The Genius of Place festival, a musical homage to great Russian composers, is set to return. This year, from 20 to 23 March, Valery Gergiev and the combined forces of Russia’s two leading musical theatres – the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi – will perform in the birthplaces of Modest Musorgsky (Pskov), Sergei Rachmaninoff (Veliky Novgorod) and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Tikhvin).
The musical tributes will begin in Pskov, with four events scheduled over two days at the Pskov Regional Philharmonic’s Grand Concert Hall. 20 March will be dedicated to the Mariinsky for Children project. Soloists from the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers will present short operas for young listeners, accompanied by piano. At 15:00 Sergei Banevich’s The Brave Hare will be performed, followed by Gennady Gladkov’s musical fantasy Town Musicians of Bremen at 18:00.
On 21 March, on Modest Musorgsky’s birthday, a combined symphony orchestra of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres, conducted by Valery Gergiev, will appear at 15:00 on the stage of the Pskov Regional Philharmonic’s Grand Concert Hall. At 19:00 maestro Gergiev will return to the podium for a gala concert featuring opera soloists. The programme will include works by Musorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin.
The following day, 22 March, the company will travel to Veliky Novgorod to pay musical tribute to Sergei Rachmaninoff. The morning concert will feature a combined symphony orchestra of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres, conducted by Valery Gergiev, playing the Symphonic Dances and the Second Piano Concerto.
The evening of 22 March will feature a performance in Tikhvin, the birthplace of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. At 18:30 the Rimsky-Korsakov Palace of Culture will host the composer’s quintessential spring fairytale, the beautiful Russian opera The Snow Maiden. The performance will feature soloists, the Mariinsky Chorus and supernumeraries and a combined symphony orchestra of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres, conducted by Valery Gergiev.
On 23 March at 15:00 the Regimental Church will host a chamber vocal concert with piano accompaniment, featuring soloists from the Mariinsky Opera Company. At 18:00 the Rimsky-Korsakov Palace of Culture will host another performance of The Snow Maiden, once again conducted by Valery Gergiev.
Last season maestro Gergiev and artists from the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres visited the birthplaces of five great Russian composers, presenting their works in nearly thirty concerts and performances. Concerts and productions, where the combined creative forces of Russia’s two leading stages appear, traditionally sell out. The Genius of Place festival is one of the most eagerly awaited events of spring, for artists and audiences alike.
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