The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT

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and the outstanding countertenor Michael Chance in cooperation
with soloists of the Musica Petropolitana group
(Dmitry Sokolov and Irina Shneyerova) performed in the
early music concert programme.
The Festival was concluded with a performance by Musica
Nuda from Italy, one of the most popular jazz duets in
Europe (Petra Magoni and Feruccho Spinetti), and a gala
concert by the winners of the Spoleto Competition of Opera
Singers accompanied by the State Hermitage Orchestra
(conducted by Mats Liljefors).
The concerts of the Festival were supported by the General
Consulate of Norway in St. Petersburg, the General
Consulate of the Netherlands in St. Petersburg, the Finnish
Institute in St. Petersburg, the Italian Institute of Culture
in St. Petersburg, the Swiss Centre in St. Petersburg
and the Helvetia Hotel
fourTh inTernaTional feSTival
“dedicaTion To maeSTro”
Between 12 and 20 March 2010, the State Hermitage and
the Domus Producer Centre presented the Fourth International
Festival “Dedication to Maestro” in the Hermitage
Theatre and the museum rooms. Six exclusive concerts
featuring stars of classical music and jazz were held
Fourth International Festival “Dedication to Maestro”
in the museum exhibition rooms and on the stage of the
Hermitage Theatre.
Traditionally, the Festival included concerts timed to coincide
with memorial dates. The State Hermitage Orchestra
(conducted by Vladimir Ziva, Honored Arts Worker
of the Russian Federation) marked the 170th anniversary
of Pyotr Tchaikovsky with its concert, while the recital
by the Honoured Artist of Russia Vladimir Mischuk was
dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Frederick Chopin.
Classical music arranged for jazz and jazz improvisations
inspired by the music of G.F. Handel were performed by
the world-famous jazz pianist and composer Rolf Zielke
(Germany), who played in St. Petersburg for the first time
with his Handel Jazz band. The programme “Dedication
to Jazz” featured famous jazz musicians Bugge Wesseltoft
(Norway) and Lars Danielsson (Sweden). The “Dedication
to the Hermitage” concert included music by Chopin, Sibelius,
Schumann (State Hermitage Orchestra, conducted
by Arkady Steinlucht, solo performance by Oleg Weinstein).
The closing gala concert included a performance
by Nikolai Petrov, USSR People’s Artist, and the Dagilelis
Boys Choir (Lithuania) accompanied by the State Hermitage
Orchestra conducted by Saulius Sondeckis, USSR People’s
Artist and winner of state awards.
For the seventh time, the Festival was organized with support
from Promsvyazbank.
TenTh inTernaTional feSTival
“muSic of The greaT hermiTage”
The International Festival “Music of the Great Hermitage”
has celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. In June 2010,
the monumental work Seven Gates of Jerusalem by the living
classic, outstanding Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki
was performed in the Great Courtyard of the Winter
Palace.
Each year, the Festival invites the best musicians from all
over the world to take part. Over the years, its concerts
in the museum’s halls and courtyards have been graced
by the performances by Krzysztof Penderecki and Valery
Gergiev, Katia Ricciarelli, Lubov Kazarnovskaya, Yury Shevchuk,
Dina Korzun, Sergei Bezrukov, Sergei Makovetsky.
For five years, the jazz programmes of the Festival have
been coordinated by the prominent pianist and composer
Andrei Kondakov. The stars of world jazz who have performed
here include Tim Garland, Bill Bruford, David
Sanchez, and Igor Butman.
The 10th anniversary Festival covered all the genres which
have already become traditional – early music, classical
music, jazz and world music. The distinctive feature of the
10th Festival was that it started a whole series of cultural
events leading up to the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage,
which will be celebrated in 2014. It also marks 2010, the
France – Russia Year, with a unique concert on the French
Republic’s national holiday, Bastille Day.
The Festival opened with a concert dedicated to the great
Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo Caravaggio,
whose masterpiece The Lute Player resides in the Hermitage.
In the Large Italian Skylight Hall, the Laus Consentus
Trio from Italy (two lutenists and soprano) performed
the music of Caravaggio’s day. Each part of the concert corresponded
to a particular painting by the master. The concert
is held with support of the Italian Institute of Culture
in St. Petersburg.
The classic guitar quartet Meridion from Sweden played
Spanish music with an excursus into German baroque and
modernity in the Small Spanish Skylight Hall, which houses
the collection of Spanish paintings.
The Courtyard of the New Hermitage, small and cosy, with
its great natural acoustics, hosted the traditional Jazz Fusion
Concert featuring Andrei Kondakov along with one
of the brightest stars of world jazz, winner of five Grammy
Awards, the brilliant trumpet player Randy Brecker (USA).
The Festival’s closing ceremony was held on Bastille Day.
The chosen venue was the Great Courtyard of the Winter
Palace. Performances by the Licedei Theatre Company
and different dance groups, competitions, entertainments,
and a fashion show set the stage for the performance by
the most unusual French group Lo’Jo, who combine the
French Chanson, African, Arab, Italian music, funk, jazz
and dub with elements of street theatre and circus performances.
The project was part of the 2010 France – Russia
Year, brought to life under the patronage of the Russian
Federation Ministry for Culture and the French Institute
in St. Petersburg.
The Tenth International Festival “Music of the Great Hermitage”
was organized by the State Hermitage and the
Hermitage Academy of Music with support from the St. Petersburg
Government Committee for Culture.
ninTh inTernaTional feSTival
“grand walTZ”
In July 2010, the State Hermitage, the Union of Museum
Workers of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region, and the
Domus Producer Centre held the traditional Grand Waltz
Festival.
Eleven concerts (equal to the number of seasons Johann
Strauss had spent in St. Petersburg) were organized in the
Hermitage Theatre, the St. George Hall in the Winter Palace,
in Peterhof’s Grand Palace, the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye
Selo and, of course, in the Rose Pavilion in Pavlovsk.
Prominent musicians took part in the Festival: soloists of
the Viennese opera Herwig Pecoraro and Marcella Cerno,
the Austrian conductor Peter Gut and the Russian conductors
Vladimir Ziva, Alexander Kantorov, Alexei Karabanov
and Dmitry Khokhlov; the pianists Peter Laul and Vladimir
Mischuk; Russian People’s Artist, violinist and conductor
Sergei Stadler, as well as the Klassika St. Petersburg State
Symphonic Orchestra, the Admiralty Orchestra of the
Leningrad Naval Base, and the Andreyev State Academic
Russian Folk Orchestra.
The Festival was opened with the concert entitled “Kings
of the Waltzes”, which featured music by Strauss, Shostakovich,
von Suppé, and Glinka.
Waltzes by Strauss, Sibelius, Waldteufel, Glazunov, Tchaikovsky,
Sviridov, Khachaturian, and Petrov were performed
during the “Splendid Waltzes” soiree concert.
“The Viennese Waltz” and “The Viennese Ball” events were
dedicated to the music of Strauss, Lehar, Kalman. The piano
soiree “Pictures at an Exhibition” included works by
Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, and Ravel.
An unusual “Evening of Russian Romances” featured songs
by Glinka, Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Prokofiev,
and the “Six Divertimenti Inspired by Russian Songs and
Romances” by Henri Vieuxtemps were performed on the
piano and violin.
The concerts “Our Favourite Waltzes” and “Cinema and
Waltzes” paid tribute to the music of theatre and cinema.
The piano soiree “…Just Waltz” featured the music of Frederic
Chopin.
The Festival was closed with the “Grand Waltz” concert
which included waltzes by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Petrov, Gavrilin,
Slonimsky, Sviridov, and the “Encore” by the Admiralty
Orchestra of the Leningrad Naval Base.
The Ninth International Grand Waltz Festival was organized
with the help of JSC Bank of Moscow.
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