VALERY GERGIEV RETURNS TO METROPOLITAN OPERA THIS WEEKEND, BEGINNING EIGHTH SEASON AS MET'S PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR

GERGIEV'S DIE WALKLURE MARKS FIRST TIME HE LEADS A "RING" OPERA AT THE MET: WILL FEATURE DOMINGO AND SOME OF THE MARIINSKY'S ACCLAIMED WAGNER SINGERS

GERGIEV'S SHOSTAKOVICH "WAR SYMPHONIES" RECORDING CYCLE CONTINUES IN NOVEMBER WITH RELEASE OF THIRD INSTALLMENT: THE FOURTH SYMPHONY

GERGIEV'S U.S. 2004-2005 SEASON ALSO INCLUDES: MARIINSKY THEATRE'S ANNUAL WINTER RESIDENCY AT KENNEDY CENTER, D.C.; KIROV ORCHESTRA 17-CITY NORTH AMERICAN TOUR IN MARCH/APRIL 2005

Maestro Valery Gergiev, Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, opens his 2004 - 05 season when he leads performances of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre at the Metropolitan Opera, beginning this Saturday, September 25.  Die Walküre runs through October 12. 

With these performances of Die Walküre, Maestro Gergiev begins his eighth season as Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera. During the 2003-04 season he conducted the Met's opening night La traviata and also lead performances of La traviata, the Stravinsky Triple Bill, and Strauss's Salome. 

The significance of this season's performances of Die Walküre is two-fold: firstly, this is the first time Maestro Gergiev will conduct an opera from Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Met; secondly, several of the Wagner singers of the Kirov Opera of the Mariinsky Theatre figure prominently in this production. 

These developments are natural in a decade that has seen Maestro Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre present many of Wagner's operas at home and abroad. Most notable among the performances and productions has been the Mariinsky's internationally acclaimed production of "The Ring".  The Mariinsky's "Ring" is the first Russian production in nearly a century, and it has been presented only four times as a complete cycle by the theatre: first at the Stars of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg; twice in Baden-Baden (Dec. 2003 and Jan. 2004); and, most recently, this past June - again at the Stars of the White Nights Festival.

Along with Plácido Domingo as Siegmund, artists joining Maestro Gergiev for these performances of Die Walküre will include a number of Kirov Opera singers reprising their roles from the Mariinsky's production, thus giving audiences an opportunity to experience elements of the Mariinsky's "Ring" within the Met's fabled production.  Featured Kirov Opera singers include Olga Sergeeva as Brunnhilde; Vladimir Vaneev and Mikhail Kit, who will share duties as Wotan; Katarina Dalayman as Sieglinde (only April 19 and 23); and Larissa Diadkova as Fricka (only April 19 and 23).

"Remarkably the singers were all Russian [in the Mariinsky's production of the Ring], and every one was heretofore unheard (outside of the two previous cycles) in this music. ... Most were first rate, ready to leap into any top-level cast in the world. ... There were standouts...the three Brünnhildes...[including]...Olga Sergeeva."   - The New York Times, February 2004

Following the season premiere on Saturday, September 25, Die Walküre will be presented on September 29, October 2, 5, 9 and 12, and April 19 and 23, 2005. Performance times follow in the list below.

Gergiev Recordings: The Shostakovich "War Symphonies"

"Whatever the 'meaning' of [Shostakovich's symphonies], I was interested in the musical values, and in exploring these works at length.  I began to feel strongly that while there's a cycle of 15 symphonies, there is clearly a cycle of 'War Symphonies' among them.  Eight years passed from the writing of the Ninth Symphony to the Tenth.  Previously, a series of six symphonies - Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 - took approximately 10 years to write altogether.  But then he waits a full eight years to write his Tenth Symphony.  I think this lapse is quite significant, and when he starts writing again he comes up with something totally different.  The Tenth Symphony is a real enigma."   - Valery Gergiev on the Shostakovich "War Symphonies", Gramophone, August 2004

In early November 2004, Philips Classics will release Maestro Gergiev's recording of Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony with the Kirov Orchestra. This will be the third installment of a five-disc recording project devoted to what Maestro Gergiev has compellingly argued is a cycle of "War Symphonies" within the complete cycle of 15 by Shostakovich.  The first two recordings of the cycle of "War Symphonies" - the Seventh Symphony and the coupled Fifth and Ninth Symphonies - were released in spring 2003 and 2004 respectively, and were heralded as indispensable contributions to the Shostakovich discography.  The Seventh Symphony was a Billboard bestseller and acknowledged as one of the best classical recordings of 2003 by the New York Times.

In the August 2004 issue of Gramophone, Maestro Gergiev explores some of the darker qualities of the Fourth Symphony:

"[The Fourth Symphony] is the biggest 'problem' in the set of 'War Symphonies'.  It has more material, more themes and motives.  It has the biggest orchestra.  It's a nearly unbearable composition, even now.  It was destined to be his autobiography, written by the man long before his death.  I quite insist that we have to see the parallel between the end of the Fifteenth [Symphony]and the end of the Fourth [Symphony].  Not only this kind of 'clock' sound, you hear this kind of skeleton and maybe even some kind of dance of death - or kiss of death.  This otherworldly music is unbelievably placed so strongly after very neurotic, nearly chaotic, disorganized fugues in the second movement.  They are classical fugato - they become so full of uncontrollable winds going higher and higher - almost like they are becoming ultrasound.  Then, after the climax, the skeleton dancing after the tornado - horrifying - that came before."

Critical acclaim for Gergiev's Shostakovich Fifth and Ninth Symphonies:

"Beyond the posturing and triumphalism is the music - and that's where Gergiev goes." -Gramophone, August 2004

"[Shostakovich CDs] continue to appear, notably Valery Gergiev's searing new version of the Fifth Symphony, alongside a jaunty Ninth, with the Kirov Orchestra from Philips."  - The New York Times, August 2004

Critical acclaim for Gergiev's Shostakovich Seventh Symphony:

"Gergiev has recorded surprisingly little Shostakovich...but this blazing performance makes one want to hear more."     - Los Angeles Times, June 2003

"It is, no question, a blockbuster....eminently recommendable." - The New York Times, June 2003

"Valery Gergiev's approach to Shostakovich's most notorious symphony seems to be to let the drama take care of itself and to concentrate on the musical side of the equation.  The result is an interpretation of satisfying wholeness." - Gramophone, July 2003

The Mariinsky Theatre Residencies:  The Kennedy Center, January 2005

The Mariinsky Theatre is the world's only global theatre.  The legendary theatre's residencies and tours regularly take its companies - the Kirov Orchestra, Kirov Opera and Kirov Ballet - and hundreds of its artists and staff to nearly every major cultural and political capital during the course of each of its two- or three-year cycles. 

"The Mariinsky Theatre's artistic agenda under Mr. Gergiev's leadership has burgeoned into a diplomatic and ultimately a broadly humanistic one, on a global scale not even the few classical musicians of comparable vision approach."   --The Wall Street Journal, September 2003

One of the most important residency agreements the Mariinsky Theatre has struck in the past several years is with Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  Generously underwritten by Alberto Vilar, the Mariinsky Theatre's residency agreement calls for a ten-year relationship during which the Mariinsky Theatre's three companies will visit and present two to three weeks of performances during the winter months.

In January 2005, the Mariinsky Theatre returns for the third time since 2002 with the incomparable Kirov Ballet presenting performances of a new production of Prokofiev's Cinderella (Jan. 11-16), and days later the Kirov Opera offers three performances of Mussorgsky's magisterial Boris Godunov (Jan. 21, 22 and 23). 

Although these performances will transfix audiences, there is little doubt that the hottest ticket of the residency will be the much-anticipated Kirov Spectacular (Jan. 18, 19 and 22), a program specially designed for the Kennedy Center.  The Kirov Spectacular will see Maestro Gergiev lead the Kirov Orchestra and members of the Kirov Ballet and Kirov Opera in excerpts from some of their most acclaimed ballets, operas and symphonic works.  The programs will include the prima ballerina Ulayana Lopatkina in Fokine's The Dying Swan and Daria Pavlenko in Balanchine's La Valse-as well as opera selections by Rimsky-Korsakov, culminating in the gripping Merchant Scene from Sadko.

Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra: North American tour, spring 2005

In 2003, the Kirov Orchestra toured North America three times in honor of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.  Some of the high points of the tours came on October 1, 3 and 5, when Maestro Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra opened the Carnegie Hall season with a three-concert residency.  From March 26 - April 22, the Kirov Orchestra and Maestro Gergiev will deliver one of the most extensive tours ever undertaken by the orchestra in a single country.  They will also return to Carnegie Hall for a three-concert residency on April 4, 5 and 6.  The programs offered on tour will include repertoire for which the Kirov Orchestra is beloved, as well as the great symphonic work that will give listeners a new perspective on the Kirov's capabilities: Mahler's Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection".

"The [Kirov Orchestra's] strings are second to none; when its remarkable double basses sing out at full voice, a new dimension is added to the music. Woodwind lines glow like daubs of color on a canvas. Trombones and tuba make noise to wake the dead."  - The New Yorker, August 2003

Valery Gergiev 2004 - 05 Performance Details

Die Walküre at the Metropolitan Opera, New York:
Sat, Sept. 25 (6:30 - 11:30pm)
Wed, Sept. 29 (6:30 - 11:30pm)
Sat, Oct 2 (6:30 - 11:30pm)
Tues, Oct 5 (6:30 - 11:30pm)
Sat, Oct. 9 (12:30 - 5:30pm)
Tues, Oct. 12 (12:30 - 5:30pm)
Tues, April 19, 2005 (6:30 - 11:30pm)
Sat, April 23 (12:30 - 5:30pm) 

Kirov Orchestra's 2005 North American tour:

Florida                    
March 26: Naples               
March 28:  Ft. Lauderdale         
March 29: Orlando               
March 30: Sarasota              

East Coast
April 1: Newark, NJ (NJPAC)
April 2: Fairfax, VA
April 3: Philadelphia, PA (Kimmel Center)
April 4: New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)
April 5: New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)
April 6: New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)

California                   
April 9:    Berkeley              
April 10:  San Francisco          
April 11:  Davis
April 12:  Los Angeles (Disney Hall)
April 14:  Santa Barbara
April 15:  Palm Desert
April 16:  San Diego

Midwest and Canada
April 18:  Omaha, NE
April 21, 22: Toronto, ON

Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre's Carnegie Hall residency 2005

The following are the programs for the Carnegie Hall concerts.  Programs in all other cities will include many of the works presented at the three Carnegie Hall concerts.  A complete list of programs for cities listed above will be provided upon request and more information about the tour will be distributed in the coming months.

Carnegie Hall, April 4, 2005 (8PM)
Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio espagnole, Op. 34
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Valery Gergiev, conductor

Carnegie Hall, April 5, 2005 (8PM)
Mussorgsky: Prelude to Khovanshchina
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 2
Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor
Borodin: Symphony No. 2
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Valery Gergiev, conductor

Carnegie Hall, April 6, 2005 (8PM)
Mahler: Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection"
Olga Borodina, mezzo-soprano
Irina Mataeva, soprano
Valery Gergiev, conductor

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"The Kirov has become the world's first global orchestra."   - The Chicago Tribune

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For more information please visit the following web sites:

Metropolitan Opera: www.metopera.org
Mariinsky Theatre: www.mariinsky.ru/en
Carnegie Hall: www.carnegiehall.org
Valery Gergiev: www.valerygergiev.com