Valery Gergiev’s Centres for the Arts for Russia’s Talented Youth

St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Khanty-Mansiysk, Surgut 12 November – 13 December 2013

With the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra are presenting the project Valery Gergiev’s Centres for the Arts for Russia’s Talented Youth as part of the Russian Culture national programme.
The project will see the participation of the Mariinsky Theatre’s Principal Chorus Master Andrei Petrenko, lead Mariinsky Theatre soloists and Mariinsky Orchestra musicians, teachers from the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire and professors and teachers from the Faculty of Arts of the St Petersburg State University.
In terms of territory, the project encompasses European Russia as well as the Urals and Siberia. This is the first ever creative and educational project on such a scale in Russia.
The project aims to safeguard Russia’s cultural legacy, develop a system of cultural and arts education in the provinces and discover and support young talents. In addition to master-classes for students, the project will also see methodological seminars and themed round tables targeted at raising the level of professional preparation of specialists in middle and higher education institutions.
On numerous occasions Valery Gergiev has accented the incredible importance of working with talented young people. The project Valery Gergiev’s Centres for the Arts for Russia’s Talented Youth forms a natural continuation of the Mariinsky Theatre’s educational and enlightenment programmes. This is precisely why the venue chosen for the music master-classes to be held in St Petersburg is the Mariinsky II, the theatre’s new building. Maestro Gergiev has stated that with the opening of the new stage the theatre will be able to increase the number of projects targeted at children and young people. For example, to date thousands of school pupils from the Central and North-West Federal Regions have visited the Mariinsky II as part of a major State programme of children’s cultural tourism for pupils at middle and senior schools, founded on the behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The project Valery Gergiev’s Centres for the Arts for Russia’s Talented Youth will see the participation of major towns in the Ural Federal District including Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Khanty-Mansiysk and Surgut.
The project will be launched on 12 November in Khanty-Mansiysk, with which the Mariinsky Theatre has long had friendly ties. This is far from the first joint project by the theatre and the Khanty-Mansiysk Region. The entire team at the Ugra-Classic concert and theatre venue has made a major contribution to make this new project possible.
Khanty-Mansiysk and Surgut will host master-classes specialising in “Choral and Symphony Conducting”, “Symphony Music” and “Vocal Art” as well as round tables for students and teachers at professional academic institutions and methodological seminars for teachers. The project will conclude with a concert of participants of the master-classes and musicians of the Mariinsky Orchestra, the finest participants to feature in a diploma ceremony.
Following Khanty-Mansiysk, the project immediately moves to Tyumen, famed not just for its music education system for young people but contemporary design as well. Here the programme will also feature design master-classes while in Yekaterinburg there will be easel and water-colour painting classes with exhibitions of the best works by participants in these master-classes.
Demand to participate in the master-classes run in the capital of the Urals, to be taught by teachers from the Mariinsky Theatre, the St Petersburg State Conservatoire and the Faculty of Arts of the St Petersburg State University, is expected to be high. In Yekaterinburg the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic has a high track record in educational programmes, and the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the greatest ensembles in Russia, is a vivid presence under its director Dmitry Liss as is the Sverdlovsk Shadr Arts School, one of the oldest arts schools in Russia.
The finale of the project comes with a gala concert and awards ceremony on 13 December in St Petersburg at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre featuring the Youth Chamber Orchestra of the St Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Music School and Mariinsky Orchestra soloists Oleg Sendetsky, Alexei Lukirsky and Anton Kozmin.

Pupils and teachers of professional educational establishments are invited to take part in the project’s master-classes in St Petersburg; participation is free.
The music master-classes will run from 18 to 28 November at the Mariinsky II, while decorative and applied arts classes will run on 7 and 8 December at the St Petersburg State University. To register for these events participants should apply by e-mail to l.chigasova@congress.ru indicating which master-class they are interested in. The number of participants in each master-class is limited, though audience numbers are unlimited.