First and foremost:
– Concerts marking Rodion Shchedrin’s 80th birthday in St Petersburg and Moscow, 22 and 23 December and 24 and 25 December
– Premiere of Jules Massenet’s opera Don Quichotte with Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role, 28 and 29 December
16 December
Concert Hall
A recital by Dutch organist Pieter van Dijk. The leitmotif of the concert will be the theme Now Come, Saviour of the Gentiles; the programme will include fantaisies on this theme by Johan Sebastian Bach, Hugo Distler and Nicolaus Bruhns as well as other works by Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Sebastian Bach and the Dutch composers Bert Matter and Christiaan Frederik Hendriks.
This concert will be broadcast on the Mariinsky Theatre’s media sites; the broadcast begins at 19:00 Moscow Time on mariinsky.tv and mariinsky.fm.
18 December
Concert Hall
A recital by Daniil Trifonov, winner of the recent XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition who has actively won over the finest concert venues in the world, appeared on several occasions at the Mariinsky Concert Hall and recorded Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto on the Mariinsky label together with the Mariinsky Orchestra under maestro Valery Gergiev. Daniil Trifonov will be performing a major symphony music programme featuring Scriabin’s Second Sonata, Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor and Frédéric Chopin’s Twenty-Four Preludes.
18 December
Mariinsky Theatre
Richard Wagner’s opera Der Fliegende Holländer. The lead role will be performed by Yevgeny Nikitin, who has established a sound reputation as a Wagnerian singer. This season he will be performing at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Telramund in Lohengrin and Klingsor in Parsifal. The role of Daland will be sung by Mikhail Petrenko, whose repertoire includes bass roles in several of Wagner’s operas (Daland, King Heinrich, Hagen and Hunding). The role of Senta will be performed by Olga Sergeyeva.
19 December
Mariinsky Theatre
George Balanchine’s ballet Jewels. The third act of the ballet – Diamonds – will be performed by Mariinsky Theatre prima-ballerina Ulyana Lopatkina, who will be partnered by Andrei Yermakov who recently appeared in the project Bolshoi Ballet, thanks to which the dance has won many admirers.
19 December
Concert Hall
The Mariinsky Orchestra will be performing under the baton of Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado at the Mariinsky Concert Hall.
The young Spanish conductor, now rising to great heights in his career, directed the Orchestra of St Luke’s in New York. His biography includes appearances with major international orchestras, among them the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Boston Orchestra, the Chicago Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Orchestra in Dresden and the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra. Over the past two seasons, Pablo Heras-Casado has frequently performed with the Mariinsky Orchestra. In addition to programmes of symphony music, he also conducts operas and recently made his Festspielhaus debut with the opera L’elisir d’amore. He dedicates particular attention to contemporary music.
The concert programme includes works by the French composers Debussy, Ravel and Berlioz.
This concert will be broadcast on the Mariinsky Theatre’s media sites; the broadcast begins at 19:00 Moscow Time on mariinsky.tv and mariinsky.fm.
21 December
Concert Hall
A concert of works by Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony No 13 Babi Yar and the Second Cello Concerto. The concert will feature the Mariinsky Chorus and Orchestra and soloists Mario Brunello (cello) and Mikhail Petrenko (bass) under the baton of Valery Gergiev.
Tour by the ballet company to Baden-Baden, 21 – 27 December
For one week the Mariinsky Ballet will be performing at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden. The tour programme includes the ballets Le Parc, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker in addition to a gala concert. On 21 December in Angelin Preljocaj’s ballet Le Parc the lead roles will be performed by Yekaterina Kondaurova and Konstantin Zverev, on 22 Oxana Skorik and Yevgeny Ivanchenko will appear in Swan Lake followed on 23 December by Yekaterina Kondaurova and Danila Korsuntsev, and on 25 and 26 December there will be three performances of the ballet The Nutcracker. The lead roles will be performed by Maria Shirinkina with Vladimir Shklyarov, Yekaterina Osmolkina with Alexander Sergeyev and Oxana Skorik with Timur Askerov.
On 27 December the tour to Baden-Baden comes to a close with a gala concert starring Diana Vishneva in the ballet Subject to Change in which she will be partnered by Andrei Merkuriev from the Bolshoi Theatre. The programme for the gala concert also includes set pieces from classical ballets at the “Shadows” scene from La Bayadère.
Rodion Shchedrin’s 80th birthday
22 and 23 December
Concert Hall
These two concerts are a tribute to the outstanding contemporary composer Rodion Shchedrin, who celebrates his 80th birthday in December. Rodion Shchedrin has long been a living classic of Russian and international music. He is in great demand as a composer, his music being consistently performed and published. In recent years Shchedrin became a “composer particularly affiliated with the Mariinsky Theatre.” Many of his works have been performed at the Concert Hall and at the Mariinsky Theatre by Valery Gergiev, some of them premieres.
22 December will see a piano marathon featuring Rodion Shchedrin’s Piano Concerti Nos 1, 2, 3 and 4. That evening Alexei Volodin, Denis Matsuev, Yeol Eum Son and Olli Mustonen will be seated at the piano.
On 23 December the second of Shchedrin’s birthday concerts will feature Music for Strings, Oboes, French Horn and Celesta, the Oboe Concerto (soloist Alexei Ogrintchouk), Parabola Concertante for solo cello, string orchestra and timpani (soloist Alexander Buzlov), the scène dramatique Cleopatra and the Snake for female chorus and symphony orchestra set to the text of the final scene from William Shakespeare’s tragedy Antony and Cleopatra (soloist Veronika Dzhioeva) and highlights from the ballet The Little Humpbacked Horse.
Tour by the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev to Moscow
24 and 25 December
During the Russian Winter arts festival, at the Moscow Philharmonic and the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev will be performing concerts marking the eightieth birthday of Rodion Shchedrin. The concert programmes will repeat those of the two concerts in St Petersburg. Yekaterina Goncharova will be performing the solo in Cleopatra and the Snake.
26 December
Concert Hall
The most popular works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Symphony No 40 in G Minor and the Requiem, performed by Mariinsky Theatre soloists and the Chorus and Orchestra under the baton of Andrei Petrenko.
27 December
Concert Hall
A concert performance of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera The Tsar’s Bride starring Olga Borodina as Lyubasha and Alexei Markov as Gryaznoi. Other singers engaged include Olga Trifonova as Marfa and Dmitry Popov as Ivan Lykov.
Maestro Valery Gergiev will be conducting.
Premiere of Jules Massenet’s opera Don Quichotte with Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role
28 and 29 December
Mariinsky Theatre
The knight of rueful countenance, the heroic dreamer Don Quichotte will be appearing at the Mariinsky Theatre. Don Quichotte is a late opera by the French composer Jules Massenet which is staged at theatres throughout Europe whenever there is a worthy performer of the role of the great romantic knight, which should come as no surprise – the opera was written for Fyodor Chaliapin, and ever since it has required performers of equal calibre. Ferruccio Furlanetto is just one such outstanding Italian bass, with his magnificent voice and stunning acting talents – he has already sung the role of Don Quichotte at the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg in a concert version of the opera. A performance of Don Quichotte has already been recorded and released on the Mariinsky label featuring Mariinsky Theatre soloists and the Chorus and Orchestra under the baton of maestro Valery Gergiev starring Ferruccio Furlanetto.
The opera is being staged by Yannis Kokkos, a renowned French theatre designer and stage director. Kokkos first gained renown as a production designer working together with stage director Antoine Vitez. Kokkos’ career as a director includes productions of operas by Wagner, Richard Strauss, Gluck, Berlioz, Mozart and Rossini. In line with the stage director’s vision of Don Quichotte, one of the main accents of the production in St Petersburg will lie on the carnival element, numerous dances and abundance of crowd scenes. Inspired by St Petersburg, in Don Quichotte the stage director sees features similar to those of Prince Myshkin.
The lead roles are being rehearsed by Anna Kiknadze, Yekaterina Sergeyeva and Elena Tsvetkova (the Beautiful Dulcinée), Ferruccio Furlanetto, Askar Abdrazakov, Ilya Bannik and Mikhail Kolelishvili (Don Quichotte), Andrei Serov and Andrei Spekhov (Sancho Pança), Lyudmila Dudinova, Eleonora Vindau and Maria Bayankina (Pedro), Yulia Matochkina, Irina Shishkova and Regina Rustamova (Garcias), Carlos D’Onofrio, Andrei Ilyushnikov and Nikolai Yemtsov (Rodriguez) and Dmitry Koleushko, Alexander Shagun and Alexander Trofimov (Juan).
The Stage Director and Set Designer is Yannis Kokkos, the Costume Designers Yannis Kokkos and Paola Mariani and the Lighting Designer Michael Bauer. The Musical Director and Conductor is Valery Gergiev.
29 December
Concert Hall
The Music of Christmas organ and vocal evening. Olga Kondina (soprano) and Oleg Kinyaev (organ) will be performing works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frederick Handel and Camille Saint-Saëns among other composers.
30 December
Concert Hall
The lead roles in Carmen-Suite will be danced by Yekaterina Kondaurova (Carmen) and Danila Korsuntsev (José). The role of Torero will be performed by Karen Ioannisyan.
Premiere performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Don Carlo
30 December
Mariinsky Theatre
Italian director Giorgio Barberio Corsetti has staged a new production of Verdi’s opera Don Carlo; a recipient of the highly prestigious theatre director prize New Theatre Reality, he is known first and foremost for his use of modern art, including video graphics, in his productions. The production at the Mariinsky is no exception. Corsetti has been the director of the theatre division of the Venice Biennale. In 2011 Corsetti staged a production of Turandot at La Scala, the premiere which was conducted by maestro Valery Gergiev. The five-act “Modena” version of Don Carlo is being staged in St Petersburg for the first time. For the Mariinsky Theatre production stylistically historic costumes are being used, their magnificence underscoring the astringent set designs which, apropos, are compensated for by the use of video graphics.. The Costume Designers are Cristian Taraborrelli and Angela Buscemi, and the Lighting Designer Fabrice Kebour. The role of King Filippo will be performed by Ildar Abdrazakov.
31 December
Mariinsky Theatre and Concert Hall
New Year’s Eve at the Mariinsky Theatre and Concert Hall will see performances of well-loved yuletide productions – Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker with choreography by Vasily Vainonen with Olesya Novikova (Masha) and Maxim Zyuzin (the Nutcracker Prince) in the lead roles as well as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Christmas Eve, staged by Olga Malikova with dazzling costumes, “living” sets,” Gogol’s humour and the brilliant melodies of a musical “storyteller” (Concert Hall).
The programme is subject to change
For more detailed information please got to press-releases and events on the Mariinsky Theatre’s website
Mariinsky Theatre broadcast websites: mariinsky.tv and mariinsky.fm
December playbill. |
