Russian newspaper Izvestia reported today that conductor Valery Gergiev is one of four artists chosen to open the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi. The news is hardly surprising, given that Gergiev is the most prominent musician in Russia and has served as an ambassador for the Sochi Olympics abroad. He will join three other artists chosen to perform at the Opening Ceremonies in February: conductor/violist Yuri Bashmet, pianist Denis Matsuev, and Ulyana Lopatkina, the Mariinsky ballerina.
The official announcement will be made on December 13, but Izvestia apparently received a friendly tipoff and broke the news early.
A new film about the Russian maestro, called Gergiev: A Certain Madness, was recently premiered at the Zürich Filmfestival 2013. Alberto Venzago made this documentary about the Mariinsky Orchestra's two-week tour of Russia in 2010 and 2011. Venzago accompanied Gergiev and the orchestra as they rode the Trans-Siberian Express from St. Petersburg to Omsk and performed every night at stops along the way.
"We need to bring culture to the people - not the other way round!" says Gergiev. The film's trailer, shot in atmospheric black and white film, opens with the train passing through a forest. The noise of the train is slowly transformed into the orchestra's music. Beautiful shots of Russian monuments, a Russian Orthodox service, and soldiers marching alternate with scenes of Gergiev leading the orchestra.
Arts commentator Norman Lebrecht said that, based on this trailer, "Venzago's forthcoming film looks like a Battleship Potemkin for our times."
No information yet on when or where Gergiev: A Certain Madness will be shown in theaters. Director Venzago is a photographer and filmmaker who has worked on other musical projects. He made the film Mein Bruder, der Dirigent about his brother, the conductor Mario Venzago; and he is the official photographer of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Gergiev was also the subject of a 2009 documentary about his busy international conducting career, You Cannot Start Without Me, directed by Allan Miller.
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