The anniversary X International Piano Festival

22 – 30 December 2015
One of the main themes of the current festival is the succession and the legacy of the musical traditions passed from generation to generation. The concerts will feature appearances by both established musicians and their talented younger colleagues. The Children for Children programmes will see very young pianists performing for people of the same age

An interview with Vincent Dubois

The III International Organ Festival will see an appearance by French organist Vincent Dubois, prize-winner at international competitions and the director of three music institutions – the Conservatoire National de Reims and the Conservatoire and the Académie Supérieure de Musique in Strasbourg. He will be performing in St Petersburg for the first time

Alexei Markov in Graham Vick’s production of War and Peace

On 30 October Alexei Markov will perform the role of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky in the opera War and Peace at the new Mariinsky Theatre

An interview with Kevin Bowyer
Kevin Bowyer, a British organist participating in the current organ festival, speaks of how youthful fanaticism can help tame unplayable music, his research interests and his days as a university organist. His concert takes place on 2 November
Valery Gergiev to present prize-winners of the Tchaikovsky Competition in the USA and Great Britain

Maestro Gergiev will continue to introduce world audiences to prize-winners of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition

In memory of Yuri Solovyov, People’s Artist of the USSR
The performance of the ballet The Sleeping Beauty on 26 October will be dedicated to Yuri Solovyov, a dazzling Prince Désiré and Blue Bird in the 1950s-1970s
The vocal ensembles Intrada and Festino will be performing with Peter Phillips at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre

On 24 October the British chorus master and acclaimed specialist in the music of the Renaissance and the early Baroque Peter Phillips will be presenting a programme of polyphonic works by Bach, Palestrina, Praetorius and Allegri

Pneuma from Bordeaux
On 27 and 28 October at the Mariinsky Theatre the ballet company of the Opéra National de Bordeaux will present Carolyn Carlson’s ballet Pneuma
In honour of Rimma Volkova
On 24 October the performance of The Tale of Tsar Saltan will be dedicated to Rimma Volkova, People’s Artist of Russia
“A composer has to be not just a creator but a mentor as well”
Thierry Escaich, an acclaimed French organist and composer whose concerts at the Mariinsky have sold out, has shared his thoughts about his programme, working as a resident organist and how important it is for a composer to hear his works performed by someone else on the threshold of the III Organ Festival