A major theme of Valery Gergiev’s London Symphony Orchestra touring throughout the 2008/2009 season is a landmark cycle of the works of Sergei Prokofiev, exploring the Russian composer’s rich orchestral palette.
The series encompasses the complete symphonic cycle which will be performed at the Edinburgh Festival, in Paris, Tokyo and New York; Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2; Sinfonia Concertante for Cello and Orchestra; Piano Concertos Nos 2, 3 & 4; ballet Romeo and Juliet; Peter and the Wolf and the suite from the opera The Love for Three Oranges. Elements of the series also form part of Gergiev’s Emigre series at the Barbican Centre in London.
Throughout the 2008/09 season, 16 works by Prokofiev will be performed in 41 concerts throughout 14 countries worldwide.
Prokofiev Symphony Cycle at the Edinburgh Festival
Prokofiev’s complete symphonic cycle will be launched at the Edinburgh Festival on Friday 15 August with Symphonies Nos 1, 2 & 3 and the Violin Concerto No 1 with soloist Leonidas Kavakos. On 16 August Symphonies Nos 4 & 5 and the Sinfonia Concertante for Cello and Orchestra with cellist Tatjana Vassillieva, making her UK debut, and Symphonies Nos 6 & 7 will be performed on 17 August alongside Violin Concerto No 2 with Leonidas Kavakos. All three concerts will take place in Usher Hall, Edinburgh and will begin at 8pm.
Prokofiev Symphony Cycle in Paris
As part of the LSO’s annual residency at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Orchestra and Valery Gergiev perform the complete cycle of Prokofiev symphonies across four concerts on 13 & 14 October 2008 and 18 & 19 May 2009.
Prokofiev Symphony Cycle in Tokyo
In December 2009, the LSO’s tour to Japan, sponsored by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd, will see the Prokofiev symphony cycle performed in four concerts on 2, 3, 4 and 5 December at Suntory Hall. Two further concerts in Tokyo on 30 November and 8 December will feature Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Gergiev’s own arrangement of the Suite from Romeo and Juliet.
Prokofiev Symphony Cycle in New York
On 23, 24, 29 & 30 March 2009, the LSO and Valery Gergiev take the Prokofiev symphonies to New York in four concerts which form the LSO’s 2008/09 residency at the Lincoln Center. These concerts are part of the Coast to Coast tour which will see the LSO and Valery Gergiev perform in 13 concerts from the West to the East coast of the USA in March 2009.
Prokofiev Europe Tour
As well as the symphonies, between August 2008 and May 2009, Prokofiev’s Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 (soloists Vadim Repin and Leonidas Kavakos) and Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3 (soloists Vladimir Feltsman and Lang Lang) will be performed in 17 concerts across ten European countries: Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Germany.
Gstaad, Festivalzelt on 22 & 23 August 2008
Turin, Auditorium G Agnello on 15 September 2008
Milan, Teatro Degli Arcimboldi on 16 September 2008
Rimini, Auditori Fiara on 17 September 2008
Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts on 9 October 2008
Rotterdam, Concert en Congressgebouw de Doelen on 10 October 2008
Paris, Salle Pleyel on 13 & 14 October 2008 and 18 & 19 May 2009
Belgrade, Sava Centre on 10 May 2009
Zagreb, Arena Zagreb on 11 May 2009
Budapest, Palace of Arts on 12 May 2009
Warsaw, Teatr Wielki on 13 May 2009
Frankfurt, Alte Oper on 16 May 2009
Cologne, Philharmonie on 17 May 2009
Prokofiev on tour to Japan
In addition to the symphonic cycle in Tokyo, Prokofiev’s Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 (soloist Vadim Repin), Sinfonia Concertante for Cello and Orchestra (soloist Tatjana Vassilieva), Piano Concerto No 3 (soloist Alexei Volodin), Romeo & Juliet and Peter and the Wolf, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No 3 (soloist Alexei Volodin) will be performed in 11 concerts throughout Japan in November and December 2008. Sponsored by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd.
Sapporo, Sapporo Concert Hall on 27 November 2008
Kyoto, Kyoto Concert Hall on 28 November 2008
Iwaki, new concert hall on 29 November 2008
Tokyo, Suntory Hall and Bunka Kaikan on 30 November and 2, 3, 4, 5 & 8 December 2008
Toyota, Toyota City Concert Hall on 7 December 2008
Fukuoka, Fukuoka Symphony Hall on 9 December 2008
Miyazaki, Miyazaki Prefectural Arts Center on 10 December 2008
Prokofiev on tour to the USA, Coast to Coast
As part of a tour from West coast to East coast, Prokofiev’s seven symphonies, Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 4 (soloists Alexei Volodin and Vladimir Feltsman), Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 (soloist Vadim Repin) and Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos 4 & 5 (soloist Alexei Volodin) will be performed throughout 13 concerts encompassing eight cities and six states.
San Francisco, Davies Symphony Hall on 15 & 16 March 2009
San Diego, Copley Symphony Hall on 17 March 2009
Costa Mesa, Segerstrom Hall on 18 & 19 March 2009
Chicago, Orchestra Hall on 22 March 2009
New York, Lincoln Center on 23, 24, 29 & 30 March 2009 (part of LSO’s annual residency)
Boston, Symphony Hall on 25 March 2009
Newark, New Jersey Performing Arts Center on 27 March 2009
Washington DC, John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on 28 March 2009
The Concerts in San Francisco, San Diego, Costa Mesa, Chicago, Boston, Newark and Washington DC are sponsored by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd.
Emigre series at the Barbican
Emigration and its uncertainties has had a profound effect on many composers, and in this series, Gergiev explores music affected by it. Gergiev’s Emigre is at the Barbican throughout the 2008/09 season and focuses on works by Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Bartok, Schoenberg and Korngold as well as Prokofiev. It looks at music written in the composers’ homelands, during periods of travel and temporary residences, and at works written in the new homeland or on return.
Prokofiev’s own story is one of emigration and ultimately return, but to a homeland transformed under Stalin’s rule. His cycle of seven symphonies (eight including the revised Fourth) encapsulates the tragic course of Prokofiev’s life and times.
Valery Gergiev has said: 'In the 20th century the history of Europe is so full of dramatic stories. Take for example my country, Russia. This series will provide opportunities to get to know some great composers, what separated them from their homeland, what brought them back or why they couldn’t go back.'
20 September 2008 Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No 3 and Symphony No 2 (with Alexei Volodin)
21 September 2008 Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No 1 and Symphony No 3
21 September 2008 Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No 4 and Symphony No 2
12 October 2008 Prokofiev’s Symphonies Nos 1 & 4, Violin Concerto No 1 and Piano Concerto No 4
21 & 23 November 2008 Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet
27 January 2009 Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
29 January 2009 Prokofiev’s Suite from The Love for Three Oranges, Bartok’s The Miraculous Mandarin – Suite and Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle (with Katarina Dalayman and Willard White)
7 & 8 May 2009 Stravinsky’s Symphony in 3 Movements, Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances (with Nikolaj Znaider) -- www.lso.co.uk
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