April 19, 2025 | Zaryadye Concert Hall
Soloists: Olga Peretyatko, soprano
Maria Barakova, mezzo-soprano
Alexey Tatarintsev, tenor
Nikolay Kazanski, bass
A.V.Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Choir
Conductor – Alexander Solovyev
Mozart. Sumphony No. 41 in C major ("Jupiter"), KV 551
Kozlowski. Requiem, op. 14

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The new program of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia pivots on Requiem by Osip Kozlowski, one of the most important Russian composers of the end of the 18^th century and the beginning of the 19^th century. The performance will present great stars of the world opera – Olga Peretyatko, Maria Barakova, Alexey Tatarintsev, Nikolay Kazanski and the A.V.Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Choir under the baton of Alexander Solovyev. He is music director and principal conductor of the Mikhailovsky Opera and Ballet Theater in Saint Petersburg and invited conductor of The Bolshoi in Moscow.

Osip Kozlowski (1759-1831), born in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and a Russian Empire subject by the end of his life, had been a brilliant master of choral and orchestral music before the Glinka Period and a landmark for many of his followers. A contemporary of Mozart and a successor of the Classical Period, Kozlowski also studied extensively Russian Folklore and wrote a lot of popular songs as well as dance music, such as Polonaises.

In February of 1798, Kozlowski finished the score of Requiem for the interment of the last Polish King Stanislaw August Poniatowski in Saint Petersburg. The style of the composition, written only seven years after Requiem by Mozart, goes somewhat beyond a strictly religious opus and contains some elements more suitable for opera or a theatrical performance. 25 years later Kozlowski made its second version for the demise of Alexander the First, bearing also the title of the Polish Tsar.  Unfortunately, this quite spectacular work had been forgotten for almost two centuries (perhaps a Catholic mass had been of no use in the Orthodox Russia) and was revived quite recently in a performance in Singapore, proving that now classical music has conquered the whole world.

The NPR's concert program will also feature Mozart's last Symphony in C major (No. 41). After the composer's death, German impresario Johan Peter Salomon nicknamed this brilliant opus “Jupiter” for its unique Finale where Mozart with his unattainable mastery and fantastic nimbleness combined the sonata form with a formidable five-theme fugue. The Symphony is rightly regarded as one of the musical wonders of the world.