CHRONICLE OF CURRENT E VENTS – MUSICAL PERFORMANCE WITH SILENT VISUALS

Mieczysław Weinberg, a Polish-born Soviet composer, author of 22 symphonies, 7 operas, countless chamber and instrumental works as well as the music to some of the most renown Soviet movies and cartoons was known only to a small number of music enthusiasts. In the year of  his centenary, he emerges as one of the most important composers of the 20th century, alongside Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev. Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica are amongst the foremost advocates of his music, dedicating many programs to this composer in the recent years. In May 2019 we started celebration of Weinberg’s centenary with a new CD released on the Deutsche Grammophon label with Weinberg’s Symphonies No. 2 and 21 conducted by Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and Gidon Kremer performing solo violin part.

Another important celebration of this genius happened during the Holland Festival on the 7th of June, where Kremerata Baltica, together with the soloists Gidon Kremer, Maija Kovalevska and Georgijs Osokins premiered “Chronicle of Current Events” – a musical performance with silent visuals, created in co-production with Holland Festival, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Berlin Konzerthaus, Leipzig Gewandhaus and Kremerata Baltica.

The project looks at current and past events. At the parallels we can draw between today and the last century. The Chronicle of Current Events was the main independent, hand-typed magazine in the Soviet Union during the 1960s and 70s where the reality of Soviet life was reflected. Our project is about the artist’s fate, about life choices and about the casualties of Communism and the Holocaust.

The project concerns how an artist’s life is surrounded by the limitations and ideology in his or her own country.

The performance will consist in two main components.

Musical program by Mieczysław Weinberg, arranged into a score by Gidon Kremer, founder and leader of Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, a remarkable musician and performer who, for decades, has championed many 20th century composers.

Video content created by the group of Russian artists – director Artem Firsanov, cameraman Aleksey Venzos and scriptwriter Valeriy Pecheykin under the curatorship of Kirill Serebrennikov. These silent visuals are based exclusively on the works of M.Weinberg. They also present a visual view of current events in contemporary Russia and the wider world, and contain flashbacks to the time when the composer himself was still alive.

Here we collected some videos, reviews and articles about our newest project.

The list of performances:

07.06.2019 Amsterdam, Netherlands, Holland Festival
29.08.2019 Sion, Theatre de Valere, Sion Festival
08.09.2019 Jurmala, Kremerata Baltica Festival
21.09.2019 Frankfurt Alte Oper
27.10.2019 Berlin, Konzerthaus
29.10.2019 Hamburg, Elbphilharmonie
15.02.2020 Leipzig, Gewandhaus