The New York Philharmonic will present The Russian Stravinsky: A Philharmonic Festival conducted by Valery Gergiev on April 21-May 8, 2010. The three-week festival - one of several initiatives launched during Alan Gilbert's first season as Music Director - will offer an in-depth look at Stravinsky, exploring how his Russian roots informed his works. Led by the Russian-born Mr. Gergiev, the festival will feature eight programs over three weeks, including concerts, lectures, pre-concert talks, radio broadcasts, podcasts and an Archives exhibit.
The festival, which will include performances of six of Stravinsky's famed ballets over the three weeks, will open with Mr. Gergiev leading the New York Philharmonic in the composer's dance cantata based on a Russian folk wedding, Les Noces and the complete score for the ballet The Firebird, as well as Symphonies of Wind Instruments on Wednesday, April 21, 2010, and Thursday, April 22, both at 7:30 p.m. Soloists for Les Noces - all making their Philharmonic debuts - are soprano Mlada Khudoley; mezzo- soprano Olga Savova; tenor Alexander Timchenko; and bass Gennady Bezzubenkov; they will be joined by pianists Alexander Mogilevsky, Youliya Zaichkina, Maxim Mogilevsky, and Svetlana Smolina, and the Mariinsky Theatre Chorus, also in its Philharmonic debut.
The first week of The Russian Stravinsky will feature a second program, including the score to the ballet Jeu de cartes; the Symphony of Psalms, featuring the Mariinsky Theatre Chorus; and The Firebird (complete) on Friday, April 23, 2010, at 2:00 p.m., and Saturday, April 24, at 8:00 p.m.
Related Events
• Pre-Concert Talks
Composer/conductor Victoria Bond will introduce Program I (April 21-22) one hour before each performance. Paul Moravec, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and University Professor at Adelphi University will introduce Program II (April 23-24). Tickets are $5 in addition to the concert ticket. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656
• New York Philharmonic Podcast Elliott Forrest, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, producer, and weekend host on Classical 105.9 FM WQXR, will be the producer/host of the podcast addressing Program I. That for Program II will be produced and hosted by Mark Travis, a producer for the WFMT Radio Network since 1999 and the producer of the 52-week- per-year nationally syndicated radio series, The New York Philharmonic This Week. These award-winning previews of upcoming programs - through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, conductors, and Orchestra musicians - are available at nyphil.org/podcast or from iTunes.
• National Radio Broadcast The program of April 21-22 will be broadcast the week of May 3, 2010,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated nationally to more than 295 stations by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by the Emmy Award-winning actor Alec Baldwin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic's corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. The broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic's Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. *Check local listings for broadcast and program information.
• Archives Exhibit: Stravinsky at the New York Philharmonic Bruno Walter Gallery, April-May 2010. The New York Philharmonic Archives will have on view correspondence, scores, programs, and photographs focusing on Stravinsky's particular relationship with the Philharmonic as well as on the conductors who championed his works with the Orchestra over the years.
Artists Valery Gergiev is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Opera and Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, home to the Kirov Opera and Ballet. He is also principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, the first principal guest conductor of The Metropolitan Opera, and artistic director of St. Petersburg's White Nights Festival. He has worked with all the world's major international orchestras and opera companies.
