The main event of philharmonic life in May will be the personal subscription of the outstanding conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky, a living legend of Russian musical art. Rozhdestvensky graduated from the Moscow Conservatory as a pianist with the legendary Lev Oborin, studied conducting with his father, the famous conductor Nikolai Anosov, while still a student he made a brilliant debut at the Bolshoi Theater, for a decade and a half he headed one of the country's key orchestras - the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of Central Television and All-Union Radio, after which He devoted another decade to the Chamber Musical Theater, in which, with its head Boris Pokrovsky, he accomplished what seemed impossible at that time. Pokrovsky and Rozhdestvensky not only staged works by Shostakovich and Prokofiev that were classified as formalism and “alien culture,” but also practically introduced the music of Stravinsky and many major European composers to USSR listeners. The statistics are impressive: Rozhdestvensky performed more than 300 works for the first time in Russia and more than 150 for the first time in the world. And Gennady Nikolaevich is one of the most authoritative teachers of the department of opera and symphony conducting at the Moscow Conservatory, a composer, the author of five impressive books devoted to conducting and various musical and cultural topics. Rozhdestvensky himself once described his credo as “the mission of bringing Beauty,” which is manifested in extensive research work on the restoration of scores, excellent knowledge of painting and literature, collecting and rare erudition. The polyphony of the maestro’s interests is also manifested in the “directing” of his annual subscription programs with the State Academic Symphony Chapel of Russia, conducted by the Moscow Philharmonic for more than 10 years. This season, the concerts of the cycle will be held in May: 16, 21, 25 and 31 in the Great Hall of the Conservatory. The subscription, called "Foggy Albion", is dedicated to the music of English composers, not only Britten and Elgar, more or less famous among us (the first two concerts - May 16 and 21), but also the undeservedly little performed Vaughan Williams and Walton (concerts 25 and May 31). In addition to the musical rarities that fill all Rozhdestvensky’s concerts, the conductor will accompany the philharmonic evenings with his own comments, which are traditionally perceived as classics of musical culture.

And at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall on May 20, another luminary will perform - the legendary conductor Zubin Mehta with one of the best orchestras in the world - the Israel Philharmonic, who will perform the Egmont Overture and Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. The soloist is Denis Matsuev, performing Tchaikovsky's First Concerto - textbook, but always perceived freshly, especially in Matsuev's brilliant interpretation.

Performing with an orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta is also on the track record of one of the most sought-after and widely known pianists of the young generation, Alexander Gavrilyuk. On May 21, the musician will present a beautiful and complex program of works by Debussy, Schumann, Liszt and Rachmaninov.

It is worth listening to another artist who is rightfully ranked among the “stars of the future”—violinist Nikita Borisoglebsky. He will perform with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Simonov on May 15 in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, performing Sibelius' Violin Concerto, with which he triumphantly won the prestigious Sibelius Competition in Helsinki in 2010.

Zinaida Nesterova

Concerts of the Moscow Philharmonic