World Opera and Jazz Stars Gala on the Day of the city of St. Petersburg
May 26 2013 St. Petersburg, Palace Square |
On May 26, 2013, the Palace Square got literally brimful: world opera and jazz stars gala took place within the framework of St. Petersburg Day of the City celebration, gathering together extraordinary opera and jazz performers, ballet artists, ballroom dancing champions, one of the best symphony orchestras of the planet, as well as dozens of thousands of city people and guests of St. Petersburg.
On the 310th anniversary of the day the city was founded, on the main square of the city, the Government of St. Petersburg presented for the first time the classical musical arts in their most magnificent embodiment. The “Bravo!” shouting was heard on the square all day long: even the World Opera and Jazz Stars Gala rehearsal gathered thousands of fans with no disturbance by the rehearsal workframe or the unceasing rain. Towards evening, however, the weather stopped its attempts to ruin the gala day and even gave the city the present of a glorious sunset.
Round a massive but elegant stage mounted in front of the General Headquarters arch revolved the soloists: the queen of the world opera Maria Guleghina, one of the most popular dramatic tenors of the world Vladimir Galouzine, the favourite of the Metropolitan Opera and European stages, baritone Alexey Markov, the sweet-voiced world prima Olga Peretyatko, a charming mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Sergeeva and a passionate lyric tenor Dmytro Popov.
A truly splendid sound was given to the world classic masterpieces by the Merited Ensemble the Academic Symphony Orchestra of St.-Petersburg Philharmonia named after D. Shostakovitch, and the conductor Nikolai Alexeev, the Honored Artist of Russia and the boast of the city. This ensemble, founded by Yuri Temirkanov and consistently present in the top ten of the orchestras of the world, almost never performs outdoors, which made the Gala on the Day of the City truly special.
The feel of a high-toned ball was emphasized by performances of leading ballet dancers Irina Perren and Marat Shemiunov accompanied by St. Petersburg theaters ballet artists. It’s especially important that the feel of a refined and elegant celebration worthy of the great history of the Northern Palmyra was preserved in the setting of the stage scale and the scope of the show. The Admiralty Orchestra of the Leningrad region naval station performed in swell snow white uniform and drastically changed the mood of the several thousand strong audience, infatuating everyone with the dancing rhythms of the favourite city gardens melodies. The passionate performances by ballroom dancing champions of Russia and Europe Valeria Bushueva and Andrey Bushtchik, as well as by the SPb.ru group, added spectacularity and glimmer to the show. One could feel a wide range of emotions that night: the Palace square gave a long round of applause to the athletes of the wheelchair dancing club, who put on an unbelievably touching performance called «Everlasting Love»to the song by Charles Aznavour.
Penetrating and one-of-a-kind sound of a saxophone suits the pearly whiteness of St. Petersburg nights, especially when played by a maestro like Igor Butman. Accompanied by beautiful Australian singer Fantine and Moscow Jazz Orchestra, the best jazzman of Russia heaped famous melodies and unexpected jams on the the Palace Square. The show rounded into the favourite anthem of the citizens «The city over the free Neva» performed by Metodie Bujor and Ekaterina Sergeeva.
Elaborate working out of technical issues is essential to this kind of open air galas. Detailed sound system and three huge screens installed made the concert accessible to dozens of thousands of people gathered on the square, while the live broadcast by 100TV channel multiplied the audience by several times.
Despite the fact that the gala went on for more than three hours thousands of people were standing on the square from the first strains of the orchestra to the final anthem, acknowledging by their mere presence that the everlasting classics of music are loved not only by elite connoisseurs, and that St. Petersburg still bears honorably the title Russia’s capital of culture.
The project has been created by the Government of St. Petersburg, executed by JSC OASIS in association with NPO «DANCE OPEN», organizer of the homonymous International Ballet Festival.