Second EURASIA International Music Festival

Yekaterinburg, October 4-16, 2013

The Eurasia International Music Festival takes place every two years in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s third largest city located in the Urals – right at the borderline between two continents, Europe and Asia. From its outset the festival has been positioned as an intercontinental project underpinned by the concept of cross-cultural influences between the Eastern and Western civilizations, the dialogue between peoples and cultures.

The motto of the Festival 2013 – Light coming from the East.

The art director of the festival is Dmitry Liss, the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Ural Academic Philharmonic Orchestra.

The general director of the festival is Alexander Kolotursky, the Director of the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic.

CONCEPT

The cross-cultural concept of the festival stems from the perception of Russia as a junction of cultures and civilizations. The idea of Eurasianism that was developed and substantiated by Russian philosophers of the 20th century is gaining popularity in Russia. The unique geographical position turns Ekaterinburg into the perfect location for hosting of such festivals. Supporting the fundamental idea, the festival orders and introduces the audience to new symphonic opuses created by leading composers of the present time – representatives of the Western, Eastern and Russian music cultures. The festival offers its space to world premieres of these compositions.

The Ural Academic Philharmonic Orchestra directed by the chief conductor Dmitry Liss ranks among the best Russian orchestras, taking pride in its highly professional musicians.

The Sverdlovsk State Academic Philharmonic is deservedly held in high repute, being known as one of the most successful and forward-looking concert institutions of the country.

The festival receives support from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the governor of the Sverdlovsk Region and the regional business community.

The first festival took place in September 2011.

TOP EVENTS OF THE FESTIVAL

The Festival 2013 is presenting the two-day world music project – the Great Silk Road – with the most thoroughly selected program: the performance featuring cante jondo by Rafael de Utrera, the renowned Spanish flamenco singer, and his band; mugam singers from Azerbaijan; Byzantion, a Romanian choir singing Orthodox chants in the tradition of the Byzantine monody; and Gilles Apap, a French violinist with his international group presenting the crossover program with improvisations on Oriental themes (October 12-13)

THE WORLD PREMIERES NIGHT

Leonid Desyatnikov, the famous composer from St. Petersburg will present at the festival a new composition The journey of the Fox to the North-West for soprano and orchestra composed on order of the festival.

Eun-hwa Cho, one of the most promising Korean composers of the middle-aged generation, composed a concerto for orchestra and the janggu, a national percussion instrument, for the festival.  Olga Viktorova, a composer from Ekaterinburg, composed the orchestral piece “Azure Dragon of the East” for the festival. All the three compositions will be performed for the first time by the Ural Academic Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Liss on the first day of the festival on October 4.

PARADE OF THE ORCHESTRAS

The orchestras participating in the festival are:

Orchestra “Amsterdam Baroque Soloists” conducted by Ton Koopman, the Netherlands (October 14);

Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kristjan Järvi, Germany (October 10);

Mannheim Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Boyan Videnov, Germany (October 7);

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra of traditional national instruments: arrangements of traditional folk songs and compositions of Chinese contemporary composers (Hong Kong).

In commemoration of the anniversary of Benjamin Britten, the Ural Academic Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Liss will introduce the Russian audience to “Spring Symphony” by the outstanding English composer, together with the Symphonic Choir of the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic, the Boys’ and Young Men’s Choir of the Sverdlovsk Children’s Philharmonic and soloists-vocalists from the United Kingdom.

During the festival, the Ural orchestra will have four performances: three performances will be conducted by the chief conductor Dmitry Liss and one concert will be given under the button of Benjamin Ellin, guest conductor from France.

Along with the rarely performed Crown of India by Elgar, compositions by Britten and MacMillan, the concert audience will be able to listen to Ellin’s own composition – the Concerto for Trombone – performed by the Pandora Orchestra and Joseph Alessi, the prominent soloist – trombonist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (October 8).

On the last day of the festival, October 16, the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra will be on the stage together with the outstanding Turkish pianist and composer Fazıl Say, who will play solo in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major and in his own concerto “Silk Road”. At the end of the festival, the audience will enjoy the meditative orchestral piece “Circulating Ocean” by the famous Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa and the furious “Rite of Spring” by Stravinsky.