Valery Gergiev & Le sacre du printemps

This programme records the meeting of two Russian musical giants, as Valéry Gergiev, the most charismatic and dynamic conductor of our day, rehearses, performs and discusses Stravinsky’s masterpiece. Innovative, inspiring and exhilarating, the Sacre du printemps is close to the maestro’s heart. Among a wide range of archive material used in the programme is a rare clip of Igor Stravinsky conducting the Sacre, as well as footage of him talking about his composition.

Gergiev conducts Debussy, Prokofiev and Stravinsky

The energy and excitement of performances under the baton of maestro Valéry Gergiev are thrilling. This concert, with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, was recorded live at the city’s Doelen Hall. The programme includes Debussy’s Fragments Symphoniques for D’Annunzio’s mystery play Le Martyre de St Sébastien, Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite, Stravinsky’s Fireworks and his Piano Concerto. The soloist for the concerto is the Georgian virtuoso Alexander Toradze, a singularly imposing figure at the keyboard.

Parsifal – Search for the Holy Grail

The Grail – the cup which Jesus Christ used at the Last Supper, and which subsequently collected His blood as He bled on the Cross – is one of the most powerful symbols in the last two thousand years of Western culture.

Parsifal, Wagner’ three-act opera, is the most famous work to celebrate the Search for the Grail. First performed in 1882, and written especially for the composer’s revolutionary theatre in Bayreuth, Parsifal has towered above twentieth-century culture, in so far as it became a principal source of inspiration for Hitler.

Tony Palmer’s film centres round a performance of Parsifal, with the unmistakable Placido Domingo in the title role, and conducted by the distinguished Valery Gergiev. The striking documentary, narrated by Domingo himself, offers a description of the plot and explores theories about Parsifal’s origins and considerable sphere of influence.

The music was recorded at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and in the gardens of the Villa Rufolo in Ravello, Italy, which had been a principal source of inspiration for Wagner.

This powerful and controversial film provides an invaluable oppurtanity to explore Wagner and his most intense opera.

Valery Gergiev – Catching Up With Music

Dynamic and inspiring, Russian conductor Valéry Gergiev’s dedication to his work and his passion for music are unbounded. In recent years he has revitalised the Kirov Opera and the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, created the Mikkeli International Festival in Finland, conducted virtually all of the major international orchestras and become the Principal Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic. This documentary covers the wide spectrum of Gergiev’s musical activities, shows him in rehearsal and performance and includes an in-depth interview.

Ruslan and Lyudmila

From the Maryinsky Theatre St. Petersburg 1995

This live recording from the Kirov Opera provides a rare opportunity to see Glinka’s magical masterpiece in its entirety, in a magnificent production which brought together the formidable talents of conductor Valéry Gergiev, producer Lotfi Mansouri and stage designer Thierry Bosquet. The staging, though new, is in fact a meticulous recreation of an historic original, a spectacular piece of stagecraft from the height of Russia’s pre-Revolutionary Golden Age. The cast features some of Russia’s finest singers, including Anna Netrebko in one of her first major parts, Galina Gorchakova and Larissa Diadkova. The ballet contained in the opera is performed by the internationally-acclaimed Kirov Ballet. (Sung in Russian)

Prokofiev – The Prodigal Son

This revealing and evocative docu-drama about Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was commissioned especially for television from the highly regarded Russian film-maker Andrei Nekrasov. He uses a cast of fine Russian actors, together with archive film clips and Prokofiev’s own writings, to tell the story of the composer’s life and career in his homeland and in the West. Voice-over narration describes events and sets them in context. The Kirov Opera Orchestra, conducted by Valéry Gergiev, plays Prokofiev’s music.

In Rehearsal: Valery Gergiev

Featuring some of today’s leading conductors in rehearsal, the “In Rehearsal” series gives a unique insight into the process of creating great music. The conductors’ very different styles and methods; the dialogue between an orchestra and an inspired interpreter; the intensity of the preparations for a concert performance; and the struggle towards perfection are captured in these revealing audio-visual records. Most episodes include a full run-through of the work rehearsed. All include interviews with the conductor who is seen at work. Valéry Gergiev works with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra on Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite Op. 20. Directed by Rob van den Berg 59′

Scythian Suite Op.20

The energy and excitement of performances under the baton of maestro Valéry Gergiev are thrilling. This concert, with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, was recorded live at the city’s Doelen Hall. The programme includes Debussy’s Fragments Symphoniques for D’Annunzio’s mystery play Le Martyre de St Sébastien, Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite, Stravinsky’s Fireworks and his Piano Concerto. The soloist for the concerto is the Georgian virtuoso Alexander Toradze, a singularly imposing figure at the keyboard.

Portrait Anna Netrebko – Report About Anna

Her rise to international fame may have been meteoric, but her radiance is nothing less than galactic: Anna Netrebko, soprano and superstar. A phenomenal artist, she has been breaking all records in the world of classical music, and has injected a much-needed shot of youthful vitality into the classical scene. She can dominate the musical stage as Violetta Valéry in “La Traviata” or blend seamlessly into an ensemble as Susanna in “Le nozze di Figaro.” She can move audiences to tears with Russian songs or bring down the house with operetta arias. She is versatile, talented, gorgeous – and deserves to be in the spotlight. Yet though she may have all the makings of a diva, she prefers to play with the notion rather than live it out. This documentary shows Anna Netrebko as she really is: a natural, unaffected young woman full of fun, energy and, yes, boundless ambition and self-confidence. We accompany her to her parents’ home in Krasnodar and to her apartment in St. Petersburg. She relates her beginnings at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, where she scrubbed the floors of the lobby¿ And we see the visible impact she makes on a dignified public when she is awarded the Russian State Prize by President Putin. In candid conversations, she tells us about her plans for the future, her hobbies, her loves, but also her fears and how fame has changed her life. Revealing insights are also provided by conductor Valery Gergiev, Netrebko’s mentor, and tenor Rolando Villazón, her most important stage partner. The program contains a wealth of excerpts from Netrebko’s most recent performances in operas such as “La Traviata,” “La Bohème,” “Rigoletto,” and “War and Peace,” and features a side-splitting rendering of Lehár’s “Meine Lippen küssen so heiss” that brilliantly spotlights the humor, spontaneity and naturalness of this one-of-a-kind artist.

World Orchestra for Peace at the Abu Dhabi Festival

For this concert of the World Orchestra for Peace at the Abu Dhabi Festival, conductor Valery Gergiev, head of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater and principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, has put together a program that includes major works by two of his favorite composers, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. With the World Orchestra for Peace, Gergiev has at his command an orchestra that is truly remarkable from every point of view. It is not only put together of the best musicians from the best orchestras of the world; the orchestra, which was established by Sir Georg Solti in 1995, also pursues a very special goal: to “reaffirm the unique strength of music as an ambassador for peace”. The concerts given by this ensemble, whose musicians are all actively engaged in their respective orchestras, are rare but exquisite and highly appreciated events.