Cal Performances Presents

Monday, October , , pm Zellerbach Hall Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Th eatre Valery Gergiev, music director and conductor with Alexander Toradze, pianist

PROGRAM

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (–) Piano Concerto No.  in B-fl at minor, Op.  (–; rev. ) Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso Andantino semplice Allegro con fuoco

INTERMISSION

Dmitri Shostakovich (–) Symphony No.  in G minor, Op. , “Th e Year ” () Th e Palace Square (Adagio) Th e Ninth of January (Allegro—Adagio— Allegro—Adagio) In Memoriam (Adagio) Th e Tocsin (Allegro non troppo—Allegro— Adagio—Moderato—Adagio—Allegro)

Program subject to change.

Vneshtorgbank is the Global Partner of the Mariinsky Th eatre. Severstal North America is the Mariinsky Th eatre’s Tour Sponsor. Th e White Nights Foundation of America is the Sponsor of the Kirov Shostakovich Centennial Celebration in North America. Columbia Artists Management LLC Tour Direction: R. Douglas Sheldon  Broadway, New York, New York  www.cami.com Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra record for Universal.

Cal Performances’ – Season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

18 CAL PERFORMANCES Orchestra Roster

Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Th eatre Valery Gergiev, music director and conductor First Violin Cello Ilya Konovalov, Guest Principal Zenon Zalitsailo, Principal Kirill Terentyev, Principal Oleg Sendetsky, Principal Leonid Veksler, Principal Alexander Ponomarenko Pavel Faynberg Nikolai Vasilyev Elena Berdnikova Tamara Sakar Tatiana Frenkel Oksana Moroz Khristian Artamonov Anton Valner Anton Kozmin Ekaterina Travkina Vsevolod Vasilyev Nikolay Oginets Boris Vasilyev Alexander Peresypkin Nina Pirogova Anna Glukhova Double Bass Irina Sukhorukova Kirill Karikov, Principal Mikhail Tatarnikov Sergei Akopov, Principal Marina Serebro Vladimir Shostak, Principal Viktoria Kakicheva Igor Eliseev Evgeny Mamontov Second Violin Sergei Trafi movich Zumrad Ilyeva, Principal Maria Shilo Maria Safarova Viktoria Schukina Flute Tatiana Moroz Valentin Cherenkov Elena Khaytova Dennis Lupachev Svetlana Zhuravkova Nikolay Mokhov Marcel Bezhenaru Margarita Maystrova Sergey Letyagin Nadezda Prudnikova Oboe Alexey Krasheninnikov Sergei Bliznetsov Irina Vasilyeva Pavel Kundyanok Mikhail Zatin Victor Ukhalin Ilya Ilin Viola Yury Afonkin, Principal Clarinet Vladimir Litvinov Viktor Kulyk Oleg Larionov Dmitri Kharitonov Lina Golovina Anatoly Shoka Alexander Shelkovnikov Yuri Zuryiaev Karine Barsegian Ivan Stolbov Evgeny Barsov Alevtina Alexeva Bassoon Olga Neverova Igor Gorbunov Andrey Petushkov Rodion Tolmachev Valentin Kapustin Alexander Sharykin

CAL PERFORMANCES 19 Orchestra Roster

Horn Orchestra Manager Dmitri Vorontsov Vladimir Ivanov Stanislav Tses Stanislav Avik Stage Hands Vladislav Kuznetsov Victor Belyashin Yuri Akimkin Dmitry Tsugatinov Valery Papyrin Columbia Artists Management LLC Trumpet R. Douglas Sheldon, Senior Vice President Vasily Kan Karen Kloster, Tour Coordinator Konstantin Baryshev Ryan McCarthy, Managerial Assistant Gennady Nikonov Elizabeth E. Torres, Program Manager Sergei Kryuchkov Ann Woodruff , Tour Manager Vitaly Zaitsev Maria Keith, Backstage Manager Bernard Muller, Conductor Driver Trombone Renee O’Banks, Hotel Advance Andrey Smirnov Maestro! Travel & Touring, Hotels Igor Iakovlev Sintec-Tur, Air and Cargo Mikhail Seliverstov Nikolai Timofeev Alexander Ponomarev

Tuba Nikolay Slepnev

Percussion Andrey Khotin Yuri Alexeev Yuri Mischenko Vladislav Ivanov Evgeny Zhikalov Arseny Shuplyakov

Harp Liudmila Rokhlina

Piano Valeria Rumyantseva

20 CAL PERFORMANCES Program Notes

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky I had stolen from other composers; only two or three pages were worth preserving; the rest Born May , , in Votkinsk, Russia must be thrown away or completely rewritten.... Died November , , in St. Petersburg a disinterested person in the room might had thought I was a maniac, a talentless, senseless Piano Concerto No.  in B-fl at minor, hack who had come to submit his rubbish to Op.  an eminent musician....” Th is unexpected reac- Composed in –; revised in . tion from Rubinstein left the composer totally Premiered on October ,  in Boston, with devastated and sank him into a severe state of Hans von Bülow as soloist. depression. However, so sure was the composer about “In December  I had written a Piano his creation that upon Rubinstein’s gentler ad- Concerto! Not being a pianist, I considered it monitions to completely revise the concerto, necessary to consult a virtuoso as to any points in Tchaikovsky yelled, “I shall not alter a single my Concerto that might be technically imprac- note. I shall publish the work exactly as it is.”— ticable, ungrateful or ineff ective. I had need of a which he did. Th e determined composer then severe critic, but at the same time one friendily sent his concerto to Hans von Bülow, who found disposed towards me.” Th us wrote Tchaikovsky it “original, noble and powerful.” On October to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck, describ- , , under the direction of Benjamin ing the circumstances in which he presented Johnson Lang, Bülow took the concert world his newly written First Piano Concerto—one by storm when he presented the work in Boston of the best-loved in the repertoire today—to his with unprecedented success. Tchaikovsky con- much admired and trusted senior colleague at ducted the Russian premiere just a few weeks the Moscow Conservatory, Nikolay Rubinstein. later. After this, Rubinstein reconsidered his Tchaikovsky suff ered one of the biggest disap- position, recognizing the concerto for the mas- pointments of his career when, on Christmas terpiece it is, and added it to his repertoire, Eve, Rubinstein—who had been so supportive of playing it quite often throughout Russia. Th e the composer in the past—rejected the concerto rift that had ensued between Tchaikovsky and with a rush of scathing criticism, summarily de- Rubinstein was eventually repaired and, later claring the work ill-composed and unperform- on, the composer did make a few revisions to able. “I played the fi rst movement. Not a single the score, primarily in the solo passages.Th e fi rst word, not a single remark.... Oh for one word, movement begins with a lengthy— measure for friendly attack, but for God’s sake, one word long—introduction marked Allegro non troppo of sympathy, even if not of praise. Rubinstein e molto maestoso. At the outset, the horns pres- was amassing his storm.... Above all I did not ent a four-note descending motif, punctuated want sentence on the artistic aspect. My need by sharp chords from the rest of the orches- was for remarks about the virtuoso piano tech- tra. Th e piano then enters with a long series nique. R’s eloquent silence was of the greatest of chords, as the violins play an impassioned signifi cance.... I fortifi ed myself with patience theme based on the opening motif. Eventually, and played through to the end. Still silence. the fi rst movement proper, Allegro con spirito, I stood up and asked ‘Well?’ Th en a torrent arrives as the piano introduces the main theme poured from Nikolay Grigorievich’s mouth.... with minimal support from the orchestra. One It turned out that my concerto was worthless of Rubinstein’s criticisms was that he found this and unplayable; passages were so fragmented, so an unseemly theme to ennoble by incorporating clumsy, so badly written that they were beyond it into a piano concerto; the theme is derived rescue; the work itself was bad, vulgar; in places from a Ukrainian folksong commonly sung by

CAL PERFORMANCES 21 Program Notes blind beggars. Th e somewhat more relaxed and a fl urry of virtuoso playing, the piano rushes to stately second theme begins with an ascending the work’s exhilarating conclusion. scalar motif and ends with descending leaps. © Columbia Artists Management Inc. Both themes are subjected to a brilliant double exposition, with the exchange of virtuoso and expressive elements and argumentative tension Dmitri Shostakovich (–) between soloist and orchestra. Th e soloist has Born September , , in St. Petersburg plentiful occasion to shine with its many ornate Died August , , in Moscow and rhapsodic passages and several demanding cadenzas. Symphony No.  in G minor, Op. , Th e contrasting second movement, “Th e Year ” Andantino semplice, takes the form of a scher- zo, but in reverse—instead of the normal fast- Composed in . slower-fast pattern, a soulful episode surrounds Premiered on October ,  in Moscow, a jaunty middle section. It begins with a ten- conducted by Nathan Rakhlin. der love theme played by a solo fl ute against pizzicato strings, and then taken over by the Discussions of Shostakovich and his music have piano. After a contrasting phrase is heard, the a lways revolved a round politics. Th e Soviets used oboe once again takes the main melody. Th en to maintain that the composer was loyal to the the piano embarks on a frolicsome scherzando regime, while more recent literature suggests that episode marked Allegro vivace assai. Although he was deeply disillusioned with Communism. it does so at fi rst by itself, soon the violas and Yet if we ask whether Shostakovich was for or cellos join in with a melody of their own—the against the regime, we also must ask the op- French song Il faut s’amuser, danser et rire (“One posite question: was the regime for or against must have fun, dance and laugh”) which was Shostakovich? Surely, the Party’s treatment of a favorite of Désirée Artôt, to whom the com- the country’s greatest composer, with a seesaw poser was briefl y engaged. After an ingenious of denunciations and rehabilitations, severe crit- reference to the fi rst movement’s second theme, icism and highest honors, is no less ambiguous the soloist plays a short cadenza that leads into than Shostakovich’s own highly contradictory the main love theme once again to conclude the attitudes toward Communism. movement. Eleven years old at the time of the October Th e last movement, Allegro con fuoco, is built Revolution, Shostakovich spent his entire adult upon a rondo structure with elements of sonata life under the Soviet regime, which was the only form. After a few introductory measures from political reality he had ever experienced fi rst- the orchestra, the piano presents the main recur- hand. In the early years of the regime, it was ring theme; this assertive mazurka-like theme is easy to be swept up in the euphoria of building derived from yet another Ukrainian folksong. a new society the world had never seen before, Two other subjects come into play here: one and many were prepared to bear economic hard- is of great signifi cance and bears a syncopated ship as a necessary price to pay for a brighter dance rhythm; the other is of a subsidiary na- future. In the late s, as Stalin’s political ter- ture and gentler in character. Th e two principal ror reached unbelievable levels of atrocity, it be- themes are freshly emphasized within a dif- came more and more diffi cult to maintain that ferent context each time they are repeated. At original belief in the building of a better world. the coda, now in the major key, the subsidiary Yet right until the collapse of communism in theme fi nally attains its full import. Th en, with the late s, it remained a much-debated minimal intervention from the orchestra and in question throughout Eastern Europe whether

22 CAL PERFORMANCES Program Notes

Communism was essentially a good idea gone arouse the deepest revulsion in every sensitive awry, or a concept fundamentally fl awed from human being, and the program of the sym- the start. phony expresses not merely Communist self- Th e question to ask about Shostakovich’s righteousness but a belief in human dignity in Symphony No. —a work that bears its politi- general. Some writers have alleged that, while cal program in its title—is not whether it is an Shostakovich was ostensibly concerned with homage to offi cialdom or a work with a hidden the events of , what he was really think- dissident message. It has been called both, allow- ing about was the Hungarian Revolution of ing the symphony to be exploited by exponents , crushed by Soviet tanks shortly before the of both pro- and anti-Soviet political agendas. symphony was written. Th e composer himself Th e real questions are how Shostakovich treated was heard to comment on the fact that he wrote his ostensible theme, the Russian Revolution the Eleventh in the aftermath of the Budapest of , and what elements in the music have uprising. But why limit the music’s message by called, again and again, for an interpretation narrowly and exclusively linking it to one politi- along political lines. Before examining these cal event or another? To my mind, this music is questions, however, it might be helpful to sum- a denunciation of all tyrants, and a requiem for marize the events of the year  (the year be- victims of injustice everywhere. fore Shostakovich was born). In this symphony, Shostakovich took spe- On January ,  (according to the old cial pains to make sure his message was clear style; January  by the Gregorian calendar), to every listener. He adapted many of the a peaceful demonstration of workers and peas- symphony’s principal themes from songs of the ants, led by Father Gapon, appeared in front workers’ movement—songs that every resident of the Winter Palace, the Czar’s residence in of the Soviet Union learned to sing in school, St. Petersburg. Th ey wished to hand Nicholas as well as from his own work for mixed chorus, II a petition, asking the monarch for help to Ten Songs of Nineteenth-Century Revolutionary alleviate their economic conditions, which Poets, Op.  (). He then wove these themes had become unbearable. Th e Czar’s guards together in a complex tapestry, having them un- began to shoot at the crowd, killing hundreds dergo substantial transformations and return, of people. Th e event, which became known as sometimes in their original form and sometimes “Bloody Sunday,” set off widespread strikes and with important changes, in the course of the protests all over the country (including the mu- symphony’s four movements (played without tiny aboard the battleship Potemkin, which is pause). immortalized in Sergei Eisenstein’s  fi lm, Th e song themes Shostakovich used, either Battleship Potemkin). Th e massive unrests led to in their original form or modifi ed, include the a certain liberalization in Czarist rule, bringing following, in the order of their fi rst appearance: the empire closer to a constitutional monarchy . Listen, a prisoner’s song (“Like an act for the last decade of its existence. of betrayal, like a tyrant’s conscience, Th e events of  were widely regarded the night is dark”). as a prelude to the two revolutions of  . Th e Prisoner is another prisoner’s song (February and October), the fi rst of which put (“...but the walls of the prison are strong, an end to the Czarist regime and the second fastened at the gate by two iron locks”). which brought the Bolsheviks to power. For . Worker’s Funeral March (“You fell a this reason, writing a symphony about the  victim in the fateful battle, with selfl ess revolution may seem to have been a politically love for the people...”). expedient thing to do. But the truth is that the . Hail the Free World of Liberty brutality of the Bloody Sunday shootings must . Rage, Tyrants (“Rage, tyrants, mock at

CAL PERFORMANCES 23 Program Notes

us,...although our bodies are trampled, the two self-quotes, a melody usually described we are stronger in spirit—shame, shame, as Mussorgskyan, fi rst softly and then gradually shame to you, tyrants!”). rising in volume until a full orchestral fortis- . Varshavianka (“Hostile whirlwinds simo is reached. During a momentary respite, swirl around us.... We have entered into No.  is heard briefl y, played by the fi rst trum- fateful battle with our enemies, our des- pet, but then No.  returns, building to an even tinies are still unknown”). more powerful climax than the fi rst time. All of . Bright Lights: A quote from the then- this is, however, only a prelude to what follows. popular Soviet operetta by Georgi After a brief recall of the “frozen” opening of Sviridov, combined with the famous “Th e Palace Square,” the most violent section of revolutionary march, Boldly, Comrades, the symphony begins: a ferocious fugue, start- Keep Step. ed by cellos and basses, and rapidly escalating Th e two themes from Shostakovich’s own revo- into what must be seen as a graphic depiction lutionary choruses are: of sheer horror—the entire orchestra pounding . Oh, Czar, our little father. on a single rhythm of equal triplet notes, at top . Bare Your Heads on this sorrowful volume and (for most instruments) in a high day. register. Th is is certainly the moment where the With these characteristic building blocks, Czarist guards open fi re. Th e fi rst-movement Shostakovich created what often resembles a image of the empty Palace Square now returns veritable opera without words. It portrays not (complete with string theme, trumpet fanfare, just emotions and musical characters but defi - the song Listen and the timpani motto). nite places and actions. (It is no coincidence Th e Russian title of the third movement, that the symphony was later choreographed “Vechnaia pamiat” (“In Memoriam”), alludes with great success in Russia.) Th e eerie open- to a funeral chant of the Orthodox church. ing where a slow-moving melody is played in But its actual melodic basis is the Worker’s fi ve simultaneous octaves by the muted strings, Funeral March (No. ), played by the violas to is a striking depiction of the motionless Palace the sparsest of accompaniments. A second, less Square on an ice-cold January day. Th is frozen subdued section develops No.  and leads to an image will return several times as a powerful impassioned passage where the entire orchestra contrast to the intense drama unfolding in the shrieks out the Bare Your Heads theme (No. ) second movement. Th e contrast between mo- in what seems a fl ashback of the past atrocities, tion and immobility is one of Shostakovich’s and the violins take over the timpani motto in main dramatic strategies in this work: the de- great anguish and agitation. No.  returns and lirious activity in the second and fourth move- the mood becomes calmer, but soon we hear ments is off set by the calm, yet extremely tense, the “Th e Tocsin” (the alarm bells) with a new music in the fi rst and third. call to battle. Th e relentless march rhythms of Th e slow fi rst movement (“Th e Palace No.  and No.  grow more and more furious Square”) sets the stage for the drama, with the until, fi nally, they are swept aside by another glacial string theme, a trumpet call that turns memory of the horrors and a recall of No. , into a wail, a hint at the Orthodox response the plea to the Czar, played with great fervor “Lord have mercy on us,” and the two prison by the full orchestra. Th e glacial string music of songs (Nos. –). It clearly represents “silence the fi rst movement returns, complemented by a before a storm,” and the storm indeed breaks long English horn solo based on No. , before out in the second movement (“Th e Ninth of the fi nal upsurge that, with its musical material January”). Against an agitated accompani- taken from the second movement, seems to sug- ment in the lower strings, we hear the fi rst of gest that the struggle is not over.

24 CAL PERFORMANCES Program Notes

It is hardly the optimistic conclusion that “sold himself down the river.”) But there were one would associate with a piece celebrating enough disturbing overtones in the work for Soviet political ideas. Th en again, according to others to perceive a hidden underground mean- Soviet history books, the  revolution had ing. According to one report, Shostakovich’s been unsuccessful because it failed to over- son Maxim,  at the time of the premiere, throw the Czar. Th at historic moment was not whispered into his father’s ear during the dress to arrive until , and it was perhaps inevi- rehearsal: “Papa, what if they hang you for this?” table that Shostakovich should devote his next And the great Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova, symphony, No.  (), to the Great Socialist said, when asked what she thought of all those October Revolution, as it used to be called. Th e revolutionary quotations: “[Th ey] were like fi nale of that work, “Th e Dawn of Humanity,” white birds fl ying against a terrible black sky.” delivered the triumphant ending everyone had However we might interpret the work, it is been waiting for. clear that Shostakovich created neither a mere In the Eleventh, Shostakovich created a Communist propaganda piece nor a coded anti- large-scale symphony on an offi cial theme, us- Communist tract but a complex, dark score of ing plenty of songs offi cially sanctioned by the exceptional dramatic power. regime. (It was enough to make some people comment at the premiere: Shostakovich had ©  Peter Laki

CAL PERFORMANCES 25 About the Artists

Th e Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky destino was given its world premiere at the Th eatre Th eatre enjoys a long and distinguished his- in the presence of the composer. Wagner came tory as one of the oldest musical institutions to the Mariinsky Th eatre, where his operas were in Russia. Founded in the th century dur- frequently performed from the th century to ing the reign of Peter the Great, it was known the beginning of the th century, including the before the Revolution as the Russian Imperial fi rst Russian performances of the complete Ring Opera Orchestra. Housed in St. Petersburg’s cycle, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger and famed Mariinsky Th eatre since  (named Parsifal. Th e Ring cycle was conducted by Hans in honor of Maria, wife of Emperor Alexander Richter, who was the fi rst to conduct the com- II), the Orchestra entered its true “golden age” plete Ring in Bayreuth and at Covent Garden. in the second half of the th century under Th e Mariinsky Orchestra also gave the the musical direction of Eduard Napravnik fi rst Russian performances of Richard Strauss’s (–). Napravnik single-handedly ruled Elektra, Salome and Der Rosenkavalier and Berg’s the Imperial Th eatre for more than half a cen- Wozzeck in a production that took place two tury (–) and under his leadership, the years after its world premiere in Berlin and  Mariinsky Orchestra was recognised as one years before its premiere in Vienna. of the fi nest in Europe. He also trained a gen- By , the Orchestra’s name had changed eration of outstanding conductors, developing to the Royal Imperial Th eatre Orchestra, and what came to be known as “the Russian school it was regarded as St Petersburg’s leading sym- of conducting.” phony orchestra. Its repertoire—operatic and Th e Mariinsky Th eatre was also the birth- orchestral—has traditionally included not place of numerous operas and ballets which are only music by Russian composers, but also of regarded as masterpieces of the th and th European composers. Numerous internationally centuries. World premiere performances in- famed musicians have conducted the Orchestra, clude Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and among them Hans von Bülow, Felix Mottl, Felix Lyudmila, Borodin’s Prince Igor, Mussorgsky’s Weingartner, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Otto Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina, Rimsky- Nikisch, Willem Mengelberg, Otto Klemperer, Korsakov’s Th e Maid of Pskov, Th e Snow Maiden Bruno Walter and Erich Kleiber. and Th e Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and On two occasions, in  and , Hector the Maiden Fevronia, Tchaikovsky’s Th e Queen of Berlioz conducted performances of his own Spades, Iolanta, Swan Lake, Th e Nutcracker and works, including La Damnation de Faust, Roméo Th e Sleeping Beauty and Prokofi ev’s Betrothal in et Juliette, Symphonie fantastique and Harold en a Monastery (“Th e Duenna”), as well as operas Italie. Berlioz wrote in his memoirs, “Such an or- by Shostakovich and ballets by Khachaturian. chestra! Such precision! Such an ensemble!” And Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was closely as- in a letter dated December , he stated: “I sociated with the Mariinsky Th eatre, not only don’t think Beethoven ever had a better perfor- conducting the Orchestra but also premier- mance of his compositions!” In March and April ing his Fifth Symphony here, the Hamlet fan- , Richard Wagner visited St. Petersburg and tasy overture and the Sixth Symphony. Sergei led the Royal Imperial Th eatre Orchestra in six Rachmaninoff conducted the Orchestra on programs of Beethoven symphonies and his numerous occasions, including premieres of his own compositions, including the world’s fi rst Spring Cantata and the symphonic poem Th e concert performance of Prelude und Liebestod. Bells. Th e Orchestra also premiered music by the Gustav Mahler appeared with the Orchestra in young Igor Stravinsky, such as his Scherzo fan- both  and , conducting fi ve concerts, tastique and the ballet Th e Firebird. including a performance of his Fifth Symphony. Th roughout its history, the Mariinsky In , Arnold Schoenberg conducted the Th eatre has presented works by Europe’s leading premiere of his symphonic poem Pelleas und opera composers. In , Verdi’s La forza del Melisande.

26 CAL PERFORMANCES About the Artists

Renamed the Kirov Opera during the Soviet Other releases of orchestral music include sym- era, the Orchestra continued to maintain its phonies by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Prokofi ev high artistic standards under the leadership of and Shostakovich, as well as Rachmaninoff ’s Yevgeny Mravinsky and Yuri Temirkanov. In Second Symphony, Stravinsky’s Th e Firebird , Valery Gergiev was appointed Artistic and Le Sacre du printemps, Scriabin’s Le Poème de Director of the Opera Company and in  l’extase and Prometheus, and the complete piano the Russian Government named him Artistic concerti of Prokofi ev. In , Mahler’s Eighth and General Director of the Mariinsky Th eatre. Symphony was performed for the fi rst time at Soon after the city of Leningrad was renamed the Mariinsky Th eatre under the baton of Valery St. Petersburg, the Kirov Th eatre reverted to its Gergiev. original title of the Mariinsky Th eatre, home to In the – season, Valery Gergiev ini- the Kirov Opera, the Kirov Ballet and the Kirov tiated a worldwide series of charity concerts en- Orchestra. titled Beslan: Music for Life. Under the Maestro’s Under the leadership of Valery Gergiev, direction, concerts were held in New York, Paris, the Mariinsky Th eatre has forged important London, Tokyo, Rome and Moscow. In March relationships with the world’s greatest opera and April , Maestro Gergiev conducted the houses, among them the Metropolitan Opera, Mariinsky Orchestra on a tour of the United the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the States. Th e orchestra visited  cities giving  San Francisco Opera, the Th éâtre du Châtelet concerts, three of which took place at Carnegie in Paris and La Scala in Milan. Besides extensive Hall. As part of touring programs in  the touring with the Opera and Ballet Companies, Mariinsky Orchestra took part in international the Kirov Orchestra has performed throughout music festivals in Salzburg, Mikkeli, Istanbul, the world, becoming one of the most outstand- Baden-Baden and Stockholm. ing orchestras. Th e success of the Orchestra’s In , the Orchestra returns to the frequent tours has created the reputation of United States in March and October for the what one journalist referred to as “the world’s Shostakovich Centennial Celebration. fi rst global orchestra.” In , the Orchestra made its debut tour Valery Gergiev of China, a historic fi rst, with a performance in is internation- the Great Hall in Beijing, broadcast to  mil- ally recognized lion people, in the presence of President Jiang as one of the Zemin. It was the fi rst time in  years that a most outstand- Russian orchestra had played in China. ing musical Under the baton of Valery Gergiev, the fi gures of his Orchestra has recorded exclusively for Phillips generation. His

Classics since . Releases include the com- Velsen Van Joost inspired lead- plete operas Khovanshchina, War and Peace, ership as Artistic and General Director of the Sadko, Prince Igor, Th e Queen of Spades, Ruslan Mariinsky Th eatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Lyudmila, Iolanta, Th e Fiery Angel (winner where he oversees the Kirov Orchestra, Ballet of the  Gramophone “Opera of the Year” and Opera, has brought universal acclaim to award), La forza del destino, Boris Godunov this legendary institution. Together with the ( and  versions), Mazepa, Betrothal Kirov Opera and Orchestra, Maestro Gergiev in a Monastery, Th e Love for Th ree Oranges and has toured extensively in  countries in North Semyon Kotko. Th e Orchestra has also record- America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia ed the complete ballets Romeo and Juliet, Th e and the Middle East. Sleeping Beauty and Th e Nutcracker. Principal Conductor Designate of the In July , the Orchestra and Chorus of London Symphony beginning January , he the Mariinsky Th eatre recorded Verdi’s Requiem. is also the Principal Conductor of the Rotterdam

CAL PERFORMANCES 27 About the Artists

Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of (Mariinsky) Opera Company in Shostakovich’s the Metropolitan Opera, Founder and Artistic Th e Nose at Opéra Bastille and Wagner’s Tristan Director of “Stars of the White Nights” Festival und Isolde at the Opéra National de Paris. in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Easter Festival, In March , Maestro Gergiev began the Gergiev Rotterdam Festival; the Mikkeli a seven-concert series at Avery Fisher Hall in International Festival in Finland, and is in- New York’s Lincoln Center of the complete augurating the Kievskaya Russe Festiva in the symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich to cel- Ukraine. Maestro Gergiev guest conducts a se- ebrate the composer’s centenary. Th is festival lect number of orchestras, including the Chicago includes both the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Symphony and the Vienna Philharmonic. the Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Th eatre Born in Moscow to Ossetian parents, as well as tour appearances across the United Maestro Gergiev studied conducting with Ilya States. Th is Shostakovich Celebration will con- Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory. At age , tinue with concerts in London with the London he was the winner of the Herbert von Karajan Symphony, the Kirov Orchestra, the Rotterdam Conductors Competition in Berlin. He made Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. At his Kirov Opera debut in  with Prokofi ev’s the “Stars of the White Nights” Festival this past War and Peace, was appointed Artistic Director summer, he presented the  Shostakovich sym- and Principal Conductor of the Kirov Opera in phonies with the Kirov Orchestra, sharing the , and named Artistic and General Director podium with conductors Christoph Eschenbach, of the Mariinsky Th eatre in . In , he Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Järvi, Mariss Jansons, celebrated his th birthday, his th anniver- Maxim Shostakovich and Riccardo Muti. At sary with the Mariinsky Th eatre and oversaw a the same festival, the Kirov Ballet and Opera considerable portion of the th anniversary presented Shostakovich’s Th e Young Lady and of St. Petersburg festivities by producing an un- the Hooligan, Th e Overcoat, Th e Golden Age, Th e precedented three-month “Stars of the White Nose and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Nights” Festival. In the same year, he conducted Th e Kirov Opera’s  performances in both Season Opening Galas of the Metropolitan North America include its annual appearance Opera and Carnegie Hall Season, the latter with at the Kennedy Center and presentations of the the Kirov Orchestra. Mariinsky Th eatre’s production of Wagner’s Th at fall, Th e Wall Street Journal observed, Ring cycle at the Orange County Performing “[t]he Mariinsky Th eatre’s artistic agenda under Arts Center, Costa Mesa, California in October Mr. Gergiev’s leadership has burgeoned into a  and at the Metropolitan Opera House in diplomatic and ultimately a broadly humanistic July . one, on a global scale not even the few classical Maestro Gergiev is the recipient of many musicians of comparable vision approach.” international awards, including the Dmitri In the – season, Valery Gergiev ini- Shostakovich Award; the Golden Mask Award, tiated a worldwide series of charity concerts en- the most prestigious theater prize in Russia; the titled Beslan: Music for Life. Under the Maestro’s People’s Artist of Russia, the country’s highest direction, concerts were held in New York, Paris, cultural award; the World Economic Forum’s London, Tokyo, Rome and Moscow. Further Crystal Award; and the EastWest Institute’s th highlights included a -city Kirov Orchestra Anniversary Lifetime Achievement Award, in rec- tour of North America with a three-concert ognition of his leadership and passionate service residency at Carnegie Hall. In November , to humanity. Others presented with the EastWest Valery Gergiev and the legendary French com- Award include Tony Blair, Prime Minister of poser and conductor Pierre Boulez conducted the England, and Sanford Weill, Chairman of Kirov Orchestra on the stage of Palais Garnier, Citigroup. He has been awarded the  Polar Opéra National de Paris for a Mariinsky Th eatre Music Prize of the Swedish Royal Academy of Gala. Masestro Gergiev conducted the Kirov Music, the art world’s equivalent of the Nobel

28 CAL PERFORMANCES About the Artists

Prize; the  Distinctive Contribution Award and London symphonies, as well as the BBC of the American-Russian Cultural Cooperation Philharmonic and Dresden Philharmonic. In Foundation in Washington, DC; and, in July October , he tours the United States with , the Herbert von Karajan Prize for out- the Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Th eatre standing living musicians. conducted by Valery Gergiev. He has recorded exclusively for Universal on Mr. Toradze’s recording of all fi ve Prokofi ev the Philips Decca and Deutsche Grammophon piano concerti with Valery Gergiev and the labels since . His vast discography includes Kirov Orchestra for the Philips label is ac- numerous Russian operas performed by the claimed by critics as defi nitive. His recording Kirov Opera, a cycle of the Shostakovich “War” of Prokofi ev’s Piano Concerto No.  was named symphonies (Nos. –) with the Kirov and by International Piano Quarterly as “histori- Rotterdam Orchestras and orchestral works by cally the best on record” (from among over  Tchaikovsky, Berlioz and Mussorgsky with the recordings). Other highly successful recordings Vienna Philharmonic. have included Scriabin’s Prometheus: Th e Poem of Fire with the Kirov Orchestra and Valery Alexander Toradze Gergiev, as well as recital albums of the works is universally recog- of Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, Ravel and Prokofi ev nized as a masterful for EMI/Angel. virtuoso in the grand Mr. Toradze regularly participates in sum- Romantic tradition. mer music festivals, including Salzburg, the He has enriched the White Nights in St. Petersburg, London’s BBC great Russian pia- Proms concerts, Edinburgh, Rotterdam, Mikkeli nistic heritage with (Finland), the Hollywood Bowl, Saratoga and his own unorthodox Ravinia. interpretative concep- Born in  in Tbilisi, Georgia, Alexander tions, deeply poetic lyricism and intensely emo- Toradze graduated from the Tchaikovsky tional excitement. Conservatory in Moscow and soon became a Mr. Toradze continually appears with the professor there. In , he moved permanently world’s leading orchestras, including, in North to the United States, and, in , was appoint- America, those of New York, the Metropolitan ed as the Martin Endowed Chair Professor of Opera, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Piano at Indiana University South Bend, where Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, he has created a teaching environment that is Minnesota, Houston, Montréal, Toronto, unparalleled in its unique concept. Th e mem- Detroit, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati, bers of the multinational Toradze Piano Studio Seattle and Washington, DC. Overseas, he ap- have developed into a worldwide touring en- pears regularly with the Kirov Orchestra, La Scala semble that has gathered great critical acclaim Philharmonic, Bayerische Rundfunk Orchester, on an international level. In the – sea- St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National son, the Studio appeared in New York perform- de France, City of Birmingham Symphony, ing the complete cycle of Bach solo concerti and London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Scriabin’s complete sonata cycle. Th e Studio has Philharmonia Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic also performed projects detailing the piano and and the orchestras of Germany, Poland, Czech chamber works of Rachmaninoff , Prokofi ev, Republic, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Dvořák and Stravinsky, in Rome, Venice and Sweden and Italy. In June , he made his Ravenna in Italy; the Klavier Festival Ruhr and triumphant debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Berlin Festivals in Germany; and in Boston, Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Chicago and Washington, D.C. Upcoming highlights include performances For more information, please visit www. with the Toronto, Pacifi c, Montréal, Cincinnati toradzepianostudio.org.

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