The Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev will be presenting a series of concerts of Russian music at major venues in the USA.
The major USA tour by the Mariinsky Theatre, which has already seen performances of ballets and the opera The Enchanted Wanderer at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, continues with performances by the Mariinsky Orchestra under maestro Gergiev. From 24 January to 6 February Valery Gergiev and musicians of the Mariinsky Orchestra will be visiting nine American cities with programmes entirely consisting of masterpieces of Russian classical music of the 19th and 20th centuries – symphony works by Modest Musorgsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitry Shostakovich and Rodion Shchedrin.
“Like my great predecessor Sergei Diaghilev I consider it an incredibly important mission to promote Russian music throughout the world – not just abroad but in Russia’s regions as well. These will be true Russian Seasons. Over the past years and in the coming three or four years we have planned a major series of Russian programmes – operas and symphony music – at top music venues in America. But I don’t want to speak of that in terms of the success of the Mariinsky Theatre, as our success – I consider it the success of the great Russian tradition and such great Russian composers as Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky – acclaimed in America as their own – and Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich,” maestro Gergiev said of the tour’s aim. In New York alone, Mariinsky Theatre performers and Valery Gergiev opened last season at the Metropolitan Opera with Russian operas and at Carnegie Hall with concerts of Russian music; moreover, the Mariinsky Orchestra under maestro Gergiev undertakes a traditional annual tour of American cities with programmes of Russian symphony music.
The Mariinsky Orchestra’s performances open with concerts in Ann Arbor, one of America’s most important university towns. On 24 and 25 January the Hill Auditorium there will be hosting performances of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony, Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto (soloist – Behzod Abduraimov), Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition orchestrated by Ravel, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with piano soloist Denis Matsuev and Shchedrin’s First Orchestral Concerto (Mischievous Folk Ditties).
The next two programmes will be presented on 27 and 28 January at Carnegie Hall in New York. These appearances will be key events in the Mariinsky Orchestra’s tour of the USA. The concert on 28 January, which features Shchedrin’s First Orchestral Concerto (Mischievous Folk Ditties), Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto and Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony will be broadcast on-line by Medici TV.
The broadcast begins at 20:00 EST (GMT-5:00) on 28 January and may be accessed via the link vk.cc/3obPs0.
Regardless of its twenty-year-long association with Carnegie Hall, this will be the Mariinsky Theatre’s first live broadcast of a concert on a major specialist channel.
On 29 January the Mariinsky Orchestra will be appearing at the historic concert hall in Troy which was built in 1875 and is famed for its magnificent acoustics. The programme includes Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet fantasy-overture, a suite from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s rarely performed First Symphony.
Having regularly worked with the Mariinsky Orchestra, Ignat Solzhenitsyn will be taking to the conductor’s stand as that evening maestro Gergiev will be at the Metropolitan Opera to conduct one of the first performances of a new production of Iolanta with Anna Netrebko in the title role and leading Mariinsky Opera soloists Alexei Markov as Robert and Alexei Tanovitski (King René) and Bluebeard’s Castle with Mikhail Petrenko as Duke Bluebeard.
On 30 January there will be a key concert by the Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown to mark the venue’s twentieth anniversary. Maestro Gergiev first visited this venue in early 1994 when it was still being built, even then envisaging the unique acoustic qualities that the new hall would have. During that visit he promised to return with his orchestra and he kept his word: just a few months later the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev performed at the opening of this music complex, built using donations. Today maestro Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra are honoured guests and participants of the anniversary celebrations.
The concert programme includes Ravel’s orchestration of Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto with soloist Denis Matsuev and Shchedrin’s First Orchestral Concerto (Mischievous Folk Ditties).
The Mariinsky Orchestra then departs for the southern states. On 31 January and 1 February the orchestra’s musicians under Valery Gergiev will be performing at the California Performing Arts in Chapel Hill. The programmes for these evenings include Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony and Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with Behzod Abduraimov, Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with Denis Matsuev.
The Mariinsky Orchestra’s tour will conclude with performances in four cities in Florida.
On 3 February at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach there will be a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet fantasy-overture, a suite from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony. Ignat Solzhenitsyn will be conducting.
On 4 February at West Palm Beach the Mariinsky Orchestra under maestro Gergiev will present a programme including Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony and Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with soloist Behzod Abduraimov.
On 5 February at Hayes Hall in Naples the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev will be performing Ravel’s orchestration of Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto with soloist Denis Matsuev and Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony.
The playbill for the closing concert on 6 February in Miami includes Ravel’s orchestration of Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto with soloist Denis Matsuev and Shchedrin’s First Orchestral Concerto (Mischievous Folk Ditties).
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