The Mariinsky Orchestra Special Concert

“Gergiev carries a disproportionately large portion of the contemporary music world on his shoulders. Under his command, the Mariinsky Theatre has emerged as one of the world’s most respected (and recorded) opera companies.”
The New Yorker (1998)

“As the star conductor he undoubtedly is, Gergiev is one of those conjurors of sounds who can draw the audience to them in such a way that it feels the earth move.”
Bцblinger Bote (2000)

“We all admire Valery Gergiev for his truly inspirational performances which, together with his unbelievable energy, passion for the music and wonderful amicable qualities have taken him to great heights of performing in the world of music.”
The Guardian (2005)

has turned the Mariinsky Theatre with its centuries-old traditions into the world’s most dynamic opera and ballet company, nurturing an endless stream of brilliant singers and dancers. The maestro fully deserves his rating by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world today.
The Times (2010)

Valery Gergiev graduated from the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in symphony conducting under Professor Ilya Musin. At the age of twenty-three he won the Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin and, while still a student at the Conservatoire, was invited to join the Kirov Theatre (now the Mariinsky). At the age of thirty-five, Valery Gergiev was appointed Artistic Director of the Opera Company, and since 1996 he has been Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre.
At the Mariinsky Theatre Gergiev has overseen the emergence of a plethora of world-class singers. Under his direction, the theatre’s opera and ballet repertoire has expanded significantly. Today it encompasses a broad range of works from 18th to 20th century classical masterpieces to works by contemporary composers.
Highlights include performances of every opera by Prokofiev and Shostakovich at the Mariinsky Theatre, as well as the return of Wagner’s operas Lohengrin, Parsifal, Der Fliegende Hollдnder and Tristan und Isolde to the St Petersburg stage. For the first time in the history of Russian theatre, Gergiev staged a production of Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen in the original German (2003), the Western European premiere of which in Baden-Baden (2004) was feted by the German media as a truly historic event in world music. In June 2005 Der Ring des Nibelungen was performed to great acclaim in Moscow, and later in South Korea and Japan. In the 2006/2007 season, Wagner’s tetralogy was performed in the USA, Great Britain and Spain. In 2009 Gergiev oversaw an international production of Berlioz’ operatic duologue Les Troyens, which resulted in a series of concert performances of this work by the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Chorus and soloists in Russia, Israel and the USA.

Gergiev has established and directs such international festivals as the Gergiev Festival (the Netherlands), the Moscow Easter Festival and the Stars of the White Nights festival (St Petersburg), which Austria’s respected Festspiele Magazin listed as one of the world’s ten greatest festivals.

Thanks to Valery Gergiev’s efforts, the Concert Hall was built in 2006, which has significantly broadened the repertoire possibilities of the company and the orchestra. This stunning theatre and concert complex is remarkable for its outstanding acoustics. At the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre there are not only performances of operas and philharmonic programmes, but also recordings of works for the Mariinsky label, established on the initiative of Valery Gergiev in 2009. The Mariinsky label has already released sixteen discs that have received great public and critical acclaim. In 2010 a recording of the opera The Nose – the label’s first project – received a MIDEM Classical Award.

The maestro devotes much attention to programmes for children and young people and he has revived the practice of offering subscriptions for this audience group as well as gratis concerts for students.

Valery Gergiev is also well-known for his active role in the protection of humanistic ideals. The maestro initiated the worldwide series of charitable concerts Beslan: Music for Life that were held in New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Rome and Moscow. In August 2008 the maestro conducted a requiem concert in front of the ruined Government House of South Ossetia in Tskhinval.

Since 2007 Valery Gergiev has been Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and he also collaborates with the Metropolitan Opera, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the orchestra of La Scala and the New York and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestras. He is a member of the Council for Culture and Art of the President of the Russian Federation and headed the Organisational Committee of the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition.

In February 2010 the Academic Council of the St Petersburg State University elected Valery Gergiev Dean of the Faculty of Arts.

For his services to music and to society, Valery Gergiev has been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes. These include the title of People’s Artist of Russia (1996), the State Prize of Russia (1994 and 1999), Government awards of Germany (Bundestverdienstkreuz, first class, “For Services”), Italy (Grand’ufficiale dell’Ordine al merito), France (L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres), the Netherlands (Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion), Japan (Order of the Rising Sun), Poland (Gloria Artis Gold Medal), the honorary title UNESCO Artist of the World and the Polar Music Prize of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music. In December 2008 the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under Valery Gergiev was included in a list of the world’s top twenty ensembles published by Gramophone magazine. Of the three Russian orchestras included in the list, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra was ranked highest. In 2009 Great Britain’s Royal Philharmonic Society named Valery Gergiev “Conductor of the Year”. One of the maestro’s most recent awards was Europe’s Glash?te Original Music Festival Prize (2010) which he received for his support of talented young musicians. In 2011 Valery Gergiev was made Honorary President of the Edinburgh International Festival. In November 2011 respected French magazine Classica named him “Artist of the Year.”

Alexander Malofeev was born in Moscow in 2001. He is a student at the Gnessin Middle Special School of Music in Moscow (class of Elena Beryozkina).

In 2014 he won 1st prize and the Gold Medal at the VIII International Tchaikovsky Youth Competition in Moscow. In 2016 he took the Grand Prix at the I International Grand Piano Competition for young pianists in Moscow.

Has appeared at such prestigious concert venues as the Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow), the Great, Small and Rachmaninoff Halls of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, the Moscow International House of Music, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Rachmaninoff Concert Hall of the Moscow State Philharmonic, the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Grand Kremlin Palace, the Kauffman Center in New York and UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Has toured to Azerbaijan, Finland, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal and the USA.

As a soloist he has collaborated with the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra under Kazuki Yamada, the Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Spivakov, the Russian National Orchestra under Dmitry Liss, the Moscow Virtuosi State Chamber Orchestra under Vladimir Spivakov, the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra under conducted by Yuri Tkachenko, the State Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra under Stanislav Kochanovsky, the State Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan under Alexander Sladkovsky, the Symphony Orchestra of the State Philharmonic of Astana under Eduard Dautov and the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine under Igor Palkin.

In July 2016 Alexander Malofeev released his first solo DVD, recorded at the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane (Australia).

Prize-winner at numerous other international competitions and festivals, among them the I Moscow International Vladimir Krainev Piano Competition (2015), the Youth Delphic Games of Russia (Gold Medal, 2012 and 2015), the IX International Rachmaninoff Young Pianists’ Competition in Novgorod (Grand Prix and special prize for the best performance of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, 2014), the Moscow international Musical Diamond competition (Grand Prix, 2011 and 2014), the All-Russian competition Young Talents of Russia (2013), the I International Young Pianists’ Competition Astana Piano Passion (1st prize, 2013), the Stairway to the Stars international festival and competition in Moscow (Grand Prix, 2013), the Moscow Stars arts festival (2013), the Artobolevskaya Little Pianist festival (Grand Prix, 2012), the Mozart-Wunderkind international competition in Austria (Grand Prix, 2011) and the international Internet Music Competition in Serbia (1st prize, 2011). Overall winner of the IV New Names of Moscow children’s arts festival (2011) and recipient of the Public Recognition Award (Moscow, 2012).

Has taken part in the festivals Larisa Gergieva and Friends, Stars of the White Nights, the International Piano Festival at the Mariinsky Theatre, Crescendo, Stars on Baikal, Peregrinos Musicales, Moscow Greets its Friends, festivals in La Roque d’Anth?ron, Mikkeli, Sintra and Annecy, the Chopin Festival in Paris and the International Mstislav Rostropovich Festival in Moscow.

“Gergiev carries a disproportionately large portion of the contemporary music world on his shoulders. Under his command, the Mariinsky Theatre has emerged as one of the world’s most respected (and recorded) opera companies.”
The New Yorker (1998)

“As the star conductor he undoubtedly is, Gergiev is one of those conjurors of sounds who can draw the audience to them in such a way that it feels the earth move.”
Bцblinger Bote (2000)

“We all admire Valery Gergiev for his truly inspirational performances which, together with his unbelievable energy, passion for the music and wonderful amicable qualities have taken him to great heights of performing in the world of music.”
The Guardian (2005)