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The 6th International Festival Vivacello was held in Moscow on November 11-24. These were six concerts, six halls and performances with completely different vibes and atmosphere. World-renowned artists (not only cellists) converged on the festival. Vivacello is far beyond the conventional concept of a “cello festival”. Nevertheless, all its components – theatrical productions, video installations or diverse genres of performances – are combined to produce a consistent storyline with the cello being its central character.

November 11, 2014 The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory

 

The opening ceremony of the festival was held at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. The highlight of the concert was the world premiere of the Russian composer Pavel Karmanov’s work – Musica con cello for cello solo, chamber orchestra and accompaniment. The opening program was meant for various tastes and preferences: besides the XXI century music (works by Pavel Karmanov and Giovanni Sollima) the audience had an opportunity to hear cello opuses by Rakhmaninov, Glazunov and Tchaikovsky performed by the artists of the Berlin chamber orchestra and soloists: Tatyana Vasilieva (Russia), Monika Leskovar (Croatia) and Boris Andrianov. The conductor was Cristian Mandeal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 11, 2014 Presentation of the CD “Seance”, Chamber Hall of the Moscow International House of Music

 

A unique concert was held at the Chamber Hall of the Moscow International House of Music. Boris Andrianov performed together with Edin Karamazov, a famous Bosnian lutenist, guitarist and Grammy award winner, who recorded the album Songs from the Labyrinth together with Sting in 2006. Last year Boris Andrianov and Edin Karamazov recorded a CD album. The compositions of this album were performed at the concert. The audience was presented with works by ancient and modern composers: from Bach, Schubert and Piazzolla to our contemporaries including the Russian guitarist and composer Nikita Koshkin.

 

 

November 14, 2014 The State Tretyakov Gallery, the Vrubel Hall

 

Vivacello program continued at the State Tretyakov Gallery. That night featured Gringolts Quartet and Boris Andrianov performing at the Vrubel Hall. Gringolts Quartet is an ensemble organized in 2008 by Ilya Gringolts, a world-renowned Russian violinist now living in Switzerland. Taneev and Glazunov’s string quintets as well as Bartok’s Third Quintet were performed in the midst of magnificent paintings and unique atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

November 21, 2014 Multimedia Art Museum

 

A project combining the cello and modern video art was presented at the Multimedia Art Museum on Ostozhenka Street. Artists performed Arnold Schonberg’s Transfigured Night, which was composed based on Richard Demel’s poem “The Woman and the World” in 1899. An integral part of the performance was a video installation made by Kirill Ivanov, a soloist of SPBCh group, a poet and journalist known for his video art works. The second composition of the program, Blitz for a chamber orchestra, was written by a modern French composer Richard Dubugnon. This work is dedicated to the world’s famous chess games. The concert featured Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra conducted by Leonid Kazakov, David Oistrakh Quartet, Boris Andrianov and Daniil Avstrikh (viola).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 22, 2014 Sovremennik Theatre 

 

The Sovremennik Theatre presented a project of particular importance for Vivacello, which had been opened two years before during the Fourth Festival. In this season the literary and musical composition “Homage to Yalta” was included in the Sovremennik Theatre’s repertoire, and one of the plays was featured by the festival. The play directed and performed by Arthur Smoliyaninov is based on Joseph Brodsky’s same-name poem accompanied by Alfred Schnittke’s music. As compared to the previously presented play, this production was more worked out and had new costumes, stage scenery and solutions. The play featured musicians Boris Andrianov and Katya Skanavi (piano), whose roles were as significant as those of the actors.

 

 

 

 

November 24, 2014 Three centuries of the cello, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall

 

Festivals of various years were dedicated to the most outstanding Russian musicians: the first Vivacello was dedicated to the great Rostropovich, the fifth – to the magnificent Daniil Shafran. This year’s festival was associated with the 80t anniversary of the birth of the composer Alfred Schnittke. The closing concert of Vivacello featured Schnittke’s Concerto N1 for Cello and Orchestra performed by Boris Andrianov. The concert also presented works by C.P.E. Bach, Vivaldi and Edouard Lalo – each of them representing their own period from baroque to romanticism. Combined with Schnittke’s avant-garde the program presented a chronological timeline which justified its name – “Three Centuries of the Cello”. The soloists were Boris Andrianov, the German cellist Johannes Moser and the German artist representing Russian school Claudio Bohorquez with Russian Philharmonic Moscow Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Yurovsky.

 

 

Composer Pavel Karmanov

 

— It is a great honor for me to participate in such an event. I’ve been acquainted with Boris Andrianov for a long time now, and we have been discussing my writing a work specially for Vivacello for three years already. Now our plan is fulfilled. I should say that Boris asked me to write a composition with elements of rock music, therefore I added drums to the piece. The music was purposefully made in a cheerful festival style, and I hope that when the concert is over, the audience will return to our gloomy Moscow autumn life feeling elated.

I wanted to compose a piece that would be accompanied by video at a concert for a long time. I think today it’s important to work with visual art, which is a common modern tendency. Both video sequence and the structure of “Blitz” are united by a general theme – a chess tournament. The number of musicians matches the number of pieces on a chess board. I composed melodies for various moves, and it took me a while to make this system harmonious. I had to make decisions that were unconventional for me. I think this work was very important for me as a composer.

Conductor Cristian Mandeal

Tatyana Vasilieva, Monika Leskovar and Boris Andrianov

Composer Richard Dubugnon

Musicians Andrey Gugnin and Boris Andrianov and Sovremennik actors Natalia Ushakova, Yevgenia Bric and Arthur Smoliyaninov

Edin Karamazov and Boris Andrianov

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