May 21, Monday
19.00 Opening of the 5th St. Petersburg International New Music Festival “reMusik.org”. (Concert hall of the Mariinsky theater – Dekabristov street, 37). The events of the Festival will be held at various concert venues in St. Petersburg, such as: the Mariinsky Theater Concert Hall, the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater, Annenkirche, St. Petersburg State Conservatory and others. The six-day festival of this year will present concerts with the participation of famous bands specializing in the performance of new music, such as: Ensemble intercontemporain (France), Ensemble of Nomads (Switzerland), NeoQuartet (Poland), GAM- Ensemble (Russia), Ensemble Fractales (Belgium), Electric Primitivo (Switzerland), Ensemble 2e2m (France), as well as a concert of experimental improvisation and electroacoustics performed by the Swiss duo Jock Lanza (electronics), Jonas Kocher (accordion) and Russian musicians. The main guests of the festival will be composers Gary Berger (Switzerland), Claude Ledoux (Belgium) and Frank Bedroussian (France).
19.00 Gala evening dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the conductor Valery Gergiev (Atrium of the General Staff building). The program of the evening will feature works by Tchaikovsky, Handel, Beethoven, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov and others. The audience will be congratulated by the orchestra of the Music Hall theater under the baton of Fabio Mastrangelo, soloist of the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic Ekaterina Mechetina, soloists of the Mariinsky Theater Ekaterina Sergeeva and Mikhail Vekua, laureate of international contests Nini Chen (China), laureates of the Nutcracker TV contest Sofya Tyurina, Anton Kobozev, Maria Pavlenko and Pavel Mnatsakanov, as well as the Boys Choir of St. Petersburg under the direction of Vadim Pchelkin.
May 23, Wednesday
21.00 Grand Opening of the XXVI Festival Palaces of St. Petersburg (State Hermitage, Armorial Hall). XXVI International Music Festival Palaces of St. Petersburg will be held from May 23 to July 1, 2018. The festival traditionally holds a high bar of musical quality and is sensitive to the latest trends of the time: this season, guests will be able to attend concerts not only in traditional palace halls, but also get acquainted with new venues. The great classics will sound in the walls of the Hermitage, the Mikhailovsky Castle, the Konstantinovsky palace, the palace of merchants Eliseevs (Taleon Imperial Hotel), throne hall of the Catherine palace in Tsarskoye Selo. The festival will feature opera stars Steven Costello and Nicole Cabellle; violinist-virtuoso, descendant of the famous dynasty of Francois Pinot-Benois (France); charismatic French conductor Nicolas Krause; the brilliant pianist Krzysztof Jablonski; one of the brightest young pianists of our time, Daniel Lebhardt; favorites of the Petersburg public saxophonist Federico Mondelchi and accordionist-virtuoso Simone Zankini, art director of the Festival, Honored Artist of Russia, violinist Maria Safaryants and other stars of the world and Russian scene.
May 24, Thursday
15.00 Opening of the First International Festival of Circus Art “On the Fontanka” (Embankment of the Fontanka River, 3). The event is timed to coincide with two important dates – the day of the city’s foundation on the Neva and the anniversary, the 140-th season of the circus. On these days the creative teams of artists from Russia, China, North Korea, Ukraine, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Turkmenistan and other countries will be represented at the famous arena. At the end of the festival, on the City Day, there will be a circus parade, where the participants of the performances, led by the largest circus performers – elephants – will follow the column in the center of St. Petersburg.
19.00 Organ evening “Bach and the Baroque World”. Soloist: Laureate of international competitions Natalia Leyuk, with the participation of the artists of the theater of the historical dance “Small Trianon”. (Tavrichesky Palace, Shpalernaya street, 47). Entrance to the palace only if you have a passport and a ticket.
May 25, Friday
10.00 The beginning of the work of the exhibition “Sculptures of Salvador Dali” (Museum of Modern Art “Erarta” – 29th line of Vassilievskiy island, 2). The Erarta Museum presents an exhibition of sculptures by Salvador Dali, the most famous surrealist artist in the world. In addition to painting, Dali left a contribution to a wide variety of art fields. He was widely recognized as a writer, illustrator, jewelry designer, director and sculptor. A deep study of Dali’s work with sculpture was the goal of this exhibition.
11.00 The beginning of the exhibition “Cosmos. History of people» (KGallery – Embankment of the Fontanka River, 24). Exhibition is intended to open for a wide audience the names of individuals who made an invaluable contribution to the development of Russian cosmonautics and are remaining “behind the scenes”. Who was at the source of the most ambitious Soviet project – the orbital ship-rocket “Buran”? Who invented the emblem of the legendary international space program “Soyuz-Apollo”? Who sent Belka and Strelka to space? Who designed the reconnaissance satellite Zenit? Who created futuristic working tools for working on board? At the exhibition in KGallery, visitors will learn the history of the creators of the space program of the USSR and see unique documents and artifacts related to their activities. For the first time rare materials from private archives will be presented. The exposition will also include previously classified objects from the use of cosmonauts, developed by the experimental research workshops.
19.00 Premiere of the opera by Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Tsar’s Bride” directed by Alexander Petrov, director and conductor Paul Bubelnikov (St. Petersburg State Children’s Musical Theater “Through the Looking Glass” – Rubinstein street, 13,.).
19.00 “Flor de Lino” – premiere of the “Terem-Quartet” program (State Academic Chapel of St. Petersburg – Moika Embankment, 20). “Terem-Quartet” will present the program “Flor de Lino”, with the participation of the Argentine tenor Carlos D’Onofrio and Cuban percussionist Joel Gonzalez. The new program will include masterpieces of Russian and Latin love poetry: «Mano a mano» by Carlos Gardel, “Quizas … ” by Osvaldo Perez,« Historia de un amor » by Carlos E. Almarana, ” Burnt by the sun ” by Jerzy Peterburg and, of course, the famous ” Besame mucho ” and « Por una cabeza ».
May 26, Saturday
11.00 XXII International Festival of decorative and applied art in the open air “Salt town – the city of masters” (at Solyany lane). The festival will be a gift to St. Petersburg from the Stieglitz Art Academy and one of the events of the celebration of the City Day. As part of the event, there will be free master classes, exhibitions and excursions, scientific conferences, a fashion show and a festive concert. More than 20 professional master classes in the open-air format will be presented this year by teachers, students and masters of the Academy. Anyone can try their hand at the art of ceramics, art forging, mosaic, hot artistic enamel, stained glass, painting on cloth and other kinds of art. Also, there will be a musical stage and an exhibition area.
15.00 “The Netherlands: Art Inspired by Russia”. Day of Dutch Culture in the Pavilion (New Holland island). An event is organized jointly with the Dutch Institute in St. Petersburg. On this day visitors of the island will be able to get acquainted with the Dutch literature, theater, photo and film art, the creators of which were inspired by Russia.
19.00 Concert of the blues band «Mama’s Bad Boys» (Netherlands – USA) (St. Petersburg Philharmonic of Jazz Music – Zagorodny prospekt, 27). The californian musician Lamar “King Bee” Chase had played with luminaries of the blues John Lee Hooker, Lowell Folson, with the musicians of the cult groups «Tower of Power», «Sly & The Family Stone» and Carlos Santana, and a native of New Jersey bassist Otis Rahim Hornsby had toured the United States with such stars as Jimmy Reed, Phyllis Hyman and Nancy Wilson. In the late 80-s they joined the Russian-Dutch drummer Anatoly Smirnov. Special guest of the program in the Philharmonic of jazz music is the famous Russian bluesman Don Hikaram (guitar, vocals).
21.00 Gala concert “Classics at the Palace square”, dedicated to the City Day – the day of the foundation of St. Petersburg (Palace square). The concert program will surprise fans of the classic art with the masterpieces of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Bizet, Verdi, Gounod, Strauss and other great composers. The headliner of the evening will be a brilliant duet of stars of the world opera: tenor Roberto Alagna and soprano Alexandra Kurzhak. ” Classics at the Palace square “. At the stage of the Winter Palace will perform the soloist of the Bolshoi theater Venus Gimadieva, honored artist of the Republic of Belarus Oksana Volkova, a soloist of the Vienna State Opera Pavel Kolgatin, soloist of Mariinsky theater Alexei Markov and soloists of the musical theater “Helikon-Opera” Alexey Tikhomirov and Valentina Nafornitsa. The dance part of the show will be decorated by the soloists of the Mikhailovsky theater, the “TODES” ballet by Alla Dukhova and the ballet dancers of the Leonid Yakobson theater.
May 27, Sunday
00.00 Passage through the raised Palace bridge by the rope walker Rasul Abakarov. On May 26 at 23.30 starts the new season of the sound show “Singing bridges”. The opening program will start half an hour before midnight on the Admiralteyskaya Embankment. There will be a light and music performance, accompanied by the Symphony orchestra of the “Music Hall” theater, directed by Fabio Mastrangelo. Musicians will perform popular and beloved tunes of St. Petersburg and Leningrad composers. At midnight on May 27, it is planned to breed the Palace Bridge and light the torches of the Rostral Columns. The culmination of the holiday will be the trick passage of the tightrope walker Rasul Abakarov in the alignments of the raised bridge.
12.00 Carnival procession of the first St. Petersburg International Festival of Circus Art (Fontanka river embankment near Belinskogo square – Nevsky prospekt). The largest festival of circus art will be held in St. Petersburg from May 24 to 27. Circuses from 20 countries – Russia, China, North Korea, Germany, Italy, Norway, Kenya, Kazakhstan and others, will show their amazing performances.
12.30 The parade of drummers at Nevsky Prospekt. The best, most titled bands and orchestras of drummers will come to the show-parade. Each of the teams represents different directions, styles, continents and epochs. The festive parade will be opened by the historical Petrovsky band of drummers and flutists. Spectators will see the unique performances and defile of bright costumed collectives. In the final of the show, for the first time ever, the Nevsky prospect will witness the creation of the most massive combined drummers’ orchestra in the history. It will be attended by about 1000 drummers who will simultaneously play a specially written composition dedicated to the anniversary of St. Petersburg.
16.00 XXIII International Festival “Musical Olympus” (St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic – Mikhaylovskaya street, 2). 17 musicians from eleven countries of the world (Russia, Great Britain, Italy, China, Colombia, Republic of Korea, Serbia, Singapore, Poland, France, Croatia and Ukraine) will take part in the four concerts of the festival.
19.00 Concert of Andrei Blinchevsky quartet (saxophone) with the participation of Daniel Nicholas (New York, USA) (St. Petersburg philharmonic of jazz music – Zagorodny prospekt, 27). This ensemble focuses on the sound of classical bebop and cool jazz. The leader of the ensemble Andrey Blinchevsky is a pupil of Gennady Holstein, he passed an internship at the USA program “Open World”, studied at the Dave Brubeck Institute under the guidance of famous jazz musicians: Dave Brubeck and Marvin Stamm. Daniel Nicholas is a brilliant guitarist from New York. Among the musicians with whom he collaborated, such names as Grant Stewart, Gregory Hutchinson and Harry Smulian.