When Valery Gergiev became Principal Conductor in 1995 he and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra decided to hold an ambitious multi-day musical event. One year later, they presented the Rotterdam Philharmonic Gergiev Festival. The 25th edition was supposed to take place in September 2020, but due to measures taken against the coronavirus, the anniversary has been moved to this year.
From 15 to 19 September the 25th edition of the Gergiev Festival will take place in several concert halls in Rotterdam, such as de Doelen, Laurenskerk and Arminius. The passe-partouts, day tickets and single tickets can now be ordered via: www.gergievfestival.nl.
St Petersburg will be the theme of the coming festival. Valery Gergiev still calls Rotterdam ‘my second home’, but his first home is and remains the city of the tsars, of Peter the Great and the Mariinsky Theatre.
For many centuries St Petersburg has been the cultural capital of Russia and has a very eventful history. This is expressed in the spectacular programs featured in this festival: from the monumental Leningrad symphony of Shostakovich, via Tchaikovsky’s archetypal Russian opera Eugene Onegin to the sensational Dutch première of a work by Raskatov about revolutionary Russia. The final evening will be full of Tchaikovsky: his moving ‘Pathétique’ and the rarely performed ‘Second Piano Concerto’ which will be performed by Alexandre Kantorov.
On the 16th and 17th of September, a special world premiere will be held in de Doelen. Willem Bruls created an exclusive music theatre production of Gogol’s famous story ‘Nevsky Prospekt’, set in St Petersburg. A video projection by Evert de Cock, actress Loes Wouterson, and pianists Hannes Minnaar and Rembrandt Frerichs, will lure the audience from the boulevard into dark alleys.
Gergiev is also for the children
The perhaps most famous musical fairy tale Peter and the Wolf comes to life twice Sunday the 19th of September. During the first performance, Jamai Loman tells the story of the tough Peter and the bad wolf. At 3 PM, the orchestra will play Peter and the Wolf again, this time not accompanied by a narrator but with Suzie Templeton’s Oscar-winning film. She made an exciting animation film with a great eye for detail, in which the orchestra is in close contact with the big screen. The performance with Jamai Loman as the narrator at 1.15 PM is suitable for children from 4 years old. The show with film at 3 PM is suitable for children from 6 years old.
