June 19, 2026 | Zaryadye Concert Hall
Academic Grand Choir “Masters of Choral Singing” of the Orpheus Radio-TV Centre
Soloist – Ekaterina Mechetina, piano
Lada Labzina, organ
Conductor – Arsenty Tkachenko
Rachmaninoff. Concerto No. 3 for piano and orchestra in D minor, Op. 30
Holst. "The Planets", symphonic suite, Op. 32
The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia us concluding its concert season in Moscow with a performance in the Zaryadye Concert Hall. The pinnacle of the night will be the monumental symphonic suite «The Planets» by British composer Gustav Holst — the opus that brought world fame to the author. The Suite was inspired by astrological ideas, each piece is devoted to a planet of the Solar System, and the music conveys the corresponding astrological character. The opulent irradiating all-color orchestra depicts Mars, the Bringer of War, Venus the Bringer of Peace, Mercury, the Winged Messenger, Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity, Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age, Uranus, the Magician, and Neptune, the Mystic. The composer’s followers (especially those in Hollywood) were much impressed by Holst’s Suite, mainly by its orchestration. Written during World War I (1924-1916) it is not strongly connected with the terrible events in Europe, but it depicts contrasts between war and peace. Since its premiere in 1916 and until nowadays the Suite has been enjoying great popularity.
The night will start with famous Piano Concerto No. 3 by Sergei Rachmaninoff with Merited Artist of Russia Ekaterina Mechetina as the soloist. One of the greatest and most complicated works of the world piano repertoire justly claims to be called «a piano symphony». Ekaterina Mechetina had included the Concertos by the great Russian classic into her staunch repertory. «Rachmaninoff is everything to me. Rachmaninoff is very close to me, confesses the artist. — He was aristocratic in all his appearances in music, in his long life, in his social activities. But along with all it he was a mystical composer. All pianists have a special love for him, but whomever you ask will tell you his/her own, perhaps decisive, moment when Rachmaninoff’s music was crucial or life-changing! I understand that performing Rachmaninoff’s Concerto for a hundredth’s time is not a lesser joy than playing it for the first time. I would not exchange my today’s experience with that of a beginner. For then you would be afraid of mistakes while now I think of adding something new, more inventive»
On the podium there will be Arsenty Tkachenko, deputy artistic director and conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia. In June 2024 he took the post of the director of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, while in 2025 he became the Chief Conductor of the P.I.Tchaikovsky Great Symphony Orchestra of Russia. He is also a permanent guest conductor of the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra led by Vladimir Spivakov, and is working with some other important Russian collectives including the E.F. Svetlanov Russian State Orchestra and the St-Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra.