From 17 to 24 September maestro Gergiev will be conducting six concerts by the Münchner Philharmoniker at the Gasteig cultural centre in the Bavarian capital. With these performances Valery Gergiev launches his activities as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the famed German orchestra.
In May this year in Munich maestro Gergiev presented the plan of his work in his new position; in just the 2015–2016 season roughly a third of all the Münchner Philharmoniker’s subscription programmes will be conducted by him. Valery Gergiev’s principal tasks include drawing up the basic repertoire with an optimal balance of German and Russian classical music; moreover, in Germany the maestro intends to present little-known works by Russian composers as well as music by contemporary composers. “For me this is first and foremost a mark of respect to the great German classical tradition and a kind of nostalgia for my younger years; Munich was the first city in Western Europe where I was invited to perform following my win at the von Karajan Competition. It is important for me to find new ways of conveying musical works, and at the same time I intend to do everything to maintain the unique sound of the Münchner Philharmoniker, the more so because there are few surviving orchestras anywhere in the world that still have a unique voice of their own.”
These plans will begin to come to life at the opening of the new season. On 17, 18 and 20 September Valery Gergiev and the Münchner Philharmoniker will perform Mahler’s Second Symphony (Resurrection Symphony) with lead Mariinsky Opera mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina and the renowned German soprano Anne Schwanewilms.
On 22 and 23 September maestro Gergiev and the Münchner Philharmoniker will present Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony and Brahms’ Violin Concerto (soloist – Janine Jansen).
The playbill for the concert on 24 September includes Richard Strauss’ symphonic poem Don Juan and Tchaikovsky’s fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet and Sixth Symphony.
In January 2013 on the initiative of the musicians of the Münchner Philharmoniker the Munich city authorities unanimously appointed Valery Gergiev as the orchestra’s new director starting in 2015 and concluded a five-year contract with him. “Valery Gergiev is one of the most charismatic conductors of his time. His gift of magical sound, incredible energy and dynamism will open up an interesting and fascinating future for the Münchner Philharmoniker from an artistic point of view. I am delighted and proud of the decision to appoint him,” said the orchestra’s Intendant Paul Müller. “Maestro Gergiev is a conductor on the highest level, and his arrival heralds the start of a new era in all spheres of our activities. His skill and enthusiasm will influence not only the orchestra but also audiences of all ages as well as the world of music in Munich and beyond,” said Dr Hans-Georg Küppers, the head of the Department for Art and Culture. The orchestra’s official representative Stephan Haack also has high hopes for the ensemble’s collaboration with the famous Russian conductor, saying that “Inviting Valery Gergiev to become Principal Conductor of the Münchner Philharmoniker was the great desire of our orchestra. Going by the experience of joint rehearsals we are certain that he will be the one to support and develop the dark and warm timbre of our orchestra and it is he, in expanding the traditional repertoire, who will take us to new heights!”
The history of Valery Gergiev’s collaboration with the Münchner Philharmoniker is rich in large-scale cultural events, the most important of which was a performance of the complete Shostakovich symphonies in the 2012–2013 season. A series of concerts of music by Stravinsky which began in December 2013 and continued in 2014 marked the next stage of their cultural collaboration. In 2015 Valery Gergiev conducted the orchestra at a concert in Berlin dedicated to the memory of Lorin Maazel – the former director of the Münchner Philharmoniker – and he also appeared at the opening of the new hall of the Philharmonie de Paris.
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