The 13th Edition of the Moscow Music Festival “Vladimir Spivakov Invites” will take place from October 5 to December 10, 2025, on the stages of the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International Performing Arts Center and the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. The feast commenced by the outstanding violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov in 2001 has turned to be a bright example of a successful project having its own style, priorities and a constantly expanding audience. “To me the most important is not so much the number of festival concerts as the occasion to show in Moscow the things I love myself, something new, of various genres and styles, unique and prodigious”, – says Vladimir Spivakov.
Traditionally Maestro will perform most of the concerts with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia; two concerts will be given to the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. The concerts will be shared with soloists Anna Aglatova (soprano), Nadezhda Gulitskaya (soprano), Ekaterina Mechetina (piano), Rėmi Geniet (piano, France), Vladimir Vishnevsky (piano), Igor Podoplelov (bass-baritone), artist-reciter Victor Verzhbitsky and some others (see Programme).
The Festival will open on October 5 in the MIPAC with the program of seminal works by Grieg, Lyadov and Scriabin. The concert will be the NPR's debut of Vladimir Vishnevsky, young talented pianist and composer, student of the Moscow Conservatory and winner of international competitions of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Krainev, Hibla Gerzmava and some other contests in Russia, Czechia, Portugal, Mexico, Italy and the UAE.
In the Festival's second concert on October 14 in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the NPR will be joined by the Academic Grand Chorus “Masters of Choral Singing” to perform Requiem by Karl Jenkins. This singular work combines the liturgical Latin text with Japanese haiku (hokku) verses on the themes of life and death.
The night on October 26 (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall) will be devoted to the works by Mozart and Mahler, two Viennese classics of the 18th and 19th centuries. Their music is often placed in one concert, especially when the choice falls on Mahler's Fourth Symphony based on Classicism principles. The Bolshoi star Anna Aglatova, who displays a very beautiful voice and phenomenal dramatic talent, will sing the soprano part in the Finale of the Symphony. Young French pianist Rėmi Geniet, pupil of Brigitte Engerer and Rena Shereshevskaya, prizewinner at the Queen Elisabeth Piano Completion, Beethoven Competition in Bonn and some others, will play the piano part in Mozart’s 20th Concerto.
On October 22 (MIPAC) Rėmi Geniet will appear also with the Moscow Virtuosi in a concert featuring works by Mozart and Kancheli, two authors much loved by Vladimir Spivakov who will not only conduct the orchestra but also play the violin on this night.
The second program of the Moscow Virtuosi (November 22, MIPAC) will present a music and literature composition “Resurrection of Handel” based on Stefan Zweig's novel of the same name with some portions of Handel's Messiah oratorio. The program was conceived and performed by Vladimir Spivakov and the Virtuosi at the beginning of 1990s and revived in 2023 with the participation of Victor Verzhbitsky.
The NPR’s concert on November 16 (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall) titled “Ball music of the Imperial Vienna” will be dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Johann Strauss, the king of Waltz and Operetta. Under the baton of Vladimir Spivakov there will be played the best waltzes and polkas of the Strauss family and works of their contemporaries.
The Festival will end on December 10 (MIPAC) with the participation of Ekaterina Mechetina, Merited Artist of Russia. She will play the piano in Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto that has become a “visiting card” of the composer. In the second part, the Maestro will present his interpretation of Scriabin's Third Symphony – a monumental opus that reflected the composer's philosophical and religious views.