Previews

Previews

Eugene Kisin in Moscow

May 20 Grand Hall of the Conservatory 19:00

Eugene Kisin’s concert on May 20 at the Moscow Conservatory is certainly a key event for the season. The pianist has dedicated this performance to his older friend Eugene Svetlanov. This concert is also to mark the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the great conductor, composer and pianist Svetlanov. Eugene Kisin is a Russian classical pianist and former child prodigy. His first appearances in Moscow on stage are still remembered. This was a time when remarks such as: “such pianists are born once in a hundred years” were flying around. Since childhood, Kisin has been known for his interpretations of the works of Chopin. He will be performing these at the Conservatory. The program features Polonaise Fantasy, Mazurkas and Etudes by Frédéric Chopin and also suites from his Romeo and Juliet ballet by Sergey Prokofiev. It is curious to mention that Kisin never took any exams or participated in any contests. He won international fame thanks to his enormous talent. He was lucky to have had the opportunity to work with such Maestros as Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, Carlo Maria Giulini, Mariss Jansons, Herbert von Karajan, James Levine, Sir Andrew Davis, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Georg Solti, Evgeny Svetlanov and Yuri Temirkanov. Laureate of numerous musical awards, Eugene Kisin gives 40–50 concerts a year, now in Russia as well.

Naples, my Love!

May 26–27 Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater 19:00

Every spring, the Bosco di Ciliegi company brings a basket of blooming cherries to Moscow – it is holding a festival with a variety of arts programs in an attempt to revive the robust artistic salons that existed in 19th and early 20th century Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other European cities. Usually the best venues in Moscow host concerts, exhibitions and parties within the frames of the festival. One of this year’s highlights is a synthesis of ballet and opera, in a production from the Real Teatro di San Carlo from Naples, Italy: “Naples, my love!” staged by Manlio Santanelli, choreographed by Amedeo Amodio is being fl own to Moscow right after its Italian premiere. The Italian show, which draws on diff erent theatrical forms; such as written texts, music, songs and dance, is a journey through Naple’s most meaningful artistic expressions, which have brought it to the forefront of western culture throughout the ages. It is therefore a journey through time. The program starts in the XIII Century, when, under the domination of the Anjou Dynasty, Naples starts to emerge as a capital, and brings us up to today, when the city is striving to maintain; in spite of many diffi culties, its role assigned by History. The performance, which starts with an orchestral overture, presents a series of rooms, representing centuries. These rooms are connected by a thread; a dramatic element which connects the scenes as if it were a string of pearls. The tour of the Naples Opera is a vivid and festive performance, uniting gaudy music, dance and drama from the South of Italy all in one show.

English Horse Racing at the Moscow Hippodrome

The tradition of English horse racing seems to have successfully taken roots in Moscow. Every spring the Monte Carlo radio station organizes this event, and it is becoming a Russian Ascot. The stakes are usually high, but the whole atmosphere is relaxing and quite fashionable, taking into consideration that the organizers keep to the tradition of a strict dress code practiced for centuries: suits are obligatory for men, dresses and hats for women. As at Ascot, the hats come in all shapes and sizes. As for the races, this year they plan twenty-three fi xtures.

European Days of Opera

European days of Opera is an international musical project, organized by a European company of theatres, Opera Europa, and actually is a marathon of opera that takes place in many European cities from Bordeaux to Moscow. Opera is a total art form which joins music, singing, drama, poetry, plastic arts and sometimes dance. In each work, all the components of opera combine their expressiveness and their beauty. This complex alchemy makes an opera performance an extraordinary show, monopolizing the sight, hearing, imagination and sensibility of the audience, where all human passions are at work. With this in mind, the principal organizers of the Moscow festival – TACT International Art Management (Netherlands) has prepared a special program – master classes by an eminent Russian singer Sergey Leyferkus and a concert by Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, which is a small orchestra from the Netherlands conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend, and will perform a repertoire of baroque music including symphonies from the cantata: Am Abend Desselbigen Sabbats concerto in D minor for two violins and arias from G. F. Handel’s operas, Messiah, Julius Caesar and Xerxes.

May 7–10 Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater for schedule see: www.stanmus.ru

Gogol’s Anniversary at the Historical Museum

F.A. Miller. ‘Portrait of Nikolai Gogol.’

Exhibitions dedicated to Nikolai Gogol are themselves a traditional event in the Historical Museum. The museum is preparing a new exhibition in honour of the great Russian author, enriched with new materials and historical monuments. Thanks to the new documents, Gogol’s relationship with the Ukraine, Italy and of course Russia is documented in great detail. The exhibition is as intricate as some of Gogol’s famous stories and novels, and various exhibits provide links to the historical, mythical and every day worlds of Ukrainian villages where Gogol spent his childhood; this is from where the folk poetics of Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka or The Fair at Sorochintsy emerged. The image of the dandy St. Petersburg is consonant to the young Gogol’s youth in the capital, whereas Rome is homeland to Gogol’s soul and the place where he created the [Russian] national poem, Dead Souls. Moscow is Gogol’s last home, the place where he tried to find the strength to continue his poem. Among the exhibits are a lot of curious things – from hand-made books from Gogol’s childhood to cherevichki – shoes of Catherine the Great.

Flowers — the Residue of Paradise

F.P. Tolstoy. ‘Bouquet of fl owers, a butterfl y an a bird.’

John of Kronstadt, a Russian Orthodox saint, commented that flowers are a residue of paradise on earth. This dictum inspired curators from the Tretyakov Gallery to create an exhibition that presents a collection of flower art in Russian graphics, paintings and icons over five hundred years since the earliest icons on wooden plates to today’s works. According to experts, this is the fi rst attempt to track the role and signifi cance of this popular theme in Russian art. Since ancient times people have greeted and said farewell with fl owers, decorated their homes and dressed themselves with fl owers. The meanings of flowers have diff ered in nations and epochs. Thus lilies grown in ancient Syria became an important symbol in Christianity, the symbol of the Annunciation and a vivid element of the Western art tradition. In Russia, a red rose, for example, since the 16th century has been the symbol of the mother Mary, and was consequently depicted in icons. In Russian, the words for “color” and “flower” are of the same root. That is why it will be even more exciting to pay a visit to this well-arranged exhibition featuring well-known masters works of folk art.

The Helmet of Ivan the Terrible in the Kremlin Museums

Ivan IV Vasilyevich, or Ivan the Terrible; a charismatic and controversial fi gure in Russian history was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533, and actually transformed a localized medieval state into a small empire. He became the fi rst Tsar of a new, more powerful nation. He was acknowledged as being the Tsar of All Russia from 1547. The Kremlin museum, The Armory Museum, a museum inside the Kremlin, contains many personal belongings of the Tsar. But one important item, namely his helmet, can be found only in the armory of a different state – in Sweden. The helmet disappeared from Russia during the Polish and Lithuanian invasion at the beginning of the 17th century and eventually ended up in Sweden. The Swedish and Russian armories organized a one-item exhibition in Moscow specially to display the helmet. The helmet is embossed with gold notches, and carries an inscription in Russian that assumes that it was made before 1547 – the year when Grand Prince Ivan assumed the title of Tsar. If you visit this exhibition, you might like to take the opportunity of strolling around the Kremlin itself. Quite apart from all the cathedrals that are museums now, there is also a gorgeous park in the very city with a view over the Moscow River from its southern walls.

Treasures of Thrace

A rython in the shape of a deer. Gold, silver. IV century BC. Rights: Thrace Foundation

The current exhibition at the Moscow Museum of Oriental Arts presents the treasures of Thrace, a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe that borders on three seas: the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. It is evident from items on display at the exhibition that the Thracians were skilled craftsmen. The Thracians appear in Homer’s Iliad as Trojan allies.

The collection has been assembled by Vasil Bozhkov, a Bulgarian businessman who is a well-known collector of Thracian treasures which he buys at auctions all over the world. Over several decades, he has managed to create a collection worthy of the National Bulgarian Historical Museum. Vasil’s foundation, Thrace, also spends substantial resources on the restoration of historical monuments and organizes scientific research and publications. The chronological range of the 200 items presented is quite vast: from the 10th century BC, when Thracian craftsmen began using iron and gold, to the 2nd century AD, when Thrace became a province of the Roman Empire. On display are Thracian arms and weapons, jewelery and decorations illustrating Thracians as excellent warriors who during peace time liked to enjoy their lives and feasts.