From 12 to 15 September Rotterdam will host the XXIV Gergiev Festival. This year the festival theme will focus on French music. Participants of the XXIV Gergiev Festival include the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the ensembles Les Lunaisiens and Ensemble intercontemporain, the pianists Arthur and Lucas Jussen, organist Thierry Escaich, harpsichordist Pierre Hantaï and soloists of the Mariinsky Opera and Chorus.
On the eve of the opening concert at 16.00 at the Small Hall of the De Doelen concert hall there will be a recital by Mariinsky Opera soloist Yulia Matochkina (mezzo-soprano). The programme includes Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Six Romances after French Poets, romances by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Georgy Sviridov and Vasily Kalinnikov as well as Charlotte's aria from Jules Massenet's opera Werther and Lyubasha's aria from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Tsar's Bride. Anatoly Kuznetsov will be the pianist.
The XXIV Gergiev Festival opens with the world premiere of a new work by French composer and organist Thierry Escaich - Ritual Opening, composed specially for the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Gergiev Festival. The programme also includes Claude Debussy's three symphonic sketches La Mer, Maurice Ravel's Boléro and Igor Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds, the solo to be performed by the famed Israeli pianist Lahav Shani. The Rotterdam Philharmonic will be conducted by Valery Gergiev (12 September, 20.15). The final concert of the first day of the festival will be an evening dedicated to Pierre Boulez (22.30). Works by one of the leading French avant-garde composers will be performed by the acclaimed Ensemble intercontemporain, which specialises in music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The second day of the festival includes three concerts. At 16.00 Thierry Escaich will appear at Rotterdam's Laurenskerk, home to the largest organ in The Netherlands. The programme features works by Louis Vierne, Charles-Marie Widor and Olivier Messiaen as well as Thierry Escaich's own compositions. Later the Great Hall at De Doelen will see a concert by the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev (20.15). That concert includes Olivier Messiaen's four symphonic meditations L'Ascension and the Feu d'artifice fantasia for full orchestra and music for the ballet The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. At the late concert the ensemble Les Lunaisiens, featuring authentic musical instruments, and its Artistic Director and vocalist Arnaud Marzorati (baritone) will perform medieval ballads, music from the Baroque era and works by Georges Brassens, one of the greatest French chanson singers of the 20th century.
The first concert programme on 14 September will see an appearance by French harpsichordist Pierre Hantaï who will perform works by Louis Couperin, Jean-Philippe Rameau, François Couperin and Claude Balbastre (11.30, Small Hall). At the Great Hall at 16.00 works by Claude Debussy, Paul Dukas, Leo Smith and Maurice Ravel will be performed in interpretations by the Dutch piano duo of Arthur and Lucas Jussen.
The grand closing concert will take place on 14 September at 19.30 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Symphony Orchestra, soloists of the Mariinsky Opera and Chorus and the New Amsterdam Children's Chorus. The programme includes Hector Berlioz' légende dramatique La Damnation de Faust. The vocals will be performed by Yulia Matochkina (Marguerite), Alexander Mikhailov (Faust), Oleg Sychov (Brander) and Mikhail Petrenko (Méphistophélès). Valery Gergiev will be conducting.
Following the close of the main festival programme there will then be traditional concerts for younger audiences. With the participation of the piano duo Lestari Scholtes and Gwylim Janssens (Scholtes & Janssens) there will be a performance of Francis Poulenc's symphonic tale L'Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant and Camille Saint-Saëns' zoological fantasia Le Carnaval des animaux (15 September, 14.15 and 16.00).
Rotterdam's Gergiev Festival was founded by Valery Gergiev in 1995 and has become the greatest festival of its kind in The Netherlands. Maestro Gergiev has collaborated with the Rotterdam Philharmonic since 1988, being its director from 1995-2008 and currently holding the post of Honorary Conductor.
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