides us with a special occasion to demonstrate our best artistic achievments and gives a chance to perform works of an incredible musical importance featuring an exceptional range of stars from our company as well as international guest artists. This year we are once again lucky to welcome back René Pape, a prominent German bass-baritone. This artist is absolutely fluent in a wide range of repertoire including German, Russian and Italian works, however, one can clearly see how much he enjoys singing in Wagner’s operas, being so much passionate about the works. A few recent appearances of René Pape at the Mariinsky include his remarkable singing and acting in such operas as Tristan und Isolde (King Marke, June 2008) and Parsifal (Amfortas, June 2005, June 2009). During this year festival he will join us once again in Wagner’s operas as King Marke in Tristan und Isolde (on Monday 7 June) and Wotan in Das Rheingold (on Wednesday 9 June). Both roles are very demanding in terms of their vocal and acting complexity, not to mention the artist’s transfiguration. We very much look forward to hosting our guest artists and hope these events should be among the peaks of the upcoming festival.

Opera, Mariinsky Theatre
Wagner Parsifal
Stage consecration festival drama in three acts
Production by Tony Palmer (1997)
Conductor Michael Güttler
Tuesday 4 May, 6:00PM
More info | Tickets: 640…3200 руб.

Opera, Mariinsky Theatre
Wagner Tristan und Isolde
Opera in three acts
Production by Dmitri Tcherniakov (2005)
King Marke René Pape
Conductor Valery Gergiev
Monday 7 June, 6:00PM
More info | Tickets: 960…3200 rub.

Opera, Concert Hall
Wagner Das Rheingold
the preliminary evening of the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen in four scenes
Concert performance
Wotan René Pape
Loge Stephan Rügamer
Conductor Valery Gergiev
Wednesday 9 June, 8:00PM
More info | Tickets: 800…2000 rub.

This year IXth Moscow Easter Festival runs from 4 April until 9 May under Valery Gergiev’s artistic leadership. Our artists are involved in a lion share of festival events, such as chamber music and opera recitals, choral and orchestral concerts in Moscow and in a range of Russian regions. This year Moscow Easter Festival spans over 30 cities throughout Russia. Our Orchestra under Valery Gergiev has already performed in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Krasnodar, Kislovodsk, Valdikavkaz and Volgograd.

The festival ends in Moscow on Sunday 9 May, the day marking 65 years of the Great Victory that had put the end to the Second World War. There will be an open-air concert at Poklonnaya Gora memorial, which is dedicated to all the WWII veterans, but is absolutely free for everyone to attend. In the evening of the same day we will perform the Seventh (“Leningrad”) Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich. Both concerts will be conducted by Valery Gergiev. The next day our Orchestra gives a tour to Tallinn, performing there Symphonies by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, featuring Valery Gergiev and Neeme Järvi conducting.

Choral works form an important integral part of the festival, starring a range of outstanding choral establishments from various countries. Last month our Chorus took part in a series of concerts in Moscow, performing jointly with our Orchestra as well as a’capella. This year the festival extends its bounds: our Chorus will give two concerts in Vilnius (on 8 and 9 May). Our Principal Chorus Master Andrei Petrenko will conduct both concerts.

Moscow, Poklonnaya Gora
Sun 9 May, 2:00PM
Popular classics

Moscow, International House of Music
Sun 9 May, 8:00PM
Shostakovich Symphony 7 Leningrad

Tallinn, Estonian National Opera
Mon 10 May
Shostakovich Symphony 7 Leningrad
Tchaikovsky Symphony 4

Vilnius, Cathedral
Sat 8 May
Rachmaninov All-Night Vigil

Vilnius, National Philharmonic Hall
Sun 9 May
Concert of choral music

 Choral concert in St Petersburg this week 
Concert, Concert Hall
Kastalsky Fraternal Remembrance
Principal Chorus Master and Conductor Andrei Petrenko
Friday 7 May, 7:00PM
More info | Tickets: 700…1500 rub.

Here is what is going on at the Mariinsky Theatre and Concert Hall from Tuesday to Tuesday 4—11 May.

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Events in May
Events in June
Events in July

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