From 4 to 9 March the Mariinsky Theatre will be hosting the Virtuosi of the Flute international festival for the fourth time. Festivals of instrumental music have become an annual tradition at the Mariinsky Theatre. They allow audiences to focus on orchestral musicians and afford the rare opportunity to hear leading soloists from European orchestras performing at one concert venue. This year festival guests include the French flautists Patrick Gallois (who will also be appearing as a conductor), Mathieu Dufour (the Berliner Philharmoniker), Sarah Louvion (the orchestra of the Frankfurt Oper), Italian virtuoso piccolo flautist Giovanni Gandolfo (the orchestra of the Frankfurt Oper) and the Japanese musician Kazunori Seo and his compatriots in the Magnum Trio flute ensemble.
One important accent of the festival will come with the performances by prize-winners and participants of the XVI Tchaikovsky Competition. Having proposed the introduction of a new field of expertise in the competition programme – namely for wind instruments – Valery Gergiev hoped that this would act as a stimulus for soloists of the future. As a result of this step, there has been an increase in interest for this particular subject and dozens of new and vivid names have emerged. These include participants of the concert: Matvey Demin and Sofia Viland (flute), Juri Vallentin (oboe), Nikita Vaganov (clarinet) and Lola Descours (bassoon) among other musicians.
The festival programmes include works from the classical flute repertoire, transcriptions, rare and early music for flute, and one of the concerts, which marks 225 years since the foundation of the Conservatoire de Paris, features virtuoso works by French composers written specially for flute competitions.
An integral part of the Virtuosi of the Flute festival remains the master-classes, at which young musicians can develop their skills under the guidance of celebrated performers invited to participate in the festival.
| user_name | | Exit |
