Valery Gergiev opens the Edinburgh International Festival

On 9 August Valery Gergiev will be performing at the opening of the Edinburgh International Festival with two young Russian stars. A surprise lies in store for audiences at this long-established festival, founded in 1947 and considered to be the first “official” festival of classical and contemporary music in the world. The concert programme consists entirely of works by Sergei Prokofiev, whose music maestro Gergiev has long and actively promoted throughout the world; it is a well-known fact that the Mariinsky Theatre is the only opera house in the world the repertoire of which includes all of Prokofiev’s symphonies and operas. This evening, however, Valery Gergiev will be performing Prokofiev’s music with the Royal National Scottish Orchestra.

The concert at the opening of the Edinburgh Festival features Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 3 and his Alexander Nevsky cantata. The solo in the Third Piano Concerto – which, along with the First, is among Prokofiev’s most famous and well-loved music – will be performed by Daniil Trifonov. This successful young Russian pianist with his fast-developing international career has already conquered audiences throughout the world as well as winning prizes at prestigious international competitions such as the recent Tchaikovsky Competition (Grand Prix, 1^st prize and Gold Medal). The Alexander Nevsky cantata will feature the Edinburgh Festival Chorus. The solo is to be performed by mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina, one of the Mariinsky Theatre’s most talented young singers who has also won victories at several All-Russian and international competitions.