The Mariinsky’s Shostakovich in Paris

The three concerts on 1, 2 and 3 December at the Salle Pleyel in Paris will continue a series of all of Shostakovich’s instrumental concerti and symphonies that began in January this year. Running this eight-evening series in France marks the next stage of the project Gergiev’s Shostakovich, which has already been hosted by major concert halls in Russia, the USA, Great Britain, Austria and Germany.

As before, the concert programmes will bring together works from various periods of Shostakovich’s life. On Sunday 1 December there will be a performance of the composer’s Piano Concerto No 1 in C Minor (soloist – Daniil Trifonov, trumpet solo to be performed by Timur Martynov) and the Fourth and Ninth Symphonies. The programme for the next evening, 2 December, includes the Fifth and Fourteenth Symphonies (soloists – Mikhail Petrenko and Veronika Dzhioeva). On Tuesday 3 December there will be performances of the First Cello Concerto with Gautier Capuçon soloing and the Sixth and Tenth Symphonies.

The Mariinsky Orchestra has been performing at the Salle Pleyel since January 2010, when it performed all of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s symphonies at the start of the France – Russia Year of Culture (recordings were made there of the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and released on the Mariinsky label on DVD and Blu-ray). In September and December 2010 the orchestra performed six of Mahler’s ten symphonies as part of a joint project with the London Symphony Orchestra there. The complete cycle of Shostakovich’s instrumental concerti and symphonies at the Salle Pleyel will conclude with three concerts in February next year.