In this country there are two truisms you absorb as easily and naturally as the air you breathe. One, Russian culture is rich and deep. Two, the Russian people have borne more than their share of the world's scourges.
The candid and impartial conclusion to be drawn from these two truisms is that Russian culture is a miracle. And the Stars of the White Nights International Music Festival celebrates that miracle.
Throughout history the Russian people have continually suffered the alternate evils of foreign invasion and tyrannical government. But Russians are uniquely resilient and tough-fibered. There is something special about Russia, something which runs deep, and which enables her to contribute to world culture to such a disproportionately high degree, in the teeth of adversity.
Russia is the birthplace of more than a dozen of the world's greatest composers, and Petersburg's musical life provided the learning and working environment for the great majority of them. At the same time, she has produced an unbroken succession of first-rate singers, instrumentalists, dancers, choreographers, and conductors.
Of the numerous music festivals of which Petersburg is justly proud, the White Nights is one of the most prestigious. From June 15-30, it encompasses all the media which have made Petersburg one of the musical centers of Europe: opera and ballet, symphony and choral concerts, chamber and solo recitals. As an international festival, the festival this year has attracted guest soloists and ensembles from Spain, Italy, France and Japan.
The city's most highly acclaimed musicians are contributing to the success of this year's festival. Special mention must be made of Valery Gergiyev, principal conductor of the Mariinsky Theater. Gergiyev performs yeoman's service for the festival, taking the podium for no fewer than 10 of the 31 events.
Gergiyev launches the festivities at the Mariinsky on June 15 with Shostakovich's opera, "Katerina Izmailova." The conductor invited Kiev Opera Artistic Director Irina Molostova, who had worked personally with the composer, to stage the original version of the opera, "The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District." But Molostova wrote a detailed reply to the conductor, arguing eloquently (and with the force of the composer's own wishes) for the revised opera, renamed "Katerina Izmailova." Gergiyev has graciously deferred -- but still entertains hopes of some day staging the original "Lady Macbeth."
A less enterprising conductor would content himself with the huge task of bringing a twentieth-century opera onto the stage. But "Katerina" is just one of three operatic productions which Gergiyev and the Mariinsky have prepared expressly for the festival. The queen of opera houses will also unveil premieres of Verdi's "Aida" (June 16 and 25), and Richard Strauss' powerful "Salome" (June 30). "Salome," which is Strauss' setting of Oscar Wilde's lurid play about a dancer who wanted John the Baptist's head on a charger, is being performed in St Petersburg for the first time since the 1917 revolution.
Gidon Kremer is the featured violin soloist in a concert of the St Petersburg Philharmonic, with Maris Janssohns conducting (June 18). Combining brilliant execution and stylistic versatility with the soul of a poet, Kremer is especially adept at the modern repertory. He is known in the west for his recordings of Arvo Paert's "Fratres" and "Tabula Rasa," and his rich interpretation of the Prokofiev violin sonatas.
The Philharmonic also plays twice under its principal conductor, Yury Temirkanov (June 25 and 30). The first concert includes Elgar's "Enigma" Variations, and Dvorak's New World Symphony; the second, Stravinsky's "Petrouchka," Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony, and the premiere of a flute concerto by Petersburg composer Yury Kornakov, played by Valentin Zverev.
Funding for the festival is provided in part by St Petersburg Bank, Promstroybank, the Nevskij Palace Hotel, Radio Modern, the daily Smena, the Conti Casino, and Paulig.
An unusual event awaits, dubbed a "concert-surprise" (June 29). Inside information has it that almost anything unexpected can be expected to happen, particularly that singers might conduct, conductors might sing, and determined cellists may wrest rare sounds from unsuspecting oboes. The traditional concert atmosphere is turned on its head, which is only fitting in this gala festival, at a time of year when the night sky emulates the day.