Photo credit: mariinsky.ru
The Mariinsky Theater has started to celebrate Sergei Prokofiev’s birthday, TASS reports. This year, April 23 marked 129 years since the birthday of the famous Russian composer. The opening of the Prokofiev Marathon was timed to this date. Like many other cultural events, it is held online.
The works of the classic of the national music school are widely represented in the repertoire of the St. Petersburg theater. The admirers of Prokofiev’s talent had the chance to listen to the First and Second Symphonies yesterday, as well as the First Piano and First Violin Concertos performed by the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra.
Maestro Valery Gergiev conducted the orchestra. The violinist Leonidas Kavakos and pianist Denis Kozhuhin performed as soloists. This recording was made four years ago, when the entire musical world celebrated the 125th anniversary of the great composer and pianist.
Within the framework of the marathon, recordings of the composer's works, concerts for an instrument with an orchestra, opera and ballet performances under the direction of Valery Gergiev will be broadcasted on the mariinsky.tv website and social networks.
Valery Gergiev called Prokofiev Mozart of the twentieth century. He noted that Prokofiev belongs to the whole world, but above all to Russia. Born near Donetsk and studying in St. Petersburg, he loved Moscow. It requires no explanation, the maestro emphasized, why one should be proud of Prokofiev’s legacy and why the composer is perceived as Tchaikovsky.
Russkiy Mir
