Maestro Valery Gergiev сonducted orchestra at Easter Festival Concert in Ufa

On April 29, the Bashkir State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater hosted a performance by the united symphony orchestra of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theaters under the baton of Maestro Valery Gergiev. The concert was held as part of the XXIV Moscow Easter Festival. The program featured works by Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Max Bruch, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The 2025 festival runs from April 16 to May 9, supported by the Moscow government, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, and under the blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan Radiy Khabirov welcomed and thanked Maestro Gergiev on behalf of the region’s residents. He also expressed gratitude for the support of the Bashkir Opera and Ballet Theater’s initiative to perform on the historic stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. He noted that the ballet "Rachmaninoff: A Symphony of a Lifetime" was warmly received by the audiences.

Khabirov also presented state honors to musicians from the Mariinsky Theatre: cellist Oleg Sendetsky and violist Yuri Afonkin were awarded the honorary title of Honored Artist of Bashkortostan.

Valery Gergiev, General Director and Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Theatre and General Director of the Bolshoi Theatre, expressed confidence in further large-scale joint projects.

Founded by Gergiev in 2002, the Moscow Easter Festival has become one of Russia’s most prominent music festivals, attracting thousands of spectators across dozens of cities.

The 2025 festival is dedicated to two significant anniversaries: the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and the 185th anniversary of the birth of composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The festival will conclude with a grand concert by the united symphony orchestra of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theaters on May 9 at Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow.

Author: Azat Gizzatullin