22.07.2019

On 24 July the IV International Far East Festival Mariinsky opens in Vladivostok

On 24 July the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will host the opening of the IV International Far East Festival Mariinsky (Vladivostok), which will run until 9 August and will include Far East premieres of Mariinsky Theatre productions, events marking the 175th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and the 180th anniversary of the birth of Modest Musorgsky and appearances by outstanding musicians and conductors and opera and ballet stars.

On the eve of the music forum’s opening, there will be a recital by acclaimed French pianist Lucas Debargue, a prize-winner at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition (23 July). The IV International Far East Festival Mariinsky (Vladivostok) opens with the Far East premiere of Reinhold Glière’s ballet The Bronze Horseman staged by Yuri Smekalov (24 and 25 July). Created in 1949 by Rostislav Zakharov, this ballet was given a new stage treatment in the spring of 2016 as part of the International Ballet Festival Mariinsky. Rostislav Zakharov’s choreography has been passed on to dancers of the Mariinsky Ballet by coaches of the previous generation who had danced in that production in the Soviet era, while choreographer Yuri Smekalov is the creator of new sections in the ballet. The lead roles are to be performed by a stellar cast of the Mariinsky Ballet. On 24 July there will be Renata Shakirova, winner of Russia-K TV channel’s competition Grand Ballet (2016), and Vladimir Shklyarov, principal dancer of the Mariinsky Ballet and the Bayerische Staatsballett, while on 25 July there will be lead Mariinsky Ballet soloists Yekaterina Osmolkina and Alexander Sergeyev. 27 and 28 July will see the first Far East performances of Léo Delibes’ ballet Sylvia with choreography by Frederick Ashton. The lead roles in this neoclassical production will be performed by the finest Mariinsky Theatre dancers – artists both already known to audiences and up-and-coming talent. On 27 July this will be Timur Askerov (Aminta) and Viktoria Tereshkina (Sylvia), followed on 28 July by Kimin Kim (Aminta) and Nadezhda Batoeva (Sylvia). For Viktoria Tereshkina, People’s Artist of Russia and prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theatre, this will be her first appearance in Vladivostok. During the festival there will also be two gala evenings by Mariinsky Ballet principal dancers who are admired throughout the world – Kimin Kim (26 July) and Vladimir Shklyarov (29 July). The dancers will be presenting one-act ballets, choreographic miniatures and pieces that have become their “calling cards”. The programme compiled by Kimin Kim also includes a vivid ballet premiere from the Mariinsky Theatre’s 2018-19 season – Push Comes to Shove, staged by legendary American choreographer Twyla Tharp. Both gala evenings will feature Viktoria Tereshkina and Nadezhda Batoeva, and Kimin Kim’s evening will also feature Mariinsky Theatre prima ballerina Ekaterina Kondaurova.

The concert programme of the IV International Far East Festival Mariinsky opens on 28 July with a performance by Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici, leader of the Münchner Philharmoniker, acclaimed violinist and conductor with the Symphony Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. Another tradition of the festival comes with Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici conducting performances by the Mariinsky Stradivarius Ensemble – Mariinsky Theatre musicians who play unique early instruments crafted by maestri of the Cremona school. The ensemble’s concert will take place in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on 30 July, followed by another on 2 August in Vladivostok. The playbill will continue equally strongly with a performance by Japanese pianist Kanon Matsuda, a prize-winner at international competitions, together with a combination of musicians from the Mariinsky and Primorsky Stage Orchestras under the baton of Shizuo Z Kuwahara (30 July). That evening promises to be yet another festive event in the calendar of concerts and performances celebrating one hundred and seventy-five years since the birth of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and one hundred and eighty years since the birth of Modest Musorgsky. On 4 August at the Great Hall of the Primorsky Stage the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev will accompany the famed Japanese violinist Miura Fumiaki, recipient of the 1st prize, Critics’ Prize and Audience Award at the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Hannover. Acclaimed international ensembles attending the festival are to include the China Philharmonic Orchestra under the orchestra’s Principal Conductor Xia Xiaotang. On 6 August the musicians will be performing together with young Chinese pianist An Tianxu, prize-winner at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition. On 8 August the internationally acclaimed conductor Justus Frantz (Germany) will be appearing in a dual role – as conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre and as a soloist in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21.

The festival playbill also includes the Far East premieres of the operas Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti staged by Andrea De Rosa and conducted by Pavel Smelkov (31 July and 5 August) and Parsifal by Richard Wagner staged by Tony Palmer (3 August), as well as a concert performance of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera The Enchantress with Valery Gergiev conducting (4 August). The main roles will be performed by lead Mariinsky Opera soloists – Albina Shagimuratova, Maria Bayankina, Yulia Matochkina, Anna Kiknadze, Mikhail Vekua, Yuri Vorobiev, Alexei Markov, Yevgeny Nikitin, Sergei Skorokhodov, Vladislav Sulimsky, Stanislav Trofimov and talented young vocalists who are grant-recipients of the Atkins Program.

Primorsky Stage productions that may be seen at the festival with lead soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre and the Primorsky Stage include Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride staged by Vyacheslav Starodubtsev (1 August), Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca staged by Hans-Joachim Frey (7 August) and a premiere from the current season – Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida staged by Alexei Stepanyuk (9 August).

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