Music of the time of change performed in the Presidential Library

On October 10, 2018 the Presidential Library hosted the regular concert of the musical and educational project “Music of the Russian Statehood”, dedicated to the era of Tsar-Reformer Alexander II.

Alexander II, who has been ruling for 26 years, was not only the liberator of peasants - he modernized all areas of life of state and society, including culture. New Russia was built! The creation of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg (named after the wife of Alexander II, Empress Maria Alexandrovna) gave a huge impetus to the development of musical culture - Wagner and Verdi composed operas for Russian imperial theaters. The sovereign carried out his father’s Nicholas I tradition of open-air concerts at the imperial residences. It was in the 1840s that Pavlovsky railway station turned into a musical Mecca for true connoisseurs of music. By tradition, this immersion in the designated era was fascinated by the historian Alexander Myasnikov in the musical outline of the evening.

The International Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad Region Tavrichesky conducted by Mikhail Golikov was highly appreciated by the public. The most prominent works of Russian and foreign composers of the era of Alexander II were performed. The first part of the concert was opened by the music of the great ballets staged with the participation of Marius Ivanovich Petipa, who stood at the origins of Russian ballet. Polonaise-mazurka from the ballet "Paquita" by Minkus was performed by students of the A. Y. Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.

“These children are tomorrow's premieres of the ballet scene”, - said the rector of the academy, People’s Artist of Russia Nikolai Tsiskaridze, who delivered a historical insight into the history of Russian theater and ballet. – There is a great merit of our emperors that the academy celebrates its 280th anniversary this year. If, under their patronage a system of state support for performing arts has not been created, if charity has not been developed, then it would hardly have reached what is so valued throughout the world now. The era of sovereign Alexander II is important for the theater, and it began on the day of his coronation. After the ceremony, the tsar went to the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Then he visited the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the construction of which was paid out by the Empress Maria Alexandrovna - this is in her honor that it is called the Mariinsky. The theater was the main character at the court of Russian emperors”.

Both parts of the concert were accompanied by the brilliant soprano of an outstanding Italian diva, the favorite singer of the Vatican and the primal theater of La Scala Chiara Taigi, the heartfelt and deep bass soloist of the Yerevan Opera Theater Hovhannes Nersesyan.

The audience was surprised by the performance by Stanislav Solovyov of the 1st part of the Concerto for piano with the orchestra № 1 by P. I. Tchaikovsky at the beginning of the second part of the musical evening at the Presidential Library. Chiara Taigi and Hovhannes Nersesyan performed the compositions by Verdi and Mussorgsky.

The concert “Music of the Russian Statehood” has been organized by the Foundation for the International Festival of Classical Music “Palaces of St. Petersburg” led by Maria Safaryants and the Presidential Library. The project “Music of the Russian Statehood” has been implemented using a grant from the President of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society provided by the Presidential Grants Foundation. All events take place in the building on Senate Square, 3.

The event was broadcasted live on the Presidential Library portal in the “Live broadcast” section.