7th International Festival: The Musical Hermitage

19 February 2010, a press-conference dedicated to the opening of the 7th International Festival The Musical Hermitage was organised by the State Hermitage and the Hermitage Music Academy with the assistance of the Committee for Culture of St Petersburg government. The Festival will be held from February 20 till February 28, 2010, in the Hermitage Theatre, the Academic Chapel Hall and the Small Philharmonic Hall.

The journalists’ questions concerning the Festival programme were answered by Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, Sergey Evtushenko, Creative Director of the Musical Hermitage Festival, Andrey Kondakov, a jazz composer and performer, and Vladimir Volkov, a composer and performer.

Musicians from eight European countries will take part in concerts of different genres.

The Festival will open in the Hermitage Theatre on February 20 with a performance by Tapiola Simphonietta Orchestra from Finland led by Oleg Snetkov, Conductor from Germany. The programme includes compositions by Mozart and Mendelssohn.

On February 21, the Academic Chapel Hall will host Jazz Ring, a unique creative competition of two remarkable jazz groups - Moscow Art Trio consisting of Mikhail Alperin, Sergey Starostin and Arkady Shilkoper and St Petersburg Modern Trio consisting of Andrey Kondakov, Vladimir Volkov and Vyacheslav Gajvoronsky.

On February 22, in the Small Philharmonic Hall a famous French violinist Pierre Amoyal together with Camerata de Lausanne Orchestra will perform popular compositions by Chaykovsky and Mendelssohn.

On February 23 and 26, the Hermitage Theatre will present Early Music Concerts.

On February 23, there will be a performance by the famous Canal Festival laureates - Cordevento Trio from Amsterdam (guitar, harpsichord, flute): Izhar Elias, Alessandro Pianu and Erik Bosgraaf, and on February 26 there will a performance by an outstanding British countertenor Michael Chance in cooperation with soloists of one of the best groups performing in this genre, Musica Petropolitana, - Dmitry Sokolov and Irina Shneerova.

On February 27, for the first time in Russia the Hermitage Theatre stage will host a concert by Petra Magoni and Feruccho Spinetti, Musica Nuda jazz duet from Italy, which is now one of the most popular ensembles in Europe.

The Festival will be traditionally closed by Bel Canto concert. On February 28, laureates of the International Competition for Young Opera Singers in Spoleto, Italy, will sing in the Hermitage Theatre. Arias from operas by Italian composers will be accompanied by the State Hermitage Orchestra led by a Swedish conductor Mats Liljefors.

The Festival concerts are held with the assistance of Consulate General of Norway in St Petersburg, Consulate General of the Netherlands in St Petersburg, the Finish Institute in St Petersburg, the Italian Institute of Culture in St Petersburg, the Swiss Centre in St Petersburg and Helvetia Hotel.

General Partner of the Festival - The Heineken Group of Companies;
Official Partners of the Festival: Philips Company, Onego Shipping Company, Grand Hotel Europe;
General Information Partners: Interbusiness Magazine, Radio Baltika;
The Festival Partners: Royal Company, SAS Airlines.

At the press-conference

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum

Sergey Evtushenko, Creative Director of the Musical Hermitage Festival

Vladimir Volkov

Andrey Kondakov

At the concert at the Hermitage Theatre