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Mariinsky News>2016>The XXIV International Stars of the White Nights music festival

16 May 2016

The XXIV International Stars of the White Nights music festival

26 May – 24 July 2016 
The Mariinsky Theatre, the Mariinsky II and the Concert Hall 
Artistic Director: Valery Gergiev

• Over 160 performances and concerts featuring international stars; 
• Three opera and two ballet premieres: Camille Saint-Saëns’ opera Samson et Dalila staged by Yannis Kokkos; one-act ballets staged by Anton Pimonov and Maxim Petrov to music by Sergei Prokofiev; Mieczysław Weinberg’s opera The Idiot; and Leonid Klinichev’s opera The Cossacks (world premiere); 
• Night-time concerts featuring outstanding musicians of the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev; 
• Sergei Prokofiev’s symphonic tale Peter and the Wolf with new Narrators; 
• Over twenty famous instrumentalists; 
• And ten guest companies.

Prior to the XXIV Stars of the White Nights festival, on 23 May at the Mariinsky II the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev will perform Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem. On the eve of the opening of the festival at the Mariinsky II the re will be a premiere of a new production of Camille Saint-Saëns’ opera Samson et Dalila staged by Yannis Kokkos. During the festival the production will also be performed on 28 May and 2 June.

On 26 May the festival opens with a concert by the Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder togethe r with the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev (Mariinsky II, 18:00). The baton will the n pass on to organist Thierry Escaich, who will be performing improvisations on the mes from works by Sergei Prokofiev at the Concert Hall (19:00). At the historic Mariinsky Theatre the re will be a performance of the ballet Romeo and Juliet with Diana Vishneva in the title female role. Valery Gergiev will be conducting (Mariinsky Theatre, 20:00).

The ballet premieres will be dedicated to Sergei Prokofiev. The the atre’s young choreographers will present one-act ballets to the composer’s music; Maxim Petrov will be staging his Russian Overture and Anton Pimonov will stage his Violin Concerto No 2 (4 and 17 July, Mariinsky II).

Anothe r festival premiere comes with Mieczysław Weinberg’s opera The Idiot after the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. At the conductor’s stand will be Thomas Sanderling, one of the initiators of the production (6 and 9 July, Concert Hall).

The Stars of the White Nights will conclude with the world premiere of contemporary composer Leonid Klinichev’s opera The Cossacks, written specially for the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers directed by Larisa Gergieva (24 July, Concert Hall). Special festival events. In the year marking one hundred and twenty-five years since the birth of Sergei Prokofiev, each month at the Mariinsky Theatre the re will be performances of the symphonic tale Peter and the Wolf, the role of the Narrator to be performed by a star from the world of music, cinema, television and sport. During the festival the re will be several such performances. On 1 June, Children’s Day, the role of the Narrator will be performed by the atre and film actor Mikhail Porechenkov togethe r with the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev. Night-Time Concerts. This year the festival playbill includes a series of performances at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre which begin at the very height of the white nights. Togethe r with the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev the re will be performances by the outstanding musicians Leonidas Kavakos (12 June, 22:00), Denis Matsuev (25 June, 22:00), Hélène Grimaud (1 July, 21:00) and Nelson Freire (4 July, 21:00). 
On 3 July at the Concert Hall as part of the Night-Time Concerts the re will be a joint performance by the Stradivarius Ensemble of the Mariinsky Theatre and the Chamber Orchestra of the Munich Philharmonic.

The the atre of Rodion Shchedrin. Works by Rodion Shchedrin occupy a special place in the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre, which has staged four of his operas and three of his ballets in addition to regular performances of the composer’s symphony music. The festival playbill includes Shchedrin’s operas based on Nikolai Leskov’s eponymous tales The Lefthander (7 June, Mariinsky II) and The Enchanted Wanderer (13 June, Concert Hall), concert performances of the operas Boyarynya Morozova (9 June, Concert Hall) and Not Love Alone (15 June, Concert Hall), as well as this season’s opera premiere of A Christmas Tale (18 June, Mariinsky II). Ballet performances will include Anna Karenina (26 and 27 June, Mariinsky II) and The Little Humpbacked Horse (30 June, 1 July, Mariinsky II).

There will be a kaleidoscope of duets and ensembles of world opera stars in several performances: Plácido Domingo will be appearing with Tatiana Serjan and Mikhail Petrenko in the opera Simon Boccanegra (27 May, Mariinsky II), Ekaterina Semenchuk, Tatiana Serjan, Najmiddin Mavlyanov and Vladislav Sulimsky will appear in the opera Il trovatore (30 June, Mariinsky II), Mlada Khudoley, Yusif Eivazov and Yuri Vorobiev will appear in the opera Turandot(31 May, Mariinsky Theatre), Anna Netrebko and Sergei Skorokhodov will perform the lead roles in the opera Lohengrin (4 June, Mariinsky II), Olga Borodina, Olga Peretyatko and Alexei Markov will appear in a concert performance of The Tsar’s Bride (5 June, Mariinsky II), Ildar Abdrazakov and Maria Guleghina will appear in the lead roles in Attila (8 June, Mariinsky II), and the renowned Wagnerian singers Anja Kampe and Yevgeny Nikitin will come togethe r for a concert performance of the opera Siegfried (21 and 23 June, Concert Hall). Ildar Abdrazakov, Alexei Markov and Yulia Matochkina will appear in the opera Don Carlo (22 June, Mariinsky II), Vladislav Sulimsky and Tatiana Serjan will perform the lead roles in Macbeth (25 June, Mariinsky Theatre), while togethe r with Ferruccio Furlanetto the y will appear in the opera Simon Boccanegra (2 and 3 July, Mariinsky II). All performances are to be conducted by Valery Gergiev.

At the Mariinsky II Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem will also see a stellar cast: Olga Borodina, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Viktoria Yastrebova will be performing under the baton of James Conlon (8 July).

The festival playbill also includes La traviata with Olga Peretyatko as Violetta Valéry (29 May, Mariinsky II), The Tale of Tsar Saltan with Albina Shagimuratova (3 June, Concert Hall), Tosca (10 June, Mariinsky II) and Aida (12 June, Mariinsky Theatre) in which the title roles will be performed by Maria Guleghina, Don Giovanni with Yevgeny Nikitin (4 July, Mariinsky Theatre) and Don Quichotte with Ferruccio Furlanetto (10 July, Mariinsky Theatre).

There will also be recitals by opera prima donnas: Anna Netrebko will appear at the Mariinsky II with the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev (6 June), Cecilia Bartoli and the orchestra I Barocchisti under Diego Fasolis will present the evening programme From Venice to St Petersburg(13 June, Mariinsky II) and Olga Borodina will appear at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre (18 June).

The ballet playbill includes the most recent premieres of the season: the ballet The Bronze Horseman by Reinhold Glière staged by Yuri Smekalov (15, 16 and 17 June, Mariinsky II), Radu Poklitaru’s Symphony in Three Movements which will be combined in an evening of ballets to music by Stravinsky including Sasha Waltz’ Sacre (19 June, Mariinsky II), as well as works by members of the Creative Workshop of Young Choreographers (20 June, Mariinsky II). The festival playbill will be adorned by the finest productions of the classical ballet repertoire that have been carefully retained at the Mariinsky Theatre –Swan Lake, La Bayadère, Don Quixote, Raymonda, La Sylphide and Giselle as well as ballets by 20th century composers such as Michel Fokine, Leonid Lavrovsky, George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton and Alexei Ratmansky. The performances are to feature the company’s great soloists: Ulyana Lopatkina will appear as Titania in the ballet A Midsummer Night’s Dream (29 May, Mariinsky Theatre) and have her own gala evening (3 July, Mariinsky Theatre), Diana Vishneva and Viktoria Tereshkina will appear as Nikia and Gamzatti in the ballet La Bayadère (7 and 10 June, Mariinsky Theatre), while togethe r with Mathieu Ganio Diana Vishneva will appear in Giselle (11 and 13 July). One guest company of the festival is the Astana Ballet (19 and 20 July).

Traditionally the festival’s participants include famous musicians who will be performing with the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev in addition to performing recitals. The piano duo of brothe rs Arthur and Lucas Jussen will perform with the Mariinsky Orchestra on 1 June (Mariinsky II), Christian Blackshaw, Wilfried Strehle and David Geringas will give recitals of works by Robert Schumann (20 June, Concert Hall), while Denis Matsuev will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto (26 June, Concert Hall).

The internationally acclaimed marimba player Keiko Abe will perform with the Tchiki Duo and the Mariinsky Marimba Ensemble (7 June, Concert Hall), Leonidas Kavakos, Gautier Capuçon and Nikolai Lugansky will be performing at the Concert Hall on 11 June, and Ilya Rashkovsky togethe r with Igor Tchetuev will present a programme dedicated to the works of Sergei Rachmaninoff (28 June, Concert Hall). Vadym Kholodenko (16 June, Concert Hall), Nikolaj Znaider (27 June, Concert Hall) and Hélène Grimaud (2 July, Concert Hall) will perform recitals.

The concerts with established performers will be complemented by appearances by prize-winners of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition: George Li will give a recital (10 June, Concert Hall) and will appear with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer (9 June, Mariinsky II), while Anastasia Kobekina will appear with the Mariinsky Orchestra under Zaurbek Gugkaev (22 July, Concert Hall). There will be recitals at the Concert Hall by Yu-Chien Tsen (17 June) and Lucas Debargue (22 June).

The festival’s guest ensembles include the Chamber Orchestra of the Russian-German Academy of Music directed by Thomas Zehetmair (24 June, Concert Hall), the China Philharmonic Orchestra (7 July, Concert Hall) and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra (12 July, Concert Hall). 
Chamber ensembles in the festival playbill. The Borodin Quartet has been a longstanding friend of the Mariinsky Theatre, upholding the reputation of this legendary performing ensemble with supreme skills for more than seventy years, and will be performing works by Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven (27 May, Concert Hall). The Stradivarius Ensemble of the Mariinsky Theatre under the baton of Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici will present a programme of works by Antonio Vivaldi, George Frederick Handel and Edward Elgar (29 May, Concert Hall). The Moscow Soloists, which marks its twenty-fifth anniversary next year, will perform under the baton of its unchanging director and conductor Yuri Bashmet (29 June, Concert Hall). 
The Rastrelli Cello Quartet chamber ensemble will perform with virtuoso clarinettist Giora Feidman (5 July, Concert Hall).



Submitted on 25 August 2016, Thursday


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