Summer Stravinsky Festival With Valery Gergiev
11 May 7.30pm Barbican
12 May 6.30pm Trafalgar Square
13 May 7.30pm Barbican
15 May 7.30pm Barbican
17 May 8pm LSO St Luke's
Tickets £10-£35
Click here for a complete listing
One of the undeniable highlights of the LSO’s 2011/12 season is right around the corner – a festival of five concerts, spread across three venues (the Barbican, LSO St Luke’s and Trafalgar Square), celebrating the many faces of composer Igor Stravinsky and led by one of the most powerful champions of Russian music today, LSO Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev. With repertoire ranging from the iconic Firebird and Rite of Spring to the hidden curiosities of Stravinsky's jazz miniatures, appearances from guests including Greek virtuoso violinist Leonidas Kavakos and actor Simon Callow, and the chance to choose your setting, this all-encompassing series promises something for everyone.
Stravinsky is frequently cast against contemporaries Shostakovich and Prokofiev as an example of a somehow less inherently Russian creator: born in St Petersburg, his 60-year career saw him settle in Switzerland, France and finally the US, where he lived until his death in 1971. His music is, on the surface, similarly cosmopolitan. But Gergiev insists that Stravinsky’s ‘Russianness’ did not simply cease to be when he left for the West, aged 28...
Watch Valery Gergiev discuss Stravinsky
Box Office 020 7638 8891 | lso.co.uk/whatson