From 30 November to 4 December the Mariinsky Theatre will be presenting a series of significant events under the aegis of the V St Petersburg International Cultural Forum – the closing concert of the Year of Prokofiev, the world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's orchestral opus Funeral Song and the opening concert of the Year of Stravinsky, premieres of past seasons as well as the current one and recitals by renowned pianists.
On 30 November at the historic Mariinsky Theatre at 19.00, on the eve of the opening of the Cultural Forum, there will be a premiere of Sergei Banevich's opera The Story of Kai and Gerda staged by Alexei Stepanyuk. The roles are being rehearsed by soloists of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers under the direction of Larisa Gergieva. Zaurbek Gugkaev will be conducting.
On 1 December at the Mariinsky II at 19.00 there will be a recital by Denis Matsuev. The pianist will perform the twelve character tableaux The Seasons and Méditation from eighteen pieces by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sonata No. 31 in A flat major by Ludwig van Beethoven and Sonata No. 7 in B flat major by Sergei Prokofiev.
That same evening, Denis Matsuev and the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev will sum up the results of the Year of Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev, the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of whose birth has been commemorated through projects of the Mariinsky Theatre and Valery Gergiev in the Russian regions from Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Yakutsk to Vladikavkaz and Murmansk as well as throughout the world, from Chile and Cuba to the USA and Japan (Concert Hall, 22.00).
On 2 December there will be a concert marking the start of the Year of Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky – the one hundred and thirty-fifth anniversary of the composer's birth will be broadly celebrated next year. The Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev will present the world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's orchestral piece Funeral Song, which was written by the composer in 1908 following the death of his teacher Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. The programme for the evening combines works by Igor Stravinsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – including music from the ballet The Firebird and the Symphonic Suite from the opera The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia (Concert Hall, 22.00).
On 3 December, the final day of the V St Petersburg International Cultural Forum, there will be a performance of one of last season's premieres – the opera The Idiot by Mieczysław Weinberg (Concert Hall, 18.00). The lead roles will be performed by soloists of the Mariinsky Opera and of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers Ilya Selivanov (Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin), Maria Bayankina (Nastasia Filippovna), Yuri Vlasov (Parfyon Rogozhin), Dmitry Koleushko (Lebedev), Yaroslav Petryanik (Afanasy Ivanovich Totsky), Oleg Sychov (Ivan Fyodorovich Yepanchin) and Elena Vitman (Yelizaveta Prokofievna Yepanchina). The Mariinsky Orchestra will be conducted by Christian Knapp.
On 4 December the series of events under the aegis of the V St Petersburg International Cultural Forum will come to a close with a recital by the outstanding American pianist Daniel Pollack, who will perform works by Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Gian Carlo Menotti and Sergei Prokofiev (Concert Hall, 19.00), as well as Rodion Shchedrin's opera-féerie A Christmas Tale, which was premiered last season, under the baton of Valery Gergiev (Mariinsky II, 19.30).
The V St Petersburg International Cultural Forum runs from 1 to 3 December. The Forum is being organised by the Government of the Russian Federation and the St Petersburg City Government with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
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