Opera Chic pleads guilty of having a soft spot for that big sweaty combover'd Russian mess that is Valery Gergiev, because even if he, may the Lord bless his vodka-soaked heart, can make the Pastorale sound like John Williams and Richard Strauss sound like Def Leppard, he nevertheless can make magic things happen whenever he is on. And the Lord knows magic things don't happen very often in your average concert hall / opera house.
We therefore hope that he's going to be on quite often at the big classical music marathon that is the seventh annual Moscow Easter Festival (the Russian Orthodox Easter obv.) Valery is running.
Among the highlights, a gala concert celebrating Gergiev's 55th birthday with ex-girlfriend Anna Netrebko, Olga Borodina and Vladimir Galuzin; performances of Mahler's 7th, 8th and 9th symphonies, two evenings of ballet with the Mariinsky ballet company and Ulyana Lopatkina.
Gergiev and the Mariinsky's orchestra will also bring music to the provinces and visit Kazan, Tver, Cherepovets, Ulyanovsk, Krasnodar and Vladikavkaz.