SIRIUS FEDERAL TERRITORY, 5
CHEMPIONOV STR.

The organic nature of the Concert Center’s forms and volumes echoes the eco-friendly landscape of this unique territory. The architecture of the center is a metaphor for the silhouette of mountains and the sea, the high and the deep, a dialogue between art and nature

The tempo and rhythm are expressed not only in the geometry of architectural forms but also in the acoustics. All spaces within the Concert Center are designed to serve a high musical culture.

The main stage, with a hall seating 1,200, features a unique, seamless orchestra shell and a transformable stage, ideal for symphony orchestra performances, festivals, and theatrical productions.

THE CHAMBER HALL, WITH 500 SEATS, IS DESIGNED FOR CONCERTS BY SMALL ENSEMBLES, CHAMBER GROUPS, AND SOLOISTS.

The center was designed and constructed following the recommendations of an international team of acoustical engineers, which includes the legendary Japanese engineer Yasuhisa Toyota, the mastermind behind the acoustic designs of the world’s finest concert venues.

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Sirius Concert
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SIRIUS FEDERAL
TERRITORY, 5
ChEmpionOV Str.

"Educational events"

Discussion Topics

How do you write a beautiful melody? Conservatories teach everything but this. Many composers are actually convinced that a melody cannot be consciously composed — it can only arrive on its own, if it chooses to. In the third lecture of the "Art of Listening" series, Yaroslav Timofeev will explain how the ideals of melodic beauty have changed over time, whether it is possible to write a beautiful melody in the 21st century, how many melodies exist in total, and why we instantly forget one motif while another gets completely stuck in our heads.

Age Rating: 6+

CHAMBER HALL

"The Art of Listening. Melody"

November

5:00
pm

15

"Educational events"

Discussion Topics

Harmony in music is not an exalted epithet, but an exact science that contains both foolproof laws and room for new discoveries. Essentially, a composer’s task is to find the perfect combinations of sounds, and combinations of sounds is precisely the realm of musical harmony. In the fourth lecture of "The Art of Listening" series, Yaroslav Timofeev will explain why a major key shines inside every single sound and why people invented a sad alternative to it, when tonality was established and why composers later tore it apart, how dissonances make music human, and why absolute harmony equals the absence of life.

Age Rating: 6+

CHAMBER HALL

"The Art of Listening. Harmony"

December

7:00
pm

24

"Educational events"

Discussion Topics

Carl Maria von Weber was a composer, conductor, and music critic whose work defined the development of 19th-century German opera. In his compositions, he consistently reimagined the principles of musical drama, blending elements of folk song folklore, fairy-tale mystical imagery, and innovative orchestral techniques. Weber rejected traditional Italian and French models in favor of a national, character-driven theater, where the orchestra becomes a full-fledged participant in the action, and leitmotif structures foreshadow the later developments of Wagner. His harmonic language, timbral discoveries, and methods of constructing through-composed symphonic development exerted a direct influence on the next generation of composers, from Mendelssohn to Berlioz.

The lecture will highlight key aspects of Weber’s work: his role in the formation of the Romantic movement in music, his aesthetic principles, and his innovative approaches to orchestral writing. Among the topics discussed are the relationship between musical and dramatic elements in his compositions, his utilization of national folklore and mythology, as well as the defining features of his harmonic language. A comprehensive overview of the composer’s operatic and instrumental legacy will be provided, with an emphasis on the elements that shaped the further evolution of European music.

Age Rating: 6+


⭑ admission to the lecture is free for October 24 evening concert ticket holders

Musical Reception Room

the new date is to be confirmed

"Concerts of the season"

Libretto by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Konstantin Shilovsky, based on the eponymous verse novel by Alexander Pushkin


In the new season, the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre returns to the Main Stage of Sirius. On November 13, the company will present Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in Vladislavs Nastavševs' version, which premiered in Perm in 2022.

The production’s epigraph is a stanza from Pushkin’s novel about the hero’s return after his duel with Lensky: "How will he appear now? As a Melmoth, / A cosmopolitan, a patriot, / A Harold, a Quaker, a hypocrite, / Or will he sport some other mask, / Or else be simply a good fellow, / Like you and me, like the whole world?" Vladislavs Nastavševs' production offers no definitive answer. It seems that from this entire list, the director chooses precisely "like you and me." His Onegin — who, rather than Tatyana, serves as the main character here — is simultaneously like everyone else and equal to no one.

"Everything feels fragile, strange, and uncertain: this is a production-dream, a production-memory," writes critic Gulyara Sadykh-zade. "Onegin's agonizing reflection on a wasted, squandered life tints the events in nostalgic autumn tones. The worst has already happened; therefore, the performance is structured like a tape of memory, unrolling from end to beginning."

For Vladislavs Nastavševs — a "hyper-romantic" director, a proponent of theatrical asceticism, and someone who focuses closely on the inner world of the character — the Perm Onegin marked his debut on the grand opera stage. And not just for him: it was also the first time the production’s music director, Mikhail Tatarnikov, worked with the Perm Opera. Both debuts were honored by the Golden Mask Awards: Nastavševs won the award for Best Director in Opera, while Tatarnikov was nominated for Best Conductor.

On November 13, the conductor’s podium will be taken by the Perm Theatre’s Chief Conductor, Vladimir Tkachenko, who has held this position since November 2023. Over three seasons, he has served as the music director for a whole series of major productions — ranging from Tchaikovsky’s Pikovaya Dama (The Queen of Spades) and Rimsky-Korsakov's Tsarskaya Nevesta (The Tsar’s Bride) to Stravinsky's Orpheus and the world premiere of La voix humaine (The Human Voice) by Francis Poulenc and Vladimir Gorlinsky. Tkachenko has been conducting Vladislavs Nastavševs' version of Eugene Onegin since 2022 — practically since it first appeared in the Perm Opera repertoire.

Age Rating: 12+

Tchaikovsky Perm State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre
Chief Conductor of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre: Vladimir Tkachenko

Music Director of the Production and Conductor: Mikhail Tatarnikov
Staging Director, Set and Costume Designer: Vladislavs Nastavševs
Lighting Designer: Konstantin Binkin
Chorus Master of the Production: Evgeny Vorobyov
Video Designer: Mikhail Ivanov
Assistant Set Designer: Elizaveta Borisova
Assistant Costume Designer: Maya Mayer


Onegin — Eugene Bovykin
Tatyana — Anna Shcherbakova
Olga — Natalia Lyaskova
Lensky — David Yesayan
Larina — Vera Kravchuk
Nanny — Anastasiya Vyatskina
Gremin — Garry Agadzhanyan
Triquet — Anatoly Schlieman

Running Time: 3 hours 10 minutes with 2 intermissions.

MAIN STAGE

November

7:00
pm

13

"Concerts of the season"

A "sunny" genius of global culture, whose works seamlessly blend the radiant joy of existence with dramatic pathos, wonderfully subtle humor with wise reflections on life, the sublime with the everyday, and the eternal with the fleeting — in the year of the composer’s 270th anniversary, the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre dedicates the grand finale of its November residency at Sirius to Mozart.

Perm Opera shares a unique and remarkably resonant history with Mozart. Many will surely remember the phenomenon of the "Permian Mozart," which grew out of the staged productions of the composer’s three Da Ponte operas: Così fan tutte (Women Are Like That), Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), and Don Giovanni. All three performances were a sensation, earning numerous Golden Mask nominations and rave reviews in the press. Later, the "Permian Mozart" crossed borders to reach the Salzburg Festival: in 2021, Don Giovanni, directed by Romeo Castellucci with Teodor Currentzis at the podium and Nadezhda Pavlova as Donna Anna, became one of the defining events of the festival program. More recently, in September 2025, Nadezhda Pavlova and Vladimir Tkachenko opened the theatre’s concert season with a breathtaking program of rarely performed Mozart concert arias.

It is this Mozartian terra incognita that will take center stage during the first half of the evening. Concert arias represent a vast and, today, lesser-known realm of the composer’s legacy. Emerging alongside opera, this genre followed its own set of rules: these pieces were often custom-tailored for a specific singer, meticulously matching the unique qualities of their voice. Extracted from a grand theatrical narrative, a concert aria had to encapsulate an entire miniature drama while giving the performer the ultimate space to showcase their full vocal mastery. Mozart himself used to say that he liked"an aria to fit a singer as perfectly as a well-made suit of clothes" (die aria einem sänger so accurat angemessen sey, wie ein gutgemachts kleid). Such a "dress" often required artists to perform at the very edge of their abilities, demanding both otherworldly technique and immense dramatic flair.

Interspersed between the arias, pairs of selections from the 6 Deutsche Tänze (Six German Dances), K. 571, will be performed. Mozart composed this cycle in 1789 for Vienna’s court balls during the carnival season. A precursor to the waltz, the German dance maintains its ceremonial grace here, whilst being continuously enlivened by brilliant orchestral inventions. For instance, the cycle’s finale bursts into the exotic à la turque colors popular at the time, complete with cymbals and tambourine.

Following the intermission, rarely performed works of Mozart will give way to the canonical ones: four legendary operas will be brought to life through four overtures and four arias of their heroines. Shining in these masterpieces, just as in the first half, will be the prima donna of the Perm Theatre, Honoured Artist of Russia Nadezhda Pavlova. Mozart has long been a core specialization for the singer, whose repertoire includes nearly all the mature operas from the final decade of the composer’s life, from Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) to Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). Critics have hailed Pavlova’s interpretations as definitive: her Mozart is equally convincing in its dazzling coloratura, its shimmering pianissimo, and its fierce dramatic temperament — especially in her portrayal of Donna Anna, which earned her a Golden Mask nomination back in 2013.

This "Mozart Gala" will display the full span of Mozart’s soprano repertoire, as well as the immense artistic scope of a singer for whom this music is indeed a perfect fit. And, of course, accompanying Nadezhda Pavlova throughout the evening will be the celebrated Perm Opera Orchestra, led by the theatre’s Principal Conductor, Vladimir Tkachenko.

Age Rating: 6+

Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre

Chief Conductor: Vladimir Tkachenko

Soloist: Honoured Artist of Russia Nadezhda Pavlova (soprano)


PROGRAM

Part 1

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756−1791)
"Mia speranza adorata" (My adored hope), Recitativo and Aria for Soprano and Orchestra, K. 416 (words by Gaetano Sertor)

6 Deutsche Tänze (Six German Dances), K. 571
I. Dance No. 1 in D major
II. Dance No. 2 in A major

Ah, lo previdi! (Ah, I foresaw it!), Recitativo and Aria for Soprano and Orchestra, K. 272 (words by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi)

6 Deutsche Tänze (Six German Dances), K. 571
III. Dance No. 3 in C major
IV. Dance No. 4 in G major

"Ma che vi fece, o stelle" (But what did poor Dirce do to you) Recitative and Aria for Soprano and Orchestra, K. 368 (words by Pietro Metastasio)

6 Deutsche Tänze (Six German Dances), K. 571
V. Dance No. 5 in B-flat major
VI. Dance No. 6 in D major

"Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio" (Let me explain, oh God), Aria for Soprano and Orchestra, K. 418 (words author unclear)

Part 2

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756−1791)
Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) opera,
Overture
Act III, No. 20: "E Susanna non vien!.. Dove sono…" (Susanna has not come!.. Where are those happy moments…), Recitative and Aria of the Countess

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) opera, K. 384
Overture
Act I, No. 6 "Ach ich liebte, war so glücklich", Aria of Konstanze (Alas, I loved, I was so happy)

Così fan tutte (Women Are Like That) opera, K. 588
Overture
Act I, No. 14 "Temerari!.. Come scoglio…" (Begone, bold creatures! … Like a rock …), Recitative and Aria of Fiordiligi

Don Giovanni opera, K. 527
Overture
Act II, No. 25/23 /// "Crudele!.. Non mi dir…" (Not love thee? … Tell me not…), Recitative and Aria of Donna Anna

Program subject to change.

Concert Duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes with an intermission.

MAIN STAGE

MOZART-GALA. ON THE 270TH ANNIVERSARY OF WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

November

6:00
pm

15

"Concerts of the season"

The Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre is continuing its November tour series in Sirius with a symphony program. This time, the spotlight is on the theatre’s orchestra.

The Perm Opera Orchestra leads a rich concert life far beyond the theatre pit. Its programs span five centuries of music — from the Baroque era to the works of contemporary composers. The geography of the ensemble’s performances stretches from Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow to Carnegie Hall in New York. Among its partners are new-wave conductors Fedor Lednev, Philipp Chizhevsky, Timur Zangiev, and Fedor Beznosikov, as well as Russia’s most in-demand composers: Vladimir Gorlinsky, Alexey Sysoev, Vladimir Rannev, and Anton Svetlichny. Since November 2023, the ensemble has been led by Vladimir Tkachenko.

The three compositions on the November 14 program span nearly eight decades of the 19th century — from 1814 to 1893. The beginning of this story is Beethoven and his only opera, Fidelio. The enormous labor the composer poured into his passionately loved creation is eloquently evidenced by the existence of three versions and a total of four overtures; the familiar Fidelio Overture, which will be performed in the concert, was written specifically for the final version of the opera. In the story of Leonore, who disguises herself as a man to rescue her husband Florestan from prison, Beethoven pinpoints the high philosophical and ethical temperature of drama that he had long and unsuccessfully sought in the librettos of his contemporaries — and to this day, Fidelio is considered one of the pinnacles of heroic classicism.

With Brahms, we enter the Romantic era, but Beethoven does not disappear from the story. On January 1, 1879, Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D major premiered in Leipzig — and on the premiere program, it shared the bill with Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, written in the same key: the composer himself insisted on the D major rhyme. The finales of Brahms’s concertos generally gravitate toward the Hungarian folk spirit, but this one is perhaps the most fiery. In a work written for the violinist Joseph Joachim — Hungarian by birth and a man of fiery temperament — the music undeniably echoes its addressee. On November 14, an interpretation of the concerto will be offered by Honoured Artist of Russia Pavel Milyukov — the Musical Director of Sirius Educational Programs and a laureate of the 15^th International Tchaikovsky Competition.

The final destination on our itinerary takes us to December 1893 and the brilliant premiere of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 (From the New World). Its triumph was unprecedented: the audience applauded after every movement, and the composer had to stand and bow several times. The colourful, melodically generous symphony remains one of Dvořák's most popular works today and one of the most famous symphonies in the global repertoire. A year later, the score was published by the major Berlin publishing house Simrock, and the typography proofs were corrected not by Dvořák, who was across the ocean, but by his long-time friend and patron — Brahms, who had once helped the young Czech composer enter the European stage.

On November 14, our story will make a stop on the Main Stage of Sirius — you can join it right there in the hall, together with the Perm Opera Orchestra and Pavel Milyukov.

Age Rating: 6+

Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre

Chief Conductor: Vladimir Tkachenko

Soloist: Honoured Artist of Russia Pavel Milyukov (violin)


PROGRAM

Part 1

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770−1827)
Fidelio Overture

Johannes Brahms (1833−1897)
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Adagio
III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace
Soloist: Honoured Artist of Russia Pavel Milyukov (violin)

Part 2

Antonín Dvořák (1841−1904)
Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95
I. Adagio — Allegro molto
II. Largo
III. Molto vivace
IV. Allegro con fuoco

Program subject to change.

Concert Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes with an intermission.

MAIN STAGE

THE FACETS OF ROMANTICISM

November

6:00
pm

14

"Masters of Music"

The "Masters of Music" cycle debuted at Sirius in the fall of 2025—the project’s launch coincided with both the 20th Anniversary of the Music House and the Opening of the new Sirius Concert Center. Its featured artists once started their journeys as young participants in the Music House programs, and today they belong to the ranks of recognized masters.

Nikita Lyutikov’s biography follows this formula precisely. In 2019, he performed at Sirius for the first time—back then on the stage of the "Orange Forum" Hall—as a participant in the "Musical Team of Russia" Young Soloists Project of St. Petersburg Music House. Seven years later, the artist returns as a featured headliner of the "Masters of Music" cycle, bringing his own solo program.

The clarinet came into his life by accident. As a child, Nikita dreamed of playing the saxophone, but his teacher, Isaak Lvovich Tikachinsky, decided the instrument was still a bit too large for the nine-year-old student and suggested starting with the clarinet. A year later came the verdict: "The clarinet is your instrument." As time has shown, the teacher was not mistaken.

Lyutikov’s musical career advanced rapidly. At fourteen, he received the Maestro Temirkanov Foundation Prize and the "Young Talents" scholarship; at fifteen, he won the Evgeny Mravinsky Competition; and at sixteen, the International Wind Instruments Competition in New York. Later came awards in Ghent and Cologne, a performance at Carnegie Hall, and tours across Europe, Asia, and the USA. Since 2014, Lyutikov has been a soloist with Honoured Collective of Russia St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and since 2022, he has been teaching at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and its affiliated music school.

The program spans original clarinet repertoire and virtuosic transcriptions: sonatas by Camille Saint-Saëns and Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud’s Scaramouche, and the "Russian Dance" from Lebedinoye Ozero (Swan Lake). A special brilliance will be added by Béla Kovács's witty After You, Mr. Gershwin. Inspired by the mood and energy of Rhapsody in Blue, the piece demands flawless mastery of the entire spectrum of clarinet technique from the performer—ranging from singing cantilena and subtle timbre nuances to breathtaking agility. The piano part will be performed by Andrei Telkov.

Age Rating: 6+

PROGRAM

Part 1

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835−1921)
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in E-flat major, Op. 167
I. Allegretto
II. Allegro animato
III. Lento
IV. Molto allegro — Allegretto

Dedicated to the 90th Anniversary of the composer
Béla Kovács (1937−2021)
"After You, Mr. Gershwin"

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840−1893) — Andrey Rubtsov (b. 1982)
Lensky’s Aria from Eugene Onegin (arr. for flute and piano)

Darius Milhaud (1892−1974)
"Scaramouche" Suite for Clarinet and Piano in D major, Op. 165c
I. Vif
II. Modéré
III. Brazileira

Part 2

Francis Poulenc (1899−1963)
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, FP 184
I. Allegro tristamente
II. Romanza
III. Allegro

Dedicated to the 70th Anniversary of the composer
Alexander Rosenblatt (b. 1956)
Fantasy on Themes from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Zolotoy Petushok (The Golden Cockerel) for Clarinet and Piano

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840−1893) — Simeon Bellison (1883−1953)
Russian Dance from Lebedinoye Ozero (Swan Lake), arr. for clarinet and piano

Dedicated to the 120th Anniversary of the composer
Alexander Tsfasman (1906−1971)
Intermezzo for Clarinet and Piano in F minor

Performed by international competitions laureate Nikita Lyutikov (clarinet)
Piano part by international competitions laureate Andrei Telkov

Saint Petersburg Music House Artistic Director: Sergei Roldugin (People's Artist of Russia, Professor)

Program subject to change.

Concert Duration: 1 hour and 35 minutes with an intermission.

CHAMBER HALL

NIKITA LYUTIKOV. Solo Concert

November

7:00
pm

18

"Sirius New Year's
Music Festival"

Festive Concert on the Sirius Federal Territory Day

Saint Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra


Artistic Director and Conductor: Alexander Titov (Honoured Artist of Russia)

Soloist: Sergei Roldugin (cello, People’s Artist of Russia)

Compère: Yaroslav Timofeev


PROGRAM

Part 1

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835−1921)
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Allegretto con moto
III. Tempo primo
Soloist: Sergei Roldugin (cello, People’s Artist of Russia)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840−1893)
The Year 1812, Solemn Overture, Op. 49
Torzhestvenniy Koronatsionniy Marsh (Festival Coronation March) in D major, TH 50

Part 2

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840−1893)
Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
I. Andante sostenuto — Moderato con anima
II. Andantino in modo di canzona
III. Scherzo. Pizzicato ostinato
IV. Finale. Allegro con fuoco

Program is subject to change.

Concert Duration: 1 hour and 48 minutes with an intermission.

The concert year at Sirius traditionally culminates with the New Year Music Festival. In 2026, it will once again open on December 22 — The Federal Territory Day. A year ago, the Main Stage welcomed the Festival for the very first time, as the Concert Center was just beginning its history. Today, the venue already has a full-fledged season under its belt, having hosted performances by major orchestras, theatrical tours, and festival premieres.

The upcoming winter festival on the Main Stage will open with a festive symphonic concert. Its featured artists will be the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, led by Honored Artist of Russia conductor Alexander Titov, and People’s Artist of Russia Sergei Roldugin.

The St. Petersburg ensemble approaches its 60th anniversary with a rich musical history. Established in 1967 as the Orchestra of Ancient and Modern Music, it today performs a repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the latest contemporary scores. Over the years, its partners have included Yuri Temirkanov, Mariss Jansons, Sviatoslav Richter, Elena Obraztsova, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Anna Netrebko. Since 2017, the Orchestra has been led by Alexander Titov — a conductor who has worked at the Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theatres, La Scala, Covent Garden, and other major venues.

The evening will open with Camille Saint-Saëns's Cello Concerto No. 1, written in 1872. For its time, it is structured unusually: instead of the conventional three-movement cycle, the composer builds a through-composed form in which three sections follow one another without a break. The soloist’s part here is exceptionally complex and demands the highest level of mastery from the performer — yet this did not prevent the concerto from becoming a favorite work among major cellists. On December 22, the solo part will be performed by the Artistic Director of the St. Petersburg Music House, People’s Artist of Russia Sergei Roldugin.

This will be followed by two grand scores written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for Moscow commissions in the early 1880s. In the 1812 Overture, created for the All-Russian Arts and Industry Exhibition, the composer unfolds a musical tapestry of the Patriotic War: from the invasion of Napoleon's army and popular resistance to the triumphant jubilation of the finale, where bells and cannon volleys join the orchestra. In 1883, another Moscow commission followed — the Festival Coronation March for the celebrations in Sokolniki on the occasion of the coronation of Alexander III. After premiering at the imperial festivities, the march soon transcended the ceremony: on May 5, 1891, Tchaikovsky himself conducted it at the opening of Carnegie Hall in New York.

After the intermission, the Orchestra will perform Symphony No. 4, which marks the beginning of Tchaikovsky's mature symphonic period and the famous triad of his final "fatalist" symphonies. The composer revealed its concept most succinctly in a letter to Sergei Taneyev: "In essence, my symphony is an imitation of [Ludwig van] Beethoven’s Fifth; that is, I imitated not his musical ideas, but the core concept." In other words, at the heart of Symphony No. 4 is the same confrontation between man and fate, which Beethoven heralded with his famous "Thus fate knocks at the door." In Tchaikovsky's work, this image is embodied in a menacing fate motif that dominates the first movement and returns in the finale to disrupt its boisterous revelry. A whole lifetime passes between the appearances of this fatal motif: painful reflections, memories, a whimsical play of images, and an attempt to lose oneself in someone else’s celebration.

Tchaikovsky conducted Symphony No. 4 for the last time in London, where he had traveled to receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Cambridge. "The concert went brilliantly," he wrote to his brother, "according to the unanimous response of everyone, I had a genuine triumph."

Age Rating: 6+

MAIN STAGE

SIRIUS NEW YEAR MUSIC FESTIVAL OPENING

December

7:00
pm

22

"Sirius New Year's
Music Festival"

Saint Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra

Artistic Director and Conductor: Alexander Titov (Honoured Artist of Russia)

Soloists: international competitions laureates
Elizaveta Klyuchereva (piano, St. Petersburg Music House),
Demid Sharikov (violin)

Compère: Yaroslav Timofeev


PROGRAM

Part I

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873−1943)
Scherzo in D minor for orchestra

Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14 (arr. for violin and orchestra)
Soloist: Demid Sharikov (violin, international competitions laureate)

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 43
Soloist: Elizaveta Klyuchereva (piano, international competitions laureate), soloist of the St. Petersburg Music House

Part 2

Georgy Sviridov (1915−1998)
Musical Illustrations after "The Blizzard" by Alexander S. Pushkin pieces:
Waltz
March
Romance
Winter Road

Valery Gavrilin (1939−1999)
Grand Waltz from Anyuta, ballet

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906−1975)
Tanets Lomovogo Izvozchika (The Drayman’s Dance) and Tango from The Bolt, ballet

Andrey Petrov (1930−2006)
Waltz from Beregis' Avtomobilya (Beware of the Car), motion picture

Isaac Dunayevsky (1900−1955)
Kontsertny Marsh (Concert March)

Polka and Bega (The Races) from Kubanskie Kazaki (Cossacks of the Kuban), motion picture

Program subject to change.

Concert Duration: 1 hour and 35 minutes with an intermission.

The second evening of the Sirius New Year Music Festival will celebrate Russian and Soviet music loved by generations. The Main Stage will feature the Saint Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra (SPB SASO) — one of St. Petersburg’s leading ensembles, known for performances with the greatest contemporary artists. Conducting the orchestra is Honoured Artist of Russia Alexander Titov.

The first half of the concert is entirely dedicated to Sergei Rachmaninoff. Following his youthful Scherzo in D minor, the audience will hear Vocalise arranged for violin and orchestra. The famous melody, originally written for voice without words, will be performed by SPB SASO soloist Demid Sharikov. Closing the first half is the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, one of Rachmaninoff's most famous compositions. The piece secured its unique place in music history through a bold combination of seemingly incompatible elements: a virtuosic, jazz-demonic energy mixed with an enchanting lyricism in the finest traditions of Russian music. Despite its immense popularity, the Rhapsody remains one of the world’s most challenging works in the piano repertoire. The solo part will be performed by Elizaveta Klyuchereva, a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, laureate of international competitions, and a soloist with the St. Petersburg Music House.

The program’s second half is bound together by a bright nostalgia for a bygone era preserved on the Soviet screen. Georgy Sviridov’s "The Blizzard," Valery Gavrilin’s Grand Waltz from Anyuta televised ballet, and Andrey Petrov’s waltz from Beregis' Avtomobilya (Beware of the Car) motion picture bring back different images of the past — ranging from pre-revolutionary Russia viewed from the 20th century to the Soviet 1960s. The evening will conclude with Isaac Dunayevsky’s fast-paced Bega (The Races) from Kubanskie Kazaki (Cossacks of the Kuban) movie — the ultimate embodiment of the festive spirit of Soviet cinema.

Age Rating: 6+

главная сцена

NEW YEAR RHAPSODY

December

7:00
pm

23

"Concerts of the season"

On November 26, the Sirius Concert Center Chamber Hall will be entrusted to one of the most prestigious choral ensembles in the country with nearly a century of experience—the Grand Choir "Masters of Choral Singing".

The ensemble was founded in 1928 as the vocal ensemble of the All-Union Radio Committee. Its founder and first artistic director was the outstanding choirmaster Alexander V. Sveshnikov; later, the choir was led by such notable musicians as Nikolai S. Golovanov, Ivan M. Kuvykin, Klavdiy B. Ptitsa, and Lyudmila V. Ermakova. The choir secured a leading position in domestic choral culture back during the Soviet era, with Dmitri Shostakovich calling it "one of the best choral ensembles in our country."

Over the course of its existence, the choir has performed more than 15,000 works—ranging from operas, oratorios, and cantatas to a cappella music, sacred compositions, and folk songs. Throughout the years, the ensemble has collaborated with Evgeny Svetlanov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, and Ennio Morricone. The choir has also shared the stage with Elena Obraztsova, Irina Arkhipova, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Anna Netrebko, and other outstanding vocalists. A wide-ranging repertoire and rare performance versatility remain core hallmarks of the ensemble today.

In 2005, the choir was named the "Masters of Choral Singing"—a testament to its high professionalism, versatility, and performance culture. Since that same year, its artistic director has been People’s Artist of Russia Lev Z. Kontorovich, one of the nation’s leading choirmasters and the author of numerous choral arrangements of world classics, some of which will be performed at Sirius as well.

The evening’s program will encompass several layers of choral music. The first part is dedicated to Russian classics, featuring lyrical miniatures by SergeiTaneyev, Pyotr IlyichTchaikovsky, ViktorKalinnikov, PavelChesnokov, and SergeiRachmaninoff. Following the intermission, the choir will perform Russian folk songs arranged by Alexander Sveshnikov, Sergei Ekimov, Vladimir Rubtsov, and the choir’s artistic director, Lev Kontorovich. The concert will conclude with his own choral transcriptions of celebrated Western European classical music masterpieces.

Age Rating: 6+

"Masters of Choral Singing" Grand Choir of the Orpheus TV and Radio Center

Artistic Director and Chief Conductor: Lev Kontorovich (People's Artist of Russia)


PROGRAM

Part 1

Sergei Taneyev (1856−1915)
Alpy (The Alps), Op. 15 No. 2, lyrics by Fyodor Tyutchev
Lyozha V Krovati (Lying in Bed), lyrics by Sergei Taneyev
Echo, lyrics by Alexander Pushkin

Twelve Choruses a Cappella for Mixed Voicesto lyrics by Yakov Polonsky, Op. 27:
No. 2. Vecher (Evening)
No. 3. "Razvalinu Bashni, Zhilische Orla…" (The Tower’s Ruin, the eagle’s dwelling…)
No. 4. "Posmotri, Kakaya Mgla…" (Behold, What Darkness …)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840−1893)
Solovushko (The Nightingale), to lyrics by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky
"Nochevala Tuchka Zolotaya…" (A Little Golden Cloud Spent the Night …), to lyrics by Mikhail Lermontov

Viktor Kalinnikov (1870−1927)
Zhavoronok (The Lark), to lyrics by Vasily Zhukovsky

Pavel Chesnokov (1877−1944)
Elfy (The Elves), to lyrics by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873−1943)
Vocalise, choral arrangement by Lev Kontorovich

Part 2

Russian Folk Songs
Akh Ty, Step' Shirokaya (Oh, You Steppe So Wide), arranged by Alexander Sveshnikov
V Tyomnom Lese (In the Dark Forest), arranged by Alexander Sveshnikov
Tonkaya Ryabina (The Slender Rowan Tree), arranged by Sergei Ekimov
Na Gore-to Kalina (A Viburnum Tree on the Hill), arranged by Sergei Ekimov
Vecherniy Zvon (Evening Bells), arranged by Lev Kontorovich
Veniki (Brooms), arranged by Vladimir Rubtsov

Valery Kikta (b. 1941)
Noch Roniayet Zvyozdy (The Night Drops Stars), to lyrics by Vladimir Tatarinov

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685−1750) — Charles Gounod (1818−1893)
Ave Maria, choral arrangement by Lev Kontorovich

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685−1750)
Spaß (Badinerie / Joke), choral arrangement by Lev Kontorovich

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756−1791)
"Alleluia" from Exsultate, jubilate motet, choral arrangement by Lev Kontorovich

Program subject to change.

Concert Duration: 1 hour and 35 minutes with an intermission.

CHAMBER HALL

''MASTERS OF CHORAL SINGING'' PRESENTS

November

7:00
pm

26

"Concerts of the season"

State Kremlin Orchestra

Artistic Director and Chief Conductor: Konstantin Chudovsky

PROGRAM

Part 1

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840−1893)
Slavyanskiy Marsh (Marche Slave/Slavonic March), Op.  31

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844−1908)
Scheherazade Symphonic Suite, Op. 35
I. The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship
II. The Story of the Kalendar Prince
III. The Young Prince and the Young Princess
IV. Festival at Baghdad. The Sea. The Ship Breaks against a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze Horseman

Part 2

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840−1893)
Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, TH 42

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873−1943)
Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
I. Non allegro
II. Andante con moto (Tempo di valse)
III. Lento assai — Allegro vivace

Program subject to change.

Concert Duration: 1 hour and 50 minutes with an intermission.

On November 24 the Main Stage will feature four iconic scores composed over seven decades of Russian musical history. Three composers — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Sergei Rachmaninoff — offer four completely different perspectives on what a symphonic orchestra can do. The "Masterpieces of Russian Music" program will be presented by the State Kremlin Orchestra conducted by Konstantin Chudovsky.

Founded in 2020, the ensemble combines a large symphonic and wind orchestra, and its repertoire amounts to around 500 works — ranging from Russian and Western European classics to contemporary music. In 2024, the State Kremlin Orchestra won the international BraVo Award in the "Orchestra of the Year" category. Since its inception, the collective has been led by Konstantin Chudovsky — a student of Gennady Rozhdestvensky — who has worked with leading symphonic ensembles and opera houses in Russia and abroad.

The first two scores reveal the most vibrant, outwardly spectacular side of a large orchestra. Tchaikovsky’s Slavyanskiy Marsh (Marche Slave/Slavonic March) grew directly out of the events of its time: the composer wrote it in 1876 for a charity concert to aid casualties of the Serbo-Turkish War, incorporating authentic Serbian folk themes. In contrast, the world of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade is entirely detached from historical reality, standing as one of the most famous fairy-tale scores in music history. It is here that the composer’s orchestral mastery and delicate sense of timbre manifest in full. The innovations of Scheherazade largely defined the future development of symphonic music, resonating in the works of Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel.

The Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy opens up a different lineage in Russian symphonism. Composed by a young Tchaikovsky in 1869 and finalized ten years later, it marks the genesis of his mature dramatic method. Rather than retelling the Shakespearean plot, it compresses the narrative into a clash of opposing forces: enmity, love, and fatal destiny. This concentration of conflict would later become a defining hallmark of Tchaikovsky's symphonic thinking.

More than half a century spans from Marche Slave to the program’s final piece, Symphonic Dances — an era that witnessed revolution, emigration, world wars, and the collapse of a familiar world. Rachmaninoff completed the Dances in 1940 in America, at a time when the Russia of Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov was already a thing of the past.

The music itself reveals that Symphonic Dances served as Rachmaninoff's ultimate retrospective on his own journey. The first movement introduces a theme from his First Symphony — the very piece whose catastrophic premiere became one of the most painful episodes of Rachmaninoff's youth. In the finale, the Dies irae theme reaches its climax — a medieval Catholic chant about the Last Judgment that had drifted from one Rachmaninoff composition to another for decades. In that same final movement, it is answered by a theme from Vsénoshchnoye bdéniye (All-Night Vigil), written by the composer two years before his emigration and considered one of the primary monuments of 20th-century Russian sacred music.

Symphonic Dances turned out to be Rachmaninoff's last completed work. With the unerring intuition of an artist summarizing a lifetime of experience and creation, the composer gathers the voices of his past into a single, profound statement about time and the grief of loss.

Age Rating: 6+

MAIN STAGE

MASTERPIECES OF RUSSIAN MUSIC

November

7:00
pm

24

"Concerts of the season"

State Kremlin Orchestra

Artistic Director and Chief Conductor: Konstantin Chudovsky
"Masters of Choral Singing" Grand Choir of the Orpheus TV and Radio Center
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor: Lev Kontorovich (People's Artist of Russia)


PROGRAM

Part 1

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840−1893)
Finale from Symphony No. 7 in E-flat major (reconstructed by Sergei Taneyev)

Sergei Taneyev (1856−1915)
Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 12
I. Allegro molto
II. Adagio
III. Scherzo. Vivace
IV. Finale. Allegro energico — Molto maestoso

Part 2

Vasily Kalinnikov (1866−1901)
Symphony No. 1 in G minor
II. Andante commodamente

Sergei Taneyev (1856−1915)
Overture on a Russian Theme

Cantata Ioann Damaskin (John of Damascus), Op. 1
I. Adagio non troppo ("Idu V Nevedomiy Mne Put'" / I start on an unknown path)
II. Andante sostenuto ("No Vechnym Snom Poka Ya Splu" / But while I sleep eternal)
III. Fuga. Allegro ("V Tot Den', Kogda Truba" / On the day when the trumpet)

Program subject to change.

Concert Duration: 1 hour and 37 minutes with an intermission.

On November 25, marking the 170th anniversary of Sergei Taneyev’s birth, the Sirius tour of the State Kremlin Orchestra will continue with a program dedicated to the composer and his legacy.

Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev belongs to that rare class of Russian musical figures whose significance cannot be reduced to a single role. A composer, pianist, pedagogue, music theorist, one of the greatest intellectuals of his time, and an active public figure, he remained a man of endless kindness and crystal-clear integrity. "The Conscience of Musical Moscow" — a title never officially bestowed yet universally recognized — belonged to Taneyev as a token of his flawless devotion to his chosen path.

In Taneyev's work, the artist and the thinker constantly debated and complemented one another. He sought order, precision, and completeness in art, yet he remained a deeply feeling, emotionally sensitive creator. This synthesis of the ethical and the aesthetic, rare for the turn of the 20th century, shaped the very nature of his music — restrained and chaste in its reflection of reality, tender in its expression of feelings, and imbued with a steadfast faith in the noble purpose of culture.

This vision of artistic devotion also guided Taneyev’s approach towards the legacy of other composers. He frequently completed and edited their works, treating this effort not as a technical chore, but as part of a grand mission to preserve musical heritage. In 1891, two years before his death, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conceived a new symphony with the programmatic title Zhizn' (Life), juxtaposing monumental tragic themes: life and death, creation and destruction. However, the composer soon abandoned the project, leaving the piece entirely in sketches. Following Tchaikovsky’s passing, Taneyev turned to the drafts of the Andante and Finale, completing and orchestrating them. On November 25, the orchestra will perform the finale of this work, which later became known informally as the Seventh Symphony.

The Symphony No. 4 in C minor will serve as a symphonic portrait of Taneyev himself. In order of composition, it was indeed his fourth, but it was the very first symphony to which the discerning author chose to assign an opus number. While mirroring Tchaikovsky’s lineage in several aspects, Taneyev relies heavily on the principles of Beethovenian symphonism. The very concept of the work and its key — C minor — have unmistakable archetypes of Ludwig van Beethoven style. This anchors the compositional logic of the cycle, leading from the austere drama of the first movement to an intense struggle and a triumphant apotheosis in the finale.

The lyrical framing for this symphonic portrait will be the Andante from the Symphony No. 1 by his younger contemporary, Vasily Kalinnikov. In 1896, Kalinnikov shared the score of his symphony with Taneyev, who spent several hours analyzing it in detail with the young author and, to Kalinnikov's surprise, praised the work highly. It is in this symphony that Kalinnikov’s lyrical gift fully unfolds — its enchanting melodic richness, gentle colors, and radiant lyricism steeped in deep love for Russian nature and folk song.

The program’s crowning finale will be one of the pinnacles of Taneyev's vocal-symphonic output — Ioann Damaskin (John of Damascus) cantata, written in memory of Nikolai Rubinstein and justly referred to as the "Russian Requiem." This masterpiece is unique in every sense of the word: with it Taneyev became the first philosophical-lyrical cantata composer in the country’s history. The artistic character of the work is equally extraordinary, absorbing a vast kaleidoscope of meanings and imagery: an austere orchestral introduction based on So Svyatymi Upokoy (With the Saints Give Rest) chant, the soulful lyricism of the first movement akin to the Russian romance, magnificent polyphonic technique, a resolute Bach-like thematicism in the finale — and the poetry of Alexei Tolstoy, which blends hagiographical canon with a romantic worldview, bridging reflections on death and grief — with the hope for life eternal.

For the performance of the cantata, the State Kremlin Orchestra will be joined by the renowned Grand Choir "Masters of Choral Singing" — an ensemble with nearly a century of history and one of Russia's leading choirs — conducted by People's Artist of Russia Lev Kontorovich.

Age Rating: 6+

MAIN STAGE

TANEYEV — 170

November

7:00
pm

25

"Educational events"

About the Lecturer

Artem M. Vargaftik is a music critic, television and radio host, and cellist, also widely recognized for his awareness-building about the world of classical music. His voice is well known to listeners of "Mayak" and "Radio Rossii. Kultura," while television audiences know him as the founder and permanent host of Partitury Ne Goryat (Scores Don’t Burn) and Orkestrovaya Yama (The Orchestra Pit) programs. These projects earned Artem Vargaftik two prestigious "TEFI" awards of the Russian television industry.

Artem Mikhailovich possesses a rare gift for speaking about classical music clearly, engagingly, yet without oversimplification. His extensive experience as a music commentator and his long-standing collaboration with the Moscow State Philharmonic Society make him a key figure in any educational project.

Age Rating 6+

Chamber Hall

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

December

7:00
pm

11

"Educational events"

About the Lecturer

Artem M. Vargaftik is a music critic, television and radio host, and cellist, also widely recognized for his awareness-building about the world of classical music. His voice is well known to listeners of "Mayak" and "Radio Rossii. Kultura," while television audiences know him as the founder and permanent host of Partitury Ne Goryat (Scores Don’t Burn) and Orkestrovaya Yama (The Orchestra Pit) programs. These projects earned Artem Vargaftik two prestigious "TEFI" awards of the Russian television industry.

Artem Mikhailovich possesses a rare gift for speaking about classical music clearly, engagingly, yet without oversimplification. His extensive experience as a music commentator and his long-standing collaboration with the Moscow State Philharmonic Society make him a key figure in any educational project.

About the Quartet

The Taneyev Quartet was founded in 1946 within the Leningrad Conservatory.

In 1951, it became the official string quartet of the Leningrad Philharmonic.

In 1963, the ensemble was named after the prominent Russian composer Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev.

Over its decades of artistic activity, the quartet has given over 6,000 concerts and recorded more than 150 works for radio and recording studios. The ensemble has shared the stage with such legendary musicians as David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Eliso Virsaladze, Bella Davidovich, and many other outstanding performers.

Following the passing of the quartet’s permanent first violinist, Vladimir Ovcharek, in 2007, musicians from the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (Honored Collective of Russia) joined the ensemble. As students of their predecessors, they continue the finest traditions of chamber music performance.

The current lineup of the Taneyev Quartet maintains an active concert schedule in Russia and abroad. They are regular participants in major music festivals, including Taneyevskiy (The Taneyev Festival), Muzykal’naya Ekspeditsiya (Musical Expedition), and Bezumnye Dni (Crazy Days), and continue to record various chamber works.

*This material is sourced from the official website of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia.

Age Rating 6+

Chamber Hall

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

December

5:00
pm

12

"Educational events"

The life and work of the Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler deserves description by the finest novelists from the golden age of literature. His entire life is a story told in eleven symphonies. One of the greatest symphonists of the turn of the 20th century, he received true worldwide recognition as a composer only half a century after his death. He spared no effort neither in his work nor life, his sole purpose being to create — his music representing a "shattered consciousness," as expressed by the Russian musicologist Ivan Sollertinsky.

Mahler took the world’s imperfections close to heart, suffered from them, and searched for true peace, possibly achieving it in life eternal. He created a remarkable art that reflected the mood of an era —Western Europe on the eve of World War I. He was a tragic artist with romantic aspirations that dissolved before his very eyes, and his soul was like a boundless ocean of human passions.

During the lecture, attendees will be introduced to Gustav Mahler’s most famous symphonies: No. 5, No. 6 and No. 9.

Age Rating: 6+

Musical Reception Room

"gustav mAHLER: THE SOUNDS OF A CITY"

December

7:00
pm

9

"Sirius New Year's
Music Festival"

State Academic Mariinsky Theatre

Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Stage Director: Alexei Stepanyuk
Set Designer: Alexander Orlov
Costume Designer: Irina Cherednikova
Lighting Designer: Alexander Sivayev
Video Graphics: Victoria Zlotnikova
Choreographer: Ilya Ustyantsev
Principal Répétiteur: Irina Soboleva
Principal Chorus Master: Konstantin Rylov

PROGRAM

Rodion Shchedrin (1932−2025)
Rozhdestvenskaya Skazka (A Christmas Tale) Opera

Libretto by the composer, adapted from the fairy tale by Božena Němcová (in Nikolai Leskov’s Russian translation) and Russian folk tales

New Year’s performances by the Mariinsky Theatre have already become a cherished tradition at Sirius — in December 2022, its Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev opened the very first New Year’s Music Festival. This season, the company brings Rodion Shchedrin’s opera, a staple of its winter playbill for over a decade. In Rozhdestvenskaya Skazka (A Christmas Tale), the familiar story of the Twelve Months receives an unexpected twist: the composer preserves the folk-print charm of a traditional fairy tale while generously seasoning it with topical satire and mischievous wit.

The story unfolds on December 31. Preparing for her New Year’s ball, the Queen demands that the palace be filled with the fragrance of her favorite forest violets. A sack of gold is promised for the blossoms — which, naturally, are nowhere to be found in the dead of winter. At first, events follow the classic fairy-tale blueprint: a trek into the woods, a miraculous encounter with the Twelve Month brothers, and a return with a basket overflowing with violets. At the palace, however, the sudden appearance of the flowers arouses suspicion, and the Stepmother and her daughter Zlydnya are forced to take a lie-detector test.

Shchedrin penned the libretto himself, drawing on Czech writer Božena Němcová's tale (as translated by Nikolai Leskov) alongside motifs from Russian folklore. The plot proved remarkably receptive to modern-day realities: among the fairy-tale characters, it is easy to recognize capricious rulers and opportunists chasing easy riches. The 83-year-old master’s playful irreverence even leads the month of May to excuse his late arrival by quipping, "This year, because of sanctions, we got held up a bit…"

Shchedrin brings the same inventiveness and freedom to the score. Spoken dialogue scenes in the spirit of musical theater alternate with intricate vocal ensembles and choral numbers, while the orchestra brings together an eclectic lineup: marimba, celesta, synthesizer, domra, glockenspiel, harpsichord, and even crotales — tiny metal cymbals known since ancient Greece.

Stage director Alexei Stepanyuk, set designer Alexander Orlov, and costume designer Irina Cherednikova wholeheartedly embraced the carnival spirit of the score. On stage, a colorful crowd of mummers — harlequins, Native Americans, Ded Moroz (Father Frost), gentlemen in bowler hats, and figures sporting long rabbit ears — gives way to marching ranks of dashing guardsmen in gleaming Prussian helmets and twelve towering giants in pointed headdresses.

Throughout its history, the Mariinsky Theatre — for which Rozhdestvenskaya Skazka was composed — has repeatedly served as the birthplace of operatic masterpieces. It was on this stage that Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden), and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Pikovaya Dama (The Queen of Spades) and Iolanta first saw the light of day. That tradition of premieres continues today, as the theater regularly champions contemporary composers and commissions new works.

Decades of creative partnership and genuine friendship bound Rodion Shchedrin to Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre. Shchedrin composed his Levsha (The Left-Hander) and Rozhdestvenskaya Skazka specifically for its stage, dedicating both to the maestro and the company. He was personally involved in preparing Rozhdestvenskaya Skazka, working closely with the cast during rehearsals. On December 26, 2015, the opera premiered under Valery Gergiev’s baton, launching the Mariinsky’s own Christmas tradition — and who knows, perhaps this fairy tale is about to gain a second permanent holiday home on the Black Sea coast.

Age Rating: 6+

Main Stage

RODION SHCHEDRIN. "ROZHDESTVENSKAYA SKAZKA" (A CHRISTMAS TALE) OPERA

January

7:00
pm

7

"Sirius New Year's
Music Festival"

State Academic Mariinsky Theatre

Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Stage Director: Alexei Stepanyuk
Set Designer: Alexander Orlov
Costume Designer: Irina Cherednikova
Lighting Designer: Alexander Sivayev
Video Graphics: Victoria Zlotnikova
Choreographer: Ilya Ustyantsev
Principal Répétiteur: Irina Soboleva
Principal Chorus Master: Konstantin Rylov

PROGRAM

Rodion Shchedrin (1932−2025)
Rozhdestvenskaya Skazka (A Christmas Tale) Opera

Libretto by the composer, adapted from the fairy tale by Božena Němcová (in Nikolai Leskov’s Russian translation) and Russian folk tales

New Year’s performances by the Mariinsky Theatre have already become a cherished tradition at Sirius — in December 2022, its Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev opened the very first New Year’s Music Festival. This season, the company brings Rodion Shchedrin’s opera, a staple of its winter playbill for over a decade. In Rozhdestvenskaya Skazka (A Christmas Tale), the familiar story of the Twelve Months receives an unexpected twist: the composer preserves the folk-print charm of a traditional fairy tale while generously seasoning it with topical satire and mischievous wit.

The story unfolds on December 31. Preparing for her New Year’s ball, the Queen demands that the palace be filled with the fragrance of her favorite forest violets. A sack of gold is promised for the blossoms — which, naturally, are nowhere to be found in the dead of winter. At first, events follow the classic fairy-tale blueprint: a trek into the woods, a miraculous encounter with the Twelve Month brothers, and a return with a basket overflowing with violets. At the palace, however, the sudden appearance of the flowers arouses suspicion, and the Stepmother and her daughter Zlydnya are forced to take a lie-detector test.

Shchedrin penned the libretto himself, drawing on Czech writer Božena Němcová's tale (as translated by Nikolai Leskov) alongside motifs from Russian folklore. The plot proved remarkably receptive to modern-day realities: among the fairy-tale characters, it is easy to recognize capricious rulers and opportunists chasing easy riches. The 83-year-old master’s playful irreverence even leads the month of May to excuse his late arrival by quipping, "This year, because of sanctions, we got held up a bit…"

Shchedrin brings the same inventiveness and freedom to the score. Spoken dialogue scenes in the spirit of musical theater alternate with intricate vocal ensembles and choral numbers, while the orchestra brings together an eclectic lineup: marimba, celesta, synthesizer, domra, glockenspiel, harpsichord, and even crotales — tiny metal cymbals known since ancient Greece.

Stage director Alexei Stepanyuk, set designer Alexander Orlov, and costume designer Irina Cherednikova wholeheartedly embraced the carnival spirit of the score. On stage, a colorful crowd of mummers — harlequins, Native Americans, Ded Moroz (Father Frost), gentlemen in bowler hats, and figures sporting long rabbit ears — gives way to marching ranks of dashing guardsmen in gleaming Prussian helmets and twelve towering giants in pointed headdresses.

Throughout its history, the Mariinsky Theatre — for which Rozhdestvenskaya Skazka was composed — has repeatedly served as the birthplace of operatic masterpieces. It was on this stage that Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden), and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Pikovaya Dama (The Queen of Spades) and Iolanta first saw the light of day. That tradition of premieres continues today, as the theater regularly champions contemporary composers and commissions new works.

Decades of creative partnership and genuine friendship bound Rodion Shchedrin to Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre. Shchedrin composed his Levsha (The Left-Hander) and Rozhdestvenskaya Skazka specifically for its stage, dedicating both to the maestro and the company. He was personally involved in preparing Rozhdestvenskaya Skazka, working closely with the cast during rehearsals. On December 26, 2015, the opera premiered under Valery Gergiev’s baton, launching the Mariinsky’s own Christmas tradition — and who knows, perhaps this fairy tale is about to gain a second permanent holiday home on the Black Sea coast.

Age Rating: 6+

Main Stage

RODION SHCHEDRIN. "ROZHDESTVENSKAYA SKAZKA" (A CHRISTMAS TALE) OPERA

January

7:00
pm

8

"Sirius New Year's
Music Festival"

Nikolai A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1844−1908)
Noch Pered Rozhdestvom (Christmas Eve), Opera

Libretto by the composer, based on the eponymous novella from Nikolai Gogol’s Vechera Na Khutore Bliz Dekan’ki (Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka) cycle

Musical and dramatic adaptation by Evgeny Brazhnik and Georgiy Isaakyan

Musical Director: Evgeny Brazhnik
Conductor: Sergey Mikheev
Stage Director: Georgiy Isaakyan
Set Designer: Stanislav Fesko
Costume Designer: Maria Krivtsova
Lighting Designer: Sergey Martynov
Chorus Master: Vera Davydova
Video Designer: Maria Stepanova

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov famously subtitled his opera Noch Pered Rozhdestvom (Christmas Eve) — adapted from Nikolai Gogol’s beloved novella in the Vechera Na Khutore Bliz Dekan’ki (Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka) cycle — a "true-story carol." This unusual genre definition perfectly captures the spirit of Gogol's tale, which blends the vibrant colors of folk life with whimsical fantasy, sparkling humor, and the magic of Christmas night.

The story, familiar to nearly everyone, begins with the mischief of dark forces: on Christmas Eve, the moon vanishes from the sky, stolen by the Devil in a plot to prevent the lovesick blacksmith Vakula from meeting the beautiful Oksana. Yet winning the young woman’s hand proves difficult enough even without demonic interference — in exchange for her consent to marry him, she demands a pair of slippers worn by the Empress herself. Meanwhile, Vakula’s mother, Solokha, has romantic complications of her own; to keep her numerous admirers from running into one another, the resourceful hostess hides them one by one inside coal sacks. For the sake of his beloved, however, Vakula embarks on a far more daring adventure: he saddles the Devil himself and rides him straight to St. Petersburg.

Composed in the 1890s, Noch Pered Rozhdestvom was the fifth of Rimsky-Korsakov's fifteen operas. A supreme master of the musical fairy tale, the composer brought Gogol’s story to life in the grand Russian opera tradition. Beneath its apparent lightness and storybook charm lies an expansive score featuring sweeping folk scenes, intricate vocal ensembles, ballet divertissements, and richly colored orchestral episodes.

At the Natalia Sats Musical Theatre, Noch Pered Rozhdestvom has found vibrant new life on stage. Musical director Evgeny Brazhnik and stage director Georgiy Isaakyan have created their own musical and dramatic adaptation of the opera, pacing the action to be more dynamic and accessible for younger audiences while preserving the core enchantment of Rimsky-Korsakov's score: the warmth of folk revelry and the radiant joy of Christmas.

Age Rating: 6+

Main Stage

NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV. "NOCH PERED ROZHDESTVOM" (CHRISTMAS EVE)

January

2:00
pm

4

"Sirius New Year's
Music Festival"

Nikolai A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1844−1908)
Noch Pered Rozhdestvom (Christmas Eve), Opera

Libretto by the composer, based on the eponymous novella from Nikolai Gogol’s Vechera Na Khutore Bliz Dekan’ki (Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka) cycle

Musical and dramatic adaptation by Evgeny Brazhnik and Georgiy Isaakyan

Musical Director: Evgeny Brazhnik
Conductor: Sergey Mikheev
Stage Director: Georgiy Isaakyan
Set Designer: Stanislav Fesko
Costume Designer: Maria Krivtsova
Lighting Designer: Sergey Martynov
Chorus Master: Vera Davydova
Video Designer: Maria Stepanova

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov famously subtitled his opera Noch Pered Rozhdestvom (Christmas Eve) — adapted from Nikolai Gogol’s beloved novella in the Vechera Na Khutore Bliz Dekan’ki (Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka) cycle — a "true-story carol." This unusual genre definition perfectly captures the spirit of Gogol's tale, which blends the vibrant colors of folk life with whimsical fantasy, sparkling humor, and the magic of Christmas night.

The story, familiar to nearly everyone, begins with the mischief of dark forces: on Christmas Eve, the moon vanishes from the sky, stolen by the Devil in a plot to prevent the lovesick blacksmith Vakula from meeting the beautiful Oksana. Yet winning the young woman’s hand proves difficult enough even without demonic interference — in exchange for her consent to marry him, she demands a pair of slippers worn by the Empress herself. Meanwhile, Vakula’s mother, Solokha, has romantic complications of her own; to keep her numerous admirers from running into one another, the resourceful hostess hides them one by one inside coal sacks. For the sake of his beloved, however, Vakula embarks on a far more daring adventure: he saddles the Devil himself and rides him straight to St. Petersburg.

Composed in the 1890s, Noch Pered Rozhdestvom was the fifth of Rimsky-Korsakov's fifteen operas. A supreme master of the musical fairy tale, the composer brought Gogol’s story to life in the grand Russian opera tradition. Beneath its apparent lightness and storybook charm lies an expansive score featuring sweeping folk scenes, intricate vocal ensembles, ballet divertissements, and richly colored orchestral episodes.

At the Natalia Sats Musical Theatre, Noch Pered Rozhdestvom has found vibrant new life on stage. Musical director Evgeny Brazhnik and stage director Georgiy Isaakyan have created their own musical and dramatic adaptation of the opera, pacing the action to be more dynamic and accessible for younger audiences while preserving the core enchantment of Rimsky-Korsakov's score: the warmth of folk revelry and the radiant joy of Christmas.

Age Rating: 6+

Main Stage

NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV. "NOCH PERED ROZHDESTVOM" (CHRISTMAS EVE)

January

7:00
pm

4

"Sirius New Year's
Music Festival"

Mikhail Krassev (1897−1954)
Morozko Fairy-Tale Opera in Two Acts

Libretto by Mikhail Krasev and Elena Valina

Stage Director: Vladimir Akulov
Set Designer: Stanislav Fesko
Costume Designer: Natalia Osmolovskaya
Lighting Designer: Sergey Martynov
Conductor: Sergey Mikheev
Associate Director: Alexander Leonov
Chorus Masters: Dmitry Brashovyan, Ksenia Kulakova

Rehearsal Choreographer: Elena Chernova

Who doesn’t remember kindhearted Nastenka, her stern stepmother, and spoiled Marfushenka from childhood? The timeless charm of this beloved Russian folk tale once captivated Natalya Sats herself: on November 21, 1965, Morozko became the very first production staged by the Children’s Musical Theater she founded.

The music was composed by Mikhail Krasev, celebrated for his many works for young audiences, including the classic Russian New Year’s song Malen’koy yolochke kholodno zimoy (The Little Fir Tree Is Cold in Winter). Exactly half a century after its historic premiere, in 2015, Morozko returned to the theater’s stage. Director Vladimir Akulov and set designer Stanislav Fesko created a fresh, contemporary, and dynamic production featuring enchanting sets that bring a dense winter forest and a glittering ice palace to life.

In the opera, the familiar fairy-tale heroines go by different names: the gentle stepdaughter is called Dunya, while the stepmother’s spoiled daughter is named Froska. All the household chores fall on Dunya’s shoulders, yet even that is not enough for her stepmother, who one day sends the girl out into the snow-covered woods to gather firewood. Amid towering snowdrifts and fir trees, Dunya befriends the woodland creatures and rescues a little hare from a wolf — and in gratitude, the animals guide her to the palace of Morozko (Father Frost). There, the girl receives a warm welcome and a generous reward for her kindness and hard work. Envious Froska, who sets off after Dunya hoping for the same riches, faces a very different encounter with the ruler of the winter forest.

In Morozko, Mikhail Krasev carries forward the tradition of the Russian fairy-tale opera, a genre perfected by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. This lineage shines through in the richly colored orchestration, where the shadowy, mysterious sounds of the winter woods give way to crystalline harp glissandos heralding the appearance of the ice palace. Equally reminiscent of his great predecessor is Krassev’s embrace of Russian folk song traditions, spanning heartfelt melodies, lively chastushki (humorous folk ditties), and expansive choral scenes.

The opera’s score has won the hearts of generations of children. An essay published in the Melodiya record label bulletin in 1983 preserved the touching story of eight-year-old Muscovite Viktoria Vodopyanova, who knew Morozko almost by heart despite having experienced the production solely through a vinyl recording. Today, the fairy tale features a new generation of performers and young theatergoers — with every reason to believe it will enchant them just as deeply.

Age Rating: 6+

Main Stage

"MOROZKO" OPERA

January

12:00
pm

5

"Sirius New Year's
Music Festival"

Mikhail Krassev (1897−1954)
Morozko Fairy-Tale Opera in Two Acts

Libretto by Mikhail Krasev and Elena Valina

Stage Director: Vladimir Akulov
Set Designer: Stanislav Fesko
Costume Designer: Natalia Osmolovskaya
Lighting Designer: Sergey Martynov
Conductor: Sergey Mikheev
Associate Director: Alexander Leonov
Chorus Masters: Dmitry Brashovyan, Ksenia Kulakova

Rehearsal Choreographer: Elena Chernova

Who doesn’t remember kindhearted Nastenka, her stern stepmother, and spoiled Marfushenka from childhood? The timeless charm of this beloved Russian folk tale once captivated Natalya Sats herself: on November 21, 1965, Morozko became the very first production staged by the Children’s Musical Theater she founded.

The music was composed by Mikhail Krasev, celebrated for his many works for young audiences, including the classic Russian New Year’s song Malen’koy yolochke kholodno zimoy (The Little Fir Tree Is Cold in Winter). Exactly half a century after its historic premiere, in 2015, Morozko returned to the theater’s stage. Director Vladimir Akulov and set designer Stanislav Fesko created a fresh, contemporary, and dynamic production featuring enchanting sets that bring a dense winter forest and a glittering ice palace to life.

In the opera, the familiar fairy-tale heroines go by different names: the gentle stepdaughter is called Dunya, while the stepmother’s spoiled daughter is named Froska. All the household chores fall on Dunya’s shoulders, yet even that is not enough for her stepmother, who one day sends the girl out into the snow-covered woods to gather firewood. Amid towering snowdrifts and fir trees, Dunya befriends the woodland creatures and rescues a little hare from a wolf — and in gratitude, the animals guide her to the palace of Morozko (Father Frost). There, the girl receives a warm welcome and a generous reward for her kindness and hard work. Envious Froska, who sets off after Dunya hoping for the same riches, faces a very different encounter with the ruler of the winter forest.

In Morozko, Mikhail Krasev carries forward the tradition of the Russian fairy-tale opera, a genre perfected by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. This lineage shines through in the richly colored orchestration, where the shadowy, mysterious sounds of the winter woods give way to crystalline harp glissandos heralding the appearance of the ice palace. Equally reminiscent of his great predecessor is Krassev’s embrace of Russian folk song traditions, spanning heartfelt melodies, lively chastushki (humorous folk ditties), and expansive choral scenes.

The opera’s score has won the hearts of generations of children. An essay published in the Melodiya record label bulletin in 1983 preserved the touching story of eight-year-old Muscovite Viktoria Vodopyanova, who knew Morozko almost by heart despite having experienced the production solely through a vinyl recording. Today, the fairy tale features a new generation of performers and young theatergoers — with every reason to believe it will enchant them just as deeply.

Age Rating: 6+

Main Stage

"MOROZKO" OPERA

January

4:00
pm

5

"Sirius New Year's
Music Festival"

Alexander Grechaninov (1864−1956)
Zhenitba (Marriage) opera based on the eponymous comedy by Nikolai Gogol

Conductor: Sergey Mikheev
Stage Director: Alexander Leonov
Set & Costume Designer: Anna Nezhnaya

Lighting Designer: Ildar Bederdinov

Alexander Grechaninov composed his musical adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s comedy in 1946 — ten years before his death — while living in exile in New York. He was already 82 years old. Far from his homeland and loved ones, during what was hardly the happiest chapter of his life, he paradoxically turned to one of Gogol’s most sparkling plays.

Back in the 19th century, Modest Mussorgsky had set out to bring the play to the operatic stage, aiming to set Gogol’s prose verbatim to music, though he left the work unfinished. In many respects, Grechaninov followed in his predecessor’s footsteps: he preserved almost the entire original text and abandoned traditional set-piece numbers in favor of recitative-style dialogue that captures the lively cadences of Gogol’s speech.

Setting aside conventional operatic forms, however, did not mean breaking with classical musical heritage. Written in the mid-20th century, the score contains not a hint of the avant-garde. Grechaninov remained faithful to the late-Romantic idiom of the Russian compositional school, marked by expansive lyricism and rich harmonic colors. Following Gogol’s lead, he portrays the manners of the merchant and petty-bourgeois classes with subtle humor, drawing on the inflections of parlor songs and romances, and occasionally weaving in direct folk quotations.

Zhenitba (Marriage) had a long road to the stage. After its final scene was performed at the Tanglewood Music Festival in the United States in 1948, another two years passed before the opera received its full premiere in Paris at the Russian Chamber Theatre. Grechaninov dreamed of seeing Zhenit’ba staged in his homeland and even sent a vocal score to Moscow, yet his hopes went unfulfilled during his lifetime. It was not until 2009 that the Natalya Sats Musical Theatre presented the Russian premiere to mark Gogol’s bicentenary — and to this day, it remains the only Moscow stage where Grechaninov’s rare opera can be seen.

Alexander Leonov’s production avoids theatrical excess. Together with designer Anna Nezhnaya and lighting designer Ildar Bederdinov, the director creates an understated, almost intimate domestic setting that allows the vibrant costumes and witty stage blocking to shine. It is in this chamber staging that Zhenitba will make its debut before audiences at Sirius — and, one hopes, certainly not for the last time.

Age Rating: 12+

Chamber Hall

"ZHENITBA" (MARRIAGE) OPERA

January

4:00
pm

6

"Sirius New Year's
Music Festival"

Alexander Grechaninov (1864−1956)
Zhenitba (Marriage) opera based on the eponymous comedy by Nikolai Gogol

Conductor: Sergey Mikheev
Stage Director: Alexander Leonov
Set & Costume Designer: Anna Nezhnaya

Lighting Designer: Ildar Bederdinov

Alexander Grechaninov composed his musical adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s comedy in 1946 — ten years before his death — while living in exile in New York. He was already 82 years old. Far from his homeland and loved ones, during what was hardly the happiest chapter of his life, he paradoxically turned to one of Gogol’s most sparkling plays.

Back in the 19th century, Modest Mussorgsky had set out to bring the play to the operatic stage, aiming to set Gogol’s prose verbatim to music, though he left the work unfinished. In many respects, Grechaninov followed in his predecessor’s footsteps: he preserved almost the entire original text and abandoned traditional set-piece numbers in favor of recitative-style dialogue that captures the lively cadences of Gogol’s speech.

Setting aside conventional operatic forms, however, did not mean breaking with classical musical heritage. Written in the mid-20th century, the score contains not a hint of the avant-garde. Grechaninov remained faithful to the late-Romantic idiom of the Russian compositional school, marked by expansive lyricism and rich harmonic colors. Following Gogol’s lead, he portrays the manners of the merchant and petty-bourgeois classes with subtle humor, drawing on the inflections of parlor songs and romances, and occasionally weaving in direct folk quotations.

Zhenitba (Marriage) had a long road to the stage. After its final scene was performed at the Tanglewood Music Festival in the United States in 1948, another two years passed before the opera received its full premiere in Paris at the Russian Chamber Theatre. Grechaninov dreamed of seeing Zhenit’ba staged in his homeland and even sent a vocal score to Moscow, yet his hopes went unfulfilled during his lifetime. It was not until 2009 that the Natalya Sats Musical Theatre presented the Russian premiere to mark Gogol’s bicentenary — and to this day, it remains the only Moscow stage where Grechaninov’s rare opera can be seen.

Alexander Leonov’s production avoids theatrical excess. Together with designer Anna Nezhnaya and lighting designer Ildar Bederdinov, the director creates an understated, almost intimate domestic setting that allows the vibrant costumes and witty stage blocking to shine. It is in this chamber staging that Zhenitba will make its debut before audiences at Sirius — and, one hopes, certainly not for the last time.

Age Rating: 12+

Chamber Hall

"ZHENITBA" (MARRIAGE) OPERA

January

7:00
pm

6