September 2, 2022 | Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow Performing Arts Center
Soloist – Ivan Bessonov, piano
Conductor – Vladimir Spivakov
Rachmaninoff. Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra in C minor, Op. 18
Tchaikovsky. Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia led by Vladimir Spivakov will tour the Volga Region in September 2021. It is not the first time that the Maestro and his collective are visiting main cultural centers of the Volga Federal District, thus in 2017 the musicians performed in Samara, Ulyanovsk, Saransk, Penza and Kuznetsk. This year's tour includes also Togliatti and Saratov. All six concerts of the NPR will be conducted by its artistic director Vladimir Spivakov, a People's Artist of the USSR and UNESCO peace artist. Read more...
The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia and Vladimir Spivakov will take part in two esteemed music festivals in Italy this September. On September 9, the collective will give a concert at the annual Südtirol Festival in Merano, a spa resort in the Italian Alps (Bolzano province). The concert in the local Kurhaus will feature the Russian musicians together with the renowned French cellist Gautier Capuçon who will play the solo part in Dvořák's Cello Concerto.
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September 25 , 2020 | Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow Performing Arts Center
The beginning of the 18th Season
Maestro Vladimir Spivakov and the NPR Subscription Series
To Shostakovich's 114th Birthday
Soloists: Ivan Bessonov, piano
Alexander Bakharev, trumpet
Conductor – Vladimir Spivakov
Shostakovich. Symphony No.9 in E-flat major, Op.70
Shostakovich. Concerto No.1 for piano, trumpet and string orchestra in C minor, Op.35
Shostakovich. Suite for variety orchestra
On September 25, Dmitri Shostakovich's birthday, Vladimir Spivakov and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia will present at the Moscow Performing Arts Center a monographic programme featuring only the works by the great symphonist of the 20th century. Shostakovich's music has always had a special place in Vladimir Spivakov's heart. “Dmitri Dmitrievich was a historiographer, says the maestro. - He managed to create immortal monuments of the era, therefore life will change, governments will change, many things will change, but Dmitri Dmitrievich will remain forever. His works reflected his epoch as in a mirror, but the depth of his music makes it appropriate for any time. Its radiant sparkles penetrate the soul of a modern person and inevitably affect us." It should be mentioned that in 2015, due to Vladimir Spivakov's initiative, the first monument to Dmitry Shostakovich was erected in Moscow on the terrace of the main staircase to the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow Performing Arts Center. Read more...
February 21, 2020 | Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire
Subscription Series No. 73: “Musical Summits”
Soloist – Ivan Bessonov, piano
Conductor – Vladimir Spivakov
Beethoven. Concerto No. 3 for piano and orchestra in C minor, Op. 37
Brahms. Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
From November 4 to 7, Vladimir Spivakov and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia will give three concerts in Spain: at the Auditorio de la Diputación in Alicante and the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid. The programs will feature works by Massenet, Paganini, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky (see below); María Dueñas (violin, Spain) and Ivan Bessonov (piano), two rising stars of the world music, are also invited to participate in the tour.
The NPR's concerts in Madrid are part of the Ibermúsica monumental concert series which proposes performances of outstanding contemporary musicians and the world's best orchestras every year. In the 2019/20 season, the Ibermúsica Series, founded by the legendary impresario Alfonso Aijon (“a great large-hearted man” as Vladimir Spivakov says about him), celebrates its 50th anniversary. It was at Mr Aijon's invitation that the first Spanish tour of the Moscow Virtuosi Orchestra took place shortly after the ensemble had been officially formed in 1979. The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia performed for the first time in Spain within the framework of the Ibermúsica Series in March 2010: the concerts directed by Vladimir Spivakov were held in Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza. For European music lovers, the name Ibermúsica implies highest mastership and solid international reputation, and serves as a guarantee of quality and interesting approach to the repertoire.
María Dueñas, a 17-year-old violinist from Spain, is a pupil of the famous professor Boris Kushnir, with whom she studies in Vienna and Graz. Maria conquered Vladimir Spivakov with her brilliant performance at the Yuri Yankelevich Competition in Omsk, and then winning the Vladimir Spivakov Competition in Ufa. Both international jury teams recognized her outright dominance, adding new awards to her impressive list of past achievements. Prior to the Russian competitions, María Dueñas had won contests in China, Italy, Belgium and Poland, while at the Kronberg Academy she was awarded the prestigious Landgrave of Hesse Prize and scholarships from the international organization Jeunesses Musicales in Madrid.
Ivan Bessonov is the winner of the Grand Prix of the F. Chopin International Youth Competition (St. Petersburg) and some other contests, such as the A. Rubinstein Competition (St. Petersburg), Astana Piano Passion (Astana), “Young Talents of Russia”. In 2015, he made his debut as a composer, writing the music for the documentary film “Varicella” by Viktor Kosakovsky, premiered at the International Film Festival “Message to Man” in St. Petersburg. In 2018, he became the winner of the Blue Bird contest on the Russia-1 TV channel and the Eurovision Young Musicians 2018 in Edinburgh. He took part in the European tour of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia in Autumn 2018.
4 November. 2019 – Auditorio de la Diputación, Alicante
6 November, 2019 – Auditorio Nacional, Madrid
Soloist – María Dueñas, violin (Spain)
Conductor – Vladimir Spivakov
Massenet. Navarraise from "Le Cid"
Paganini. Concerto No. 1 for violin and orchestra in D major, Op. 6
Tchaikovsky. Siutes from ballets «Swan Lake» and «Nutcracker»
Programme Notes
7 November, 2019 – Auditorio Nacional, Madrid
Soloist – Ivan Bessonov, piano
Conductor – Vladimir Spivakov
Tchaikovsky. "Romeo and Juliet", overture-fantasy
Rachmaninoff. Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra in C minor, Op. 18
Tchaikovsky. Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
Programme Notes
September is traditionally the month of the regional editions of the “Vladimir Spivakov invites ...” Festival. In September 2019, the Maestro and his orchestra will be hosted in Orenburg and Ufa. The concerts will feature young stars of the music art including the winners of international competitions María Dueñas (violin, Spain), Ivan Bessonov (piano), Aigul Akhmetshina (mezzo-soprano), a member of the ROH Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at Covent Garden, and Yaroslav Abaimov (tenor), soloist of the E. Kolobov “Novaya Opera” Theatre in Moscow. Maestro Vladimir Spivakov himself will be on the conductor podium all five evenings (see Events). The NPR’s Russian tour is part of the All-Russian Philharmonic Seasons Project of the Moscow Philharmonic Society and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
The NPR concert on September 14 will open the 76th concert season of the Orenburg Regional Philharmonic Society. Under Vladimir Spivakov's baton there will be performed works by Mozart and Mendelssohn (soloist - María Dueñas). The program of the second concert on September 15 is fully devoted to Beethoven's music (soloist - Ivan Bessonov). These two programs will be also presented in Ufa.
The Ufa fourth edition of the “Vladimir Spivakov invites ...” Festival (September 17-19) will be held at the Bashkortostan State Concert Hall, with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia once again being the star of the concerts. Vladimir Spivakov will also present appealing young soloists to the Bashkir public, some of whom are already known to Ufa music lovers: María Dueñas, Spanish violinist well remembered there for her brilliant victory at the Vladimir Spivakov Competition in 2018, and Aigul Akhmetshina, a native of Bashkortostan, glorifying her country with her successes in the Russian capital and in Europe, becoming a member of the ROH Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. The Ufa Festival edition will open with an opera gala, featuring popular fragments from Italian and French operas.
On May 20 to 23, 2019, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia will perform four concerts in Murmansk Oblast as part of the All-Russian Festival “Vladimir Spivakov Invites...”. On May 20-21 the concerts will be given at the Murmansk Philharmonic Society Hall. On May 22, the musicians will be hosted by the Stroitel Culture House in Severomorsk, the deployment centre of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation. The “Polar Tour” of the Orchestra will end on May 23 in Kirovsk, where Vladimir Spivakov's collective will appear for the first time.
The concerts will feature Ivan Bessonov (piano) and Anastasia Kobekina (cello), young virtuoso soloists, winners of international competitions. The programs include works by Mozart, Dvořák and Tchaikovsky (see Events). Vladimir Spivakov will conduct the first three of the concerts, while the fourth one will be led by the NPR's intern-conductor Arsenty Tkachenko.
The Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra first visited the Kola Peninsula in 2005 during an extensive tour dedicated to the 60th Anniversary of the WW2 Great Victory. It was the first large symphony orchestra ever playing in Severomorsk. The musicians were invited aboard the “Pyotr Velikiy” battlecruiser, the flagship of the Northern Fleet, met with the commanders and put wreaths at the monument to the “Heroic Defenders of the Polar Region”. The second visit of Vladimir Spivakov and his orchestra to Murmansk Oblast took place in 2008: the musicians played in Severomorsk, Murmansk and in Monchegorsk where no major symphony orchestra had performed before. The concert in Severomorsk was held in the hangar of the “Admiral Kuznetsov” aircraft carrier.
The NPR's current tour to the Kola Peninsula is taken within the “All-Russian Philharmonic Seasons” Project of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, implemented since 2003 together with the Moscow Philharmonic Society.
May 14, 2019 | Tashkent, the “Uzbekistan” Palace of International Forums
Soloist – Ivan Bessonov, piano
Conductor – Vladimir Spivakov
Rachmaninoff. Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra in C minor, Op. 18
Tchaikovsky. Symphony No. 5 in E minor , Op. 64
On May 14, Vladimir Spivakov and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia will play in Tashkent. The program of the concert follows the classical philharmonic format - Rachmaninoff”s Second Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. The solo part in the Concerto will be played by the young virtuoso Ivan Bessonov, with whom the NPR and Vladimir Spivakov have collaborated a lot during this season, for instance, recently in Tyumen. Ivan Bessonov is a recent winner of such contests as the Astana Riano Passion, the F. Chopin Competition in St. Petersburg, the Blue Bird Competition and the XIX International Eurovision Young Musicians Contest in Edinburgh. The program of the final concert is dedicated to Tchaikovsky's work.
The “Uzbekistan” Palace of International Forums will host the NRR musicians on its stage for the third consecutive year. In 2017, Vladimir Spivakov brought with him stars of Moscow opera houses - Anna Aglatova and Vassily Ladyuk for a brilliant opera gala concert in which tenor Remiz Usmanov also took part. In 2018, the Maestro presented to the Tashkent audience one of his favorite projects - “Chaplin's Hour”, which features Charlie Chaplin’s legendary silent film “City Lights” with the NPR's live accompaniment.
Vladimir Spivakov has visited the capital of Uzbekistan many times and keeps the warmest memories of each meeting. "I really love Tashkent and this country which is a hospitable, generous, peaceful and quiet land," says the Maestro. - “Uzbekistan can be proud of its gifted youth... I got convinced that the people here highly appreciate the national culture, the spiritual heritage, the arts and traditions of each region of Uzbekistan ... all artistic trends are at a high level, in particular, the school of orchestral conducting. The great attention paid to the sphere of musical arts in Uzbekistan bespeaks the concern for the future of the country, the spirituality of the people, the upbringing of the harmoniously developed young generation. I would like to note especially that the Uzbek audience feel the music deeply and intensely, they just venerate arts."
From April 14 to April 16 the concert halls of the Tyumen Philharmonic Society will host the “Vladimir Spivakov Invites...” Festival, organized with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation within the frame of the “All-Russian Philharmonic Seasons” Project. The three-day edition of the Vladimir Spivakov Festival was first presented in Tyumen in March 2018 with the NPR, the Maestro and Timofey Vladimirov, Vassily Ladyuk and Vadim Eilenkrig as soloists.
This year, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia led by Vladimir Spivakov will become again the main participant of the Festival programs. Tyumen admirers of the musical art will also hear the Stradivarius violin played by the Maestro. At the Festival opening, Vladimir Spivakov together with the NPR's soloists Pyotr Gladysh (cello) and Zoya Abolits (piano) will perform chamber works by Schubert, Brahms and Shostakovich.
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