The Mariinsky Orchestra at the Arts Square festival

Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra will be appearing at the Arts Square winter arts festival which was founded by the great conductor Yuri Temirkanov, Artistic Director of the St Petersburg Philharmonic and the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg Philharmonic, Honoured Ensemble of Russia. 2013 marks a double anniversary for the maestro.
He turned seventy-five years old earlier this December, having directed the Philharmonic’s Symphony Orchestra for a quarter of a century – in December 1988 Temirkanov gave his first concerts with the orchestra as its elected Principal Conductor.
From 1976 to 1988 Yuri Temirkanov was the Director of the Kirov Orchestra. The participation of the Mariinsky Orchestra in the festival marking the maestro’s anniversaries is a kind of tribute to the outstanding conductor. The concert programme includes Sergei Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto featuring soloist Behzod Abduraimov and Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony.