Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to a press conference with Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre Valery Gergiev on 30 September at 18:00 which will focus on the opening of the new season at the Mariinsky Theatre.

Valery Gergiev will unveil his plans for the 2016-17 season, during which the theatre will be appearing at nine venues – the historic stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, the Mariinsky II and its chamber halls, the Concert Hall and the Great and Small Halls of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre (Vladivostok).

Venue: Mariinsky II, Prokofiev Chamber Hall
Address: 34 Dekabristov St
Entry for the press from 17:30 via Soyuza Pechatnikov St (Entrance No 6)

Accreditation is compulsory.

Please confirm your accreditation by telephone +7-812-7144164 or by e-mail press@mariinsky.ru

On 29 September at 19:00 the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev will be appearing at the Murmansk Regional Kirov Palace of Culture and Folk Art. The concert is taking place with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Murmansk Regional Government as part of celebratory events commemmorating one century since the founding of the city of Murmansk.

The programme includes Sergei Prokofiev's Classical First Symphony, Escamillo's couplets from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, the Suite and Adagio from the ballet The Nutcracker and Yeletsky's aria from the opera The Queen of Spades by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The concert will feature Mariinsky Theatre soloist Alexei Markov (baritone).

The Mariinsky Theatre has toured to Murmansk several times as part of the Moscow Easter Festival. The Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev first gave a concert in Murmansk in 2009. Subsequently there followed several performances over the years featuring chamber music programmes with soloists of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers under Larisa Gergieva. In April 2014, in addition to a tour by the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gegiev, there was a performance in Murmansk by the Mariinsky Stradivarius Ensemble under Pinchas Zukerman, while on the same day in Severomorsk the Mariinsky Brass Ensemble performed under the baton of Valery Gergiev.

From 26 to 28 September at the Cadogan Hall in London the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev will be performing all of Sergei Prokofiev's symphonies. The concerts in the British capital continue a series of performances commemorating one hundred and twenty-five years since the composer's birth.

On 26 September the cycle opens with the Classical First Symphony, the Second and Third Symphonies and Violin Concerto No 1. On 27 September there will be a performance of the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies and Violin Concerto No 2. On both evenings the soloist will be the Hungarian violinist Kristóf Baráti, who performs the unique "Lady Harmsworth" violin crafted by Antonio Stradivari (1703).

On 28 September the Mariinsky Orchestra will perform the Sixth and Seventh Symphonies and the Sinfonia Concertante for cello and orchestra. The soloist will be Alexander Ramm, a prize-winner at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition.

The tour to Great Britain continues the celebration of the Year of Sergei Prokofiev. The one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the composer's birth has seen projects dedicated to him by Valery Gergiev in Russia, Italy, Sweden, China, the USA, Chile, Mexico, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Finland, The Netherlands and Cuba.

On 1 November Mariinsky Opera soloists and the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev will present the opera Das Rheingold in Vladivostok for the first time (concert performance). The lead roles will be performed by Yuri Vorobiev (Wotan), Mikhail Vekua (Loge), Andrei Popov (Mime), Pavel Shmulevich (Fafner), Vadim Kravets (Fasolt), Anna Kiknadze (Fricka), Zlata Bulycheva (Erda) and Oxana Shilova (Freia).

Mariinsky Opera soloists will also be appearing on several occasions in lead roles in repertoire productions of the Primorsky Stage in October. On 22 October Pyotr Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin will feature Yevgeny Akhmedov (Lensky) and Yuri Vorobiev (Prince Gremin). On 23 October the lead roles in Georges Bizet's opera Carmen will be performed by Yulia Matochkina (Carmen), Mikhail Vekua (Don José) and Oxana Shilova (Micaëla), who on 16 October will perform the role of Violetta Valéry in Giuseppe Verdi's opera La traviata. Georges Bizet's opera Carmen may be seen on 2 October with a different cast.
The October playbill also includes Giacomo Puccini's Tosca (7 October), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tale of Tsar Saltan (9 October) and Sergei Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges (13 October).

The October playbill of the Small Hall of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre opens with an event marking one hundred and twenty-five years since the birth of Sergei Prokofiev. On 1 October there will be a film screening of the opera The Gambler, a recording of which was released on the Mariinsky label in 2013 and received rave reviews from the critics as well as several prestigious classical music awards. The lead roles in Temur Chkheidze's production were performed by a "golden cast" of Mariinsky Opera singers and the Mariinsky Chorus and Orchestra under Valery Gergiev.
On 2 October at the Small Hall of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre there will be a recital by pianist Yevgeny Soloviev, prize-winner at international competitions. The programme includes works by Robert Schumann and Claude Debussy.

In October, the Ballet Company of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre is inviting audiences to their favourite classical productions. The month begins with Pyotr Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker featuring leading soloists of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. The conductor will be Alexander Slutsky (1 October). The production may also be seen on 20 and 21 October. On 6 October there will be a performance of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, while on 8 October there will be a performance of Adolphe Adam's ballet Le Corsaire.
On 14 October there will be a ballet evening featuring the grand pas from the ballet Raymonda, the Carnaval de Venise pas de deux from the ballet Satanella, the pas de six from the ballet La Esmeralda, Michel Fokine's The Dying Swan, the piece Inspiration and the one-act ballet The Firebird staged by Eldar Aliev. On 15 October there will be another performance of Anton Pimonov's Bambi and In the Jungle, the premieres of which will take place at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre on 24 September.

To mark one hundred and ten years since the birth of Dmitry Shostakovich the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev will be presenting two music events to commemorate the date.

On 25 September, the date of the composer's birth, at 19:00 at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre there will be a gala concert. It will feature young virtuosi prize-winners of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition Pavel Milyukov (violin), Alexander Ramm (cello) and Sergei Redkin (piano), as well as Mariinsky Opera soloists Anastasia Kalagina (soprano), Yekaterina Sergeyeva (mezzo-soprano) and Dmitry Voropaev (tenor). The concert will open with an early piece by Dmitry Shostakovich – Piano Trio in C Minor. That will be followed by two works composed in 1948, the most difficult period of the composer's life, and which for the next few years were works "for the drawer": the song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry and Violin Concerto No 1. The programme will conclude with the First Symphony, the triumphant premiere of which in 1925 was to be Shostakovich's first success.

At 22:00 the concert series will continue with an appearance by Denis Matsuev and the Mariinsky Orchestra. The programme includes the First Piano Concerto and the Fifteenth Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich.

In the 2016-2017 season the Mariinsky Theatre will also present a subscription series focussing on the music of Dmitry Shostakovich, which will include the operas The Nose and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and the one-act ballets Leningrad Symphony and The Young Lady and the Hooligan. On 25 September the theatre's official site will be launching an exhibition to celebrate the composer's anniversary year.

On 14 September the Münchner Philharmoniker under Valery Gergiev opens the new season at the Gasteig Philharmonic (Munich).

The programmes for the concerts on 14, 16 and 17 September include Richard Strauss' symphonic poems Ein Heldenleben and Don Juan as well as the last act of Hector Berlioz' opera Les Troyens. The solo roles will be performed by artistes of the Mariinsky Opera Yulia Matochkina, Yekaterina Krapivina, Sergei Semishkur, Yevgeny Akhmedov and Yuri Vorobiev.

On 20 and 21 September there will be a performance of Richard Strauss' symphonic poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Ludwig van Beethoven's Third Symphony (Die Heroische) and Rodion Shchedrin's Second Piano Concerto (soloist: Denis Matsuev). On 24 and 25 September Anton Bruckner's Sixth Symphony and Dmitry Shostakovich's Violin Concerto will be performed (soloist: Leonidas Kavakos).

Valery Gergiev has directed the Münchner Philharmoniker since the start of the 2015/16 season. As part of this collaboration, Munich has seen the establishment of Valery Gergiev's new festival 360 Degrees, where the Münchner Philharmoniker and the Mariinsky Orchestra in turn have performed every piano concerto by Sergei Prokofiev. In April 2016 the Combined Orchestra of the Münchner Philharmoniker and the Mariinsky Theatre took part in a series of celebratory events to mark the one hundred and twenty-fith anniversary of the birth of Sergei Prokofiev, appearing together for the first time in Russia. In the first joint season the German orchestra under maeastro Gergiev gave more than forty concerts in Germany, Russia, Austria, Spain, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Great Britain. Valery Gergiev and the Münchner Philharmoniker's future plans include the second 360 Degrees festival which will take place in Munich from 11 to 13 November 2016.

From 8 to 11 September the XXI Gergiev Festival will be held in Rotterdam at the De Doelen concert hall. Under the baton of Valery Gergiev there will be performances by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra and the Combined Youth Orchestra of the Codarts University for the Arts and the Royal Konservatorium of The Netherlands.

The programme of the current festival is dedicated to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of whose birth Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre will be celebrating throughout the world this year.

The festival opens on 8 September with a performance of two of the composer's immense vocal and symphonic works – the cantata Alexander Nevsky and the oratorio Ivan the Terrible. The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chorus of The Ntherlands Radio will be accompanied by Mariinsky Opera soloists Yulia Matochkina (mezzo-soprano) and Roman Burdenko (baritone). The same evening, maestro Gergiev will conduct the Combined Youth Orchestra of the Codarts University for the Arts and the Royal Konservatorium of The Netherlands in a programme of highlights from the ballet Romeo and Juliet.

The next day the Mariinsky Orchestra will be performing under the baton of Valery Gergiev. The programme includes the Second and Fifth Symphonies as well as the Violin Concerto. The soloist will be the young Swedish virtuoso Daniel Lozakovich.

On 10 September the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev, as well as pianists Daniil Trifonov, George Li, Alexander Toradze and Alexander Gavrilyuk will perform all of Sergei Prokofiev's piano concerti.

The closing concert of the festival will be aimed at younger listeners. On 11 September at the De Doelen concert hall the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Valery Gergiev will perform the symphonic tale Peter and the Wolf. The role of the Narrator will be performed by the acclaimed Dutch actor Bram van Oers.

The Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam was founded in 1996.

On 30 and 31 August Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra open the 2016-2017 season with a tour to the Baltic Sea Festival in Sweden. At the Berwaldhallen Concert Hall there will be performances of works by Sergei Prokofiev.

On 3 and 4 September the musicians will present a programme of works by Pyotr Tchaikovsky at the Grafenegg Music Festival (Austria) together with prize-winners of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition Clara-Jumi Kang (violin) and George Li (piano). They will then depart for Rimini in Italy where they will perform with Alexandre Bouzlov (cello). The programme features works by Sergei Prokofiev and Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

In the new season Valery Gergiev's touring plans also include the XXI Gergiev Festival, to be held in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) between 8 and 11 September. This year the music forum will be dedicated to Sergei Prokofiev, the one-hundred-and-twenty-fifth anniversary of whose birth Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre will be celebrating throughout the world. During the festival Valery Gergiev will conduct the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Codarts Symphony Orchestra and Royal Conservatoire and the Mariinsky Orchestra.

Moreover, on 2 and 6 September in Luzern (Switzerland) and Berlin (Germany) Valery Gergiev will open the 2016-2017 season with the Münchner Philharmoniker. The opening of the season at the ensemble's home venue – the Gasteig in Munich – takes place on 14 September and forms the start of a two-week-long series of concerts by the Münchner Philharmoniker under the baton of Valery Gergiev in Munich.

It should be noted that the 234^th season of the Mariinsky Theatre opens on 30 September at three venues. At the Concert Hall and the Mariinsky II there will be performances of works premiered last season – Valery Gergiev will conduct Camille Saint-Saëns' opera Samson et Dalila staged by Yannis Kokkos (Mariinsky II, 19.00), while at the Concert Hall there will be a performance of Mieczysław Weinberg's opera The Idiot staged by Alexei Stepanyuk (19.00). At the historic stage of the Mariinsky Theatre the programme of the first ballet evening of the new season will see Michel Fokine's choreographic miniatures Chopiniana, The Firebird and Scheherazade (19.30).

On 30 and 31 August at the Berwaldhallen Valery Gergiev will be conducting the Mariinsky Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The programme includes works by Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitry Shostakovich.

The Mariinsky Orchestra will perform works by Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No 2 (soloist – Daniel Lozakovitj) and Symphony No 3 (30 August at 22:00), as well as the symphonic tale for children Peter and the Wolf, featuring Swedish theatre and film actor Leif Andrée as the Narrator (31 August at 17:00).

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra will perform works by Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony No 4 and Piano Concerto No 2 (soloist – Alexander Romanovsky, 31 August at 19:00).

Established by Valery Gergiev, Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and former director of the Berwaldhallen concert hall Michael Tyden with the aim of collaboration in solving problems of the ecology in the Baltic Sea region, this annual Swedish festival has run since 2003. In line with tradition, the days that the festival runs are filled with seminars, symposiums and exhibitions focussing on the region's ecology.

Valery Gergiev is "convinced that for future generations the fate of the Baltic Sea is of vital importance" and that "the theme of ecology has the most fundamental significance." This year the Baltic Sea Festival runs from 28 August to 4 September. For details please go to: www.sverigesradio.se

From 1 – 4 November 2016 the Mariinsky Theatre will be hosting the II All-Russian competition and festival Music of the Earth. The idea of running a music forum where ethnic and classical music are brought together at one venue was the brainchild of the great pianist Boris Berezovsky.

The Music of the Earth competition and festival is run with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and introduces audiences to unique folklore performers of Russia who painstakingly collect and continue the musical traditions of their ancestors. At the same time, they also present rarely performed works by the great classics and new pieces by contemporary composers, the source of inspiration for which has been and remains folk music.

Continuing the life of folk art, which is still alive in the depths of our souls, and to demonstrate how, partially transformed, it resounds in classical music is the principal mission of the Music of the Earth festival.

This year audiences can expect several revelations – there will be two premieres at a gala concert. Especially for the festival, Alexander Tchaikovsky has composed a Piano Concerto also featuring Russian folk instruments. The piano role will be performed by Boris Berezovsky. The second premiere of the festival will be a Chamber Symphony Orchestra Concerto which was composed by Kuzma Bodrov who chose the gusli as the solo instrument. Finally, the folklore ensembles who come to the festival from all of Russia's regions will present a dazzling and mosaic-like musical map of the world in which we live.

Programme of events at the Music of the Earth competition and festival:
From 1-3 November at the Prokofiev Hall of the Mariinsky II there will be special concerts featuring fifteen unique folkloric Russian ensembles chosen by the Expert Committee on the basis of video material that has been submitted.

On 4 November the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre will host the final gala concert, where together with stars of world classical music there will be performances by six folkloric ensembles that have been selected as finalists for a music and folklore marathon.

Audiences can expect brilliant folk-music performers on the festival's website and choose the ensemble they like best. The ensemble that gets most on-line votes will take part in the festival! Please register your vote at the site www.muzikazemli.ru.