The closing events of the anniversary series dedicated to the music of the outstanding Russian composer will be presented in late November and in December at the Vladivostok and Ussuriysk venues.
The year 2023 can safely be called the Year of Rachmaninoff. The Principal Conductor of the Primorsky Stage Pavel Smelkov has given a detailed report of the series of concerts in honor of the outstanding musician:
“In 2022, the Primorsky Stage ensemble commemorated the 150th anniversary of Alexander Scriabin by performing, for the first time in Vladivostok and over three nights, all the works he had composed for symphony orchestra. This year we celebrate a similar anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff whose long-form pieces comprise a much more extensive legacy. Over the past few years, we have performed all of the composer’s symphonies and piano concertos. Now, his vocal masterpieces – operas, cantatas and romances – have become the focus of the anniversary concerts.
At the start of the year, the opera Aleko was staged, having become part of the permanent repertoire; the opera Francesca da Rimini was performed with the world opera star Albina Shagimuratova in the title part. The Great and Chamber Halls of the Theatre, and the House of Navy Officers in Spassk-Dalny, have hosted cantatas Spring and The Bells, and a wonderful selection of romances accompanied by orchestra.
To complete the Rachmaninoff – 150 Concert Cycle, we have prepared three programs of wonderful works representing these genres. On November 29, 2023, All-Night Vigil will be performed for the first time in the Great Hall of the Theatre by an unaccompanied chorus. On December 9, 2023, we will present the semi-stage version of the opera The Miserly Knight, and on the same evening we will perform Rachmaninoff’s most popular symphony, his Symphony No. 2. Shortly before the New Year holidays, we are going to perform the composer’s brightest and most positive romances accompanied by orchestra, in a program entitled “How Peaceful”, at the Far Eastern Federal University and in Ussuriysk”.
