The Mariinsky in Spain and France

From 18 to 26 March soloists of the Mariinsky Opera and the Orchestra will be giving nine concerts under the baton of Valery Gergiev in eight European cities.

The main accent of the tour of Spain and France falls on Wagner’s musical dramas, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the participation of long-established Spanish choral ensembles, concerts by the Stradivarius Ensemble and a programme of Russian music including both well-known works and 19^th and 20^th century masterpieces that are little-known outside Russia.
On 18 March at the famous Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona there will be a concert performance of the opera Tristan und Isolde under maestro Gergiev. It will feature lead soloists of the Mariinsky Opera, many of whom are internationally renowned for their interpretations of the Wagnerian repertoire, among them Mikhail Petrenko (King Marke), Larisa Gogolevskaya (Isolde), Yevgeny Nikitin (Kurwenal), Yulia Matochkina (Brangäne), Dmitry Voropaev (Shepherd, Young Sailor) and Yuri Alexeyev (Melot). The role of Tristan will be performed by the outstanding American singer Robert Gambill – one of the most sought-after Wagnerian heldentenors famed for his appearances as Tannhäuser, Tristan, Siegmund and Parsifal.

On 21 March in Oviedo there will also be a performance of highlights from Wagner’s musical dramas Die Walküre (Act I) and Parsifal (Act III) with lead soloists of the Mariinsky Opera and the Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev. The vocal roles will be sung by Mikhail Vekua (Siegmund), Mlada Khudoley (Sieglinde), Mikhail Petrenko (Hunding), Sergei Semishkur (Parsifal), Yevgeny Nikitin (Amfortas) and Yuri Vorobiev (Gurnemanz).

In the other three Spanish cities to be visited during this tour – Pamplona (19 March), Madrid (20 March) and Santander (22 March) – the Mariinsky Orchestra and soloists of the Opera Company will perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under maestro Gergiev. In the finale of this famous symphony set to the text of Schiller’s Ode to Joy the Mariinsky Theatre performers will be joined by local choruses with a rich history – the Pamplona Chorus (one hundred and fifty years old), the Basque Country chorus Orfeón Donostiarra (one hundred and eighteen years old and the Bilbao Municipal Chorus (one hundred and thirty years old). The solo roles will be performed by Viktoria Yastrebova, Yulia Matochkina, Sergei Semishkur and Mikhail Petrenko.
Pamplona will also see a performance of Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (soloist – Alexander Toradze) and the world premiere of the work Tempus Verum by contemporary Spanish composer Josep Vicent Egea marking one hundred and fifty years since the city’s choral ensemble was established. Madrid will see a performance of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto, the solo to be played by Russian pianist Denis Matsuev.

The second leg of the tour will take place in France. On 23 March at the concert hall La Halle aux Grains in Toulouse the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev will perform Rodion Shchedrin’s Orchestra Concerto No 1 (Naughty Limericks), Modest Musorgsky’s song cycle The Nursery (orchestrated by Rodion Shchedrin and with soloist Anastasia Kalagina) and Musorgsky’s piano cycle Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Maurice Ravel).

24 March will see the first performance by the Mariinsky at the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux. Valery Gergiev and Paul Daniel (Music Director of the Opéra National de Bordeaux) have commented that the Mariinsky’s debut at this beautiful 18^th century theatre – the same age as the Imperial wooden theatre that stood before the Mariinsky Theatre was built – signifies a great collaboration between the two illustrious companies.
It is not by chance that for its performance in Bordeaux the Mariinsky Theatre chose the Stradivarius Ensemble, as its members are the best performers in the Mariinsky Orchestra performing on old and unique-sounding instruments crafted by the great masters including Amati, Stradivari, Guarneri and Gofriller. Specialists consider that the acoustics of the historic auditorium of the theatre in Bordeaux are ideal for the warm sound of a small string orchestra. The playbill for the evening includes Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen and Serenades for Strings by Edward Elgar and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Paul Daniel will be conducting the piece by fellow Briton Elgar.

The two final tour concerts will take place in Paris at the Grande Salle opened by the new Philharmonie de Paris in January this year. The building was constructed by the renowned French architect Jean Nouvel in the picturesque Parc de la Villette in the north-east of Paris. The acoustics of the Grande Salle, which has two thousand four hundred seats, were designed by the acclaimed specialists Harold Marshall and Yasuhisa Toyota (who also worked on the acoustics of the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre). The acoustics of the Philharmonie de Paris are well known to Valery Gegiev – in just the last few weeks he has conducted on two occasions at the Grande Salle (concerts by the London Symphony Orchestra and thee Munich Philharmonic Orchestra).
On the first evening (25 March) there be a repeat of the same programme performed two days earlier in Toulouse. On the second evening (26 March) there will be a performance by the Mariinsky Stradivarius Ensemble, the programme to include Edvard Grieg’s From Holberg’s Time, Dmitry Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto (Concerto for Piano and Trumpet; soloists – Denis Matsuev and Timur Martynov) and Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.