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Previews

Russian Victories in Medals and Engravings

To commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Poltava Battle on June 27, a numismatic collection that has not been on display for centuries will be held at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. The Poltova Battle was a significant victory of Peter the Great over Charles XII of Sweden in the Great Northern War that ended with the defeat of Sweden in 1721. Russia became the new major power in the Baltic Sea. The exhibition, “Great Russian Victories Imprinted in Medals and Engravings”, shows about 250 medals from the 18th and 19th centuries dedicated to the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, cast by Russian craftsmen in bronze, silver or gold during Peter’s reign and later. The medal exhibition is complemented with a related art – that of copper engraving. Several hand-colored and black-and-white engravings based on the drawings by the eminent painters of the 18th century, A. Shkhonebek, P. Pikart, A. Zubov are also on display.

Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
Until September 15
Open: 10:00-19:00
Open daily except Mondays

Biedermeier at Pushkin

The Pushkin Museum presents a new exhibition dedicated to the Biedermeier style, with exhibits from the collection of the Lichtenstein Museum in Vienna. The style emerged and developed in Europe after the devastating Napoleonic Wars, when people concentrated on home affairs and renovation after war. Whereas Romanticism painters were so good at tempests and military scenes, Biedermeier artists expressed their attitude comfortably depicting simple home joys. One of the jewels of the exhibition is a portrait of Marie Franziska — daughter of Prince Alois II von Liechtenstein who commissioned it to Friedrich von Amerling in 1836. This portrait of a sleeping child clutching a doll with sunlight falling across her hair is a kind of a symbol of a rather quiet epoch before the revolutions began in Europe in 1848. The term of Biedermeier has been used only since the 1900s, after the pseudonym of Gottlieb Biedermeier assumed by the country doctor Adolf Kussmaul and the lawyer Ludwig Eichrodt to sign poems they published in a Munich magazine of that time.

Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
September 15 – November 15
Open: 10:00-19:00
Open daily except Mondays

Sergey Maksimishin at Pobeda Gallery

If you take a look at GEO.ru, The Washington Post or Der Profile from time to time, the name of photographer Sergey Maksimishin will certainly be familiar to you. If not, his personal exhibition is highly recommended. As a press photographer he won the World Press Photo Award two times: in 2004 and 2006, meaning that twice in his career he was considered the best in his profession. The organizers promised that among the selected 45 works on display are his most recent photographs, taken all over the world from Portugal to Korea. But actually there are earlier works on display on the whitewashed walls of the Pobeda Gallery – all in Maksimishin’s characteristic style. As his photographs are more than simply photographed images, they are rather academic paintings made taking into consideration all the rules of light, contrast and composition. So looking at them, you can really wonder how this artist manages to catch so much of a view and everything in one tenth of a second.

Pobeda Gallery Winzavod
Open: 12:00-20:00
Open daily except Mondays
www.pobedagallery.com  

Third Biennale of Modern Art in Moscow

September 25 – October 25
Garage Center for Contemporary Culture
For other venues and schedules see:
http://www.3rd.moscowbiennale.ru/

Since the first ‘manifesto’ of modern artists in 1895, a lot of contradicting styles have emerged, fought with each other, and sometimes merged. Be this as it may, the Biennale remains very trendy. It is almost a label, an evaluation, for describing contemporary art and its market. Reading the word itself in newspapers or on billboards almost begs you to have a look. The biennale take place every other year and many consider it important to attend and see what is going on. And besides it is interesting for everyone, including the artists, to find out what everybody else is doing.

The biennale’s commissioner is Joseph Backstein and the curator of the main project is Jean Hubert Martin. The exhibition program will consist of one main project – with more than 60 artists from all continents including Oceania participating, and more than 39 special projects, as well as seven shows by special guests. The main venue will be the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, with special projects held also at the Contemporary Art Center Winzavod, and the National Center for Contemporary Arts.

Remembering Gayane from Tiflis

Dom Nashokina presents an exhibition in commemoration of a talented and mysterious artist of our era who died last spring – Gayane Khachatryan. From her first days at art school she demonstrated her own mythological style. As Gayane sometimes said to her friends: my style is based on folk fairy tales which my grandmother used to tell when I was a girl. Great masters of the Tiflis Arts School supported the young painter when she was only 20 years old! Alexander Bajbeuk-Melikov, Elena Ahvlediani and Martiros Saryan – well-known people known in Georgia mentored Gayane. Her art captivated not only her friends, but people such as Francoise Sagan, Yves-Saint Laurent and Yoko Ono. Gayane’s works are found in private collections in France and Portugal. Andrei Tarkovsky often visited Gayane in Tiflis and her works ‘for inspiration’. The best works in the artist’s poetic style are displayed at the gallery this autumn.

Dom Naschokina Gallery
Open: 11:00-19:00
Open daily except Monday
From September 25 till November 15

Praising Plahta

‘Plahta’ as translated from Russian or Ukrainian is a piece of ornamental cloth – a piece of a Ukrainian folk costume. In the territory known as Ukraine, or much earlier in Kievan Russ, ornaments always played an extremely important role. Paleolithic bracelets and other artifacts made of mammoth bones are covered with peculiar cuts, all of which are ornamental. Kievan manuscripts are ornamented with Byzantine motifs, peasant ornaments with rhomboids symbolizing the sun according to some pre-Christian tradition. This traditional folk ornament found its way into the works of the Ukrainian avant-garde artists of the twentieth century. The Proun Gallery is exhibiting a collection of works from such artists as Maria Sinyakova, Vassily Ermilov, Boris Kosarev and Georgy Narbut who were all pivotal personages in 1920s avant-garde art, together with contemporary artist Nikolay Matsenko. Proun by the way is one of the few galleries in Moscow that is oriented to the avant-garde on a permanent basis. This exhibition, organized together with the Kiev Museum of Russian Art explores another facet of this huge wave of modern art which developed in pre-revolutionary and Soviet Russia and combined symbolism, neo-primitivism, suprematism, constructivism, and futurism.

Proun Gallery (at Winzavod)
Open: 12:00-20:00
Open daily except Monday
Till September 18

Vladimir Spivakov Invites

‘Vladimir Spivakov Invites’ is an annual musical festival organized by the maestro himself. This is the way new musical seasons at the International House of Music are launched. In keeping with what has now become a tradition, Spivakov invites top musicians from different countries to play at the festival. Pianist Dennis Matsuev, baritone Nikolay Borchev, violinists Fen Nin and Yuki Manuela are quite young performers but are already well-known and anticipated in the musical world. The parade of stars is led by Ruggero Raimondi who will sing during the finale.

One feature of Spivakov’s festival is the relaxing manner in which it combines styles and genres: from Handel to jazz. The festival is supported by the first-rated National Symphony Orchestra of Russia and the chamber orchestra, ‘Virtuosi of Moscow’. Spivakov himself will conduct the orchestra and perform as a violin soloist. The Gershwin Gala starring Dennis Matsuev will open the festival. Fen Nin and Yuki Manuela will continue with a Paganini concert. A very well known baritone — Ruggero Raimondi, known for his performances of Scarpia from Puccini’s Tosca, Don Juan, Escamillo from Bizet’s Carmen, and Boris Godunov — will sing on the stage of the Moscow House of Music accompanied by soprano Hibla Gerzmava.

September 25 – October 7
For venues and schedule see www.mmdm.ru

Tricky

Behind the nickname Tricky hides Bristol musician Adrian Tose. He is said to have invented trip-hop, but he himself doesn’t like to be referred to by any stylistic term, something that he reminds journalists about in an aggressive way. As a result, journalists don’t interview him very much, but are in love with his music, which at the end of the 1990s created a real revolution in Europe. His solo projects and joint projects with DJ Paul Oakenfold set European hit lists upside down. We have not heard anything of him for five years except for his covers of Serge Gainsborough and a role in ‘Girlfriends’ and this caused suspicions. His latest album, number eight in his discography has finally been released and is named Knowle West Boy.After his previous discs, Blowback – clearly commercial and Vulnerable came his new compositions, a kind of self-revision. Uneven music and an uneven style; these are words that could be used to describe this disc words that could also be used to describe Tricky’s own musical career.

September 4
Green Theater at Gorky Park 19:00

Classical Music Festivals

Two major classical music festivals are to take place in Moscow during September. The first one – the Grand Festival of the Russian National Orchestra – directed by Mikhail Pletnev, is to take place in the Bolshoi Theater. Seven concert nights are dedicated to Pyotr Tchaikovsky. His symphonies 5 and 6, Piano Concerto No. 1 and other compositions will be on the program. Besides this, the program features Mozart’s Oeuvres, which Tchaikovsky adored. Mikhail Pletnev, who has recently completed several successful opera projects will present his interpretation of Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’ with German, English and Russian soloists. Another soiree, also on the new stage of the Bolshoi will be dedicated to Tchaikovsky’s contemporary – Edvard Grieg. His ‘Peer Gynt’ will be accompanied with a narration of the play by Henrik Ibsen’s, by a well-known Russian actor – Vassily Lanovoy. Among the premieres that are to be presented is a one-act ballet ‘The Ancestor Suite’ based on Gordon Getty’s scores and choreographed by Vladimir Vassiliev.

September 7 – 13
New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater
19:00
www.bolshoi.ru  

Netrebko at the Kremlin

During the first weekend of autumn, Anna Netrebko will celebrate her birthday in Moscow. Free concerts and crowds in the streets aside, the best location to celebrate this occasion is at the Moscow Kremlin with its unprecedented opera gala in the open air. The Cathedral Square is one of the most attractive places in Moscow. For the first time this Kremlin location will host a gala concert starring world-famous opera stars such as Anna Netrebko, Paata Burchuladze, Olga Borodina and Sergey Skorokhodov accompanied by the National Russian Orchestra and the President’s Orchestra. Russians are proud of Anna Netrebko’s international success, but rarely see her perform live. This is a perfect birthday present to Moscow. Anna studied in Saint Petersburg and was lucky to find maestro Valery Gergiev as her vocal mentor under whose guidance she debuted at the Mariinsky theater and started an international career. She has been invited as a starring soloist at all world-renowed opera houses from New York to Vienna, where she now permanently resides. Together with distinguished bass Paata Burchuladze, she will perform pieces from M. Mussorgsky, M. Glinka, P. Tchaikovsky, S. Prokofiev, D. Shostakovich and G. Verdi.

Cathedral Square Kremlin
19:00
September 6







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