An award from Vienna’s Konzerthaus

Valery Gergiev received the award at a grand ceremony on 20 May at the Konzerthaus in Vienna immediately after a performance by the maestro together with the London Symphony Orchestra and South Korean singer Sun Young Seo, a prize-winner at the XIV Tchaikovsky Competition. The concert, which included works by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Igor Stravinsky, was followed by a lengthy standing ovation.

Bernhard Kerres, Artistic Director of the Konzerthaus, underlined the fact that the Russian conductor had been awarded this title for his “outstanding contribution to the development of world music and the achievement of joint projects with his Austrian partners as well as his success in working with young people.”

In a brief interview with ITAR-TASS, Valery Gergiev admitted that “It is a great pleasure for me as well as an honour to be presented with the title of Honorary Member of the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft. I love being in Vienna and performing for the knowledgeable Viennese public. But I don’t really want to talk about myself. I believe that the honour I have received is a mark of respect for Russian music and for Russia’s musical traditions.”

Valery Gergiev has performed at the Konzerthaus since 1993. Over the years he has conducted the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra there in addition to presenting a wide variety of stunning music programmes; he has been directly involved in concert performances of the operas Iolanta by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin and The Love for Three Oranges and Semyon Kotko by Sergei Prokofiev. Moreover, this venue very recently hosted a grandiose joint project with the Mariinsky Theatre – performances of all of Dmitry Shostakovich’s symphonies. Gergiev’s upcoming “Austrian” plans include an appearance at the Salzburg Festival, where on 28 May the festival will host the world premiere of Rodion Shchedrin’s opera Cleopatra and the Asp featuring the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Anna Netrebko in the lead role.