Brings Opera To The Netherlands
Gergiev Festival 2007Gergiev Festival 2007 brings pioneering opera production to the Netherlands
The theme of the Gergiev Festival’s twelfth edition is Liebesnacht. From 5 to 15 September, 2007, the eleven-day festival presents symphonic music, chamber music, films, children’s performances, a masterclass and a late-night programme. At the heart of the festival are three performances of Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde, in a production featuring video art by Bill Viola. ‘It could well be a very long time before something this great comes our way again,’ was the enthusiastic response in the Los Angeles Times. Following its success in Los Angeles, Paris and New York, the Gergiev Festival is bringing this pioneering production to the Netherlands.
Celebrating Valery Gergiev’s 20-year association with the Netherlands
Twenty years after Valery Gergiev made his Dutch debut, this twelfth edition of the Gergiev Festival highlights his greatest passions: opera, symphonic music and the coaching of young talent. Maestro Gergiev will coach three young conductors in a masterclass. He will conduct three symphonic concerts: two with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and one with the celebrated World Orchestra for Peace, which is performing in the Netherlands for the first time. Gergiev also conducts Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in a production with video art by Bill Viola.
Bill Viola’s Tristan und Isolde: ‘dazed bliss’
Video artist Bill Viola created projections for a production of Tristan und Isolde that was to be staged exclusively in Los Angeles, Paris and New York. The result was stunning. ‘I saw the last performance of the Paris run and came away in something like the state of dazed bliss that Baudelaire described,’ was the awe-inspired response of The New Yorker’s music critic. Valery Gergiev, conductor of that Paris staging, was also profoundly impressed by Viola’s imagery. It was swiftly decided that this pioneering production should not only be seen in Los Angeles, Paris and New York, but that it would also be brought to Rotterdam for three special performances during the Gergiev Festival.
World Orchestra for Peace: in the Netherlands for the first time
Music transcends boundaries. That was why the World Orchestra for Peace, which brings together the finest musicians from ensembles around the world, was founded in 1995, marking the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. Performances by this unique orchestra are rare: the musicians only come together for very special occasions. On Saturday 8 September, during the 2007 Gergiev Festival, the World Orchestra for Peace will perform in the Netherlands for the very first time. The programme includes music by Berlioz and Prokofiev that explores the theme of Romeo and Juliet — a tale of love that transcends boundaries.
A festival programme at eleven venues
The festival takes place at eleven different venues. The hub of activities is ‘de Doelen’ concert hall complex, where the opera, the symphonic concerts, the masterclass, the children’s performances and the chamber music recitals (with stars such as Leonidas Kavakos and Ralph van Raat) is being presented. A festival with the theme Liebesnacht would not be complete without a late-night programme. In Carte Noire, five musical heavyweights join with boundary-defying ensembles (from Ramsey Nasr, poet, to the ZAPP String Quartet), enjoying a totally free hand as they seize the nocturnal moment in a one-off late-night concert.
Liebesnacht
the twelfth edition of the Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
5 to 15 September 2007
Information and ticket sales via www.gergievfestival.nl
Note to Editors:
For further information please contact Claire Beke — Communicatie in Cultuur,
tel. +31 10 4250344, or e-mail beke@euronet.nl
or the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra:
Nancy Tulner, tel. +31 10 217 17 87 or e-mail nancytulner@rpho.nl
