Over to the 2012 Salzburg Festival for a concert featuring the Vienna Philharmonic, led by Valery Gergiev with tenor Sergei Semishkur in Moussorgsky’s Chant ed danses de la mort (Songs and Dances Of Death).
Beginning the concert with Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with the Vienna State Opera Chorus – followed by the Moussorgsky and ending the concert with Symphony Number 5 by Sergei Prokofiev. The concert was recorded on July 29, 2012 and broadcast by RTS-Switzerland in August of that year.
Sergei Semishkur was born in Kirov. Graduated from the Nizhny-Novgorod State Glinka Conservatoire in 2003 (faculties of choral conducting and academic vocals).The same year he joined the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers. Since 2007 he has been a soloist with the Mariinsky Opera Company.
Sergei Semmishkur’s repertoire also includes the roles of Charles VII (The Maid of Orleans), Fenton (Falstaff), Ubaldo (Armida and Rinaldo), Ferrando (Così fan tutte) and the tenor roles in Mozart, Berlioz’ Requiem, Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons and Nelson Mass, Schubert’s Mass in G Major, Rossini’s Stabat mater, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells and Stravinsky’s Les Noces.
Sergei Semishkur has taken part in various opera festivals around the world including festivals in Savonlinna and Mikkeli (Finland), the Salzburg Festival (Austria), the Edinburgh Festival (Scotland) and the Red Sea Festival in Eilat (Israel).
The singer frequently performs on tour, appearing at the world’s most prestigious concert venues, among them Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, the Barbican Hall in London, the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, the Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.
Valery Gergiev was the son of Ossetian parents and spent much of his youth in the Caucasus. He studied conducting with Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory and at age 23 won the Herbert von Karajan Conductors’ Competition in Berlin. He made his debut with the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1978, leading a production of Sergey Prokofiev’s War and Peace as assistant to Yury Temirkanov, the company’s principal conductor. From 1981 to 1985 he was the principal conductor of the Armenian State Orchestra, and during that period he led performances by many of the major orchestras of the Soviet Union.
In addition to his work with the Mariinsky, Gergiev was also involved with other orchestras, notably serving as principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (1995–2008) and the London Symphony Orchestra (2007–15). In 2015 he became conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Gergiev, who was a prominent supporter of Pres. Vladimir Putin of Russia, was dismissed from the post in 2022, after he refused to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He was also dropped from his management company and from a number of engagements, including at Carnegie Hall in New York City and with the Vienna Philharmonic.
Who says there’s no politics in Music? Oh well . .
Enjoy.
