The year 2024 set off with the premiere of the special project Dedication to Marina Tsvetaeva. From 12 to 14 of January, Dom Radio hosted the premiere of the performance containing songs based on Tsvetaeva’s poems, created by Andreas Moustoukis, Alexey Sioumak, Egor Ananko, Victoria Kharkevich, Kirill Arkhipov, as well as Vangelino Currentzis and Teodor Currentzis, which were combined with a solo performance by actress Yanina Lakoba. The performance was presented by the members of the musicAeterna Choir and Orchestra. The stage director of the project is Elizaveta Moroz, the conductor is Evgeny Vorobyov.
On the 29 of January at the MTS Live Hall in St Petersburg and on the 31 of January at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the orchestra under the direction of Teodor Currentzis performed Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 and went on a tour across Russia. The symphony was performed in Stavropol, Krasnodar, and Orenburg, whereas three polar cities — Noyabrsk, Novy Urengoy, and Norilsk — saw the orchestra perform Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 and Variations on a Rococo Theme for cello and orchestra. The soloists were the artists of the orchestra Alexey Zhilin and Miriam Prandi.
From 17 to 19 of February, the musicAeterna residency was held in Krasnoyarsk. Master classes for professional musicians and educational events for the general public accompanied the concert programme. In Krasnoyarsk, musicAeterna musicians performed the Debussy and Ravel quartets, Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings and Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony, as well as Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade — this programme was performed again in Sochi on the 21 of February.
On the 25 of February at Dom Radio the musicAeterna choir under the direction of Fyodor Lednev turned for the first time to Sergei Taneyev’s cycle 12 Choral Pieces set to Poems by Yakov Polonsky.
On the 1 of March, the musicAeterna Dance troupe presented a new version of the performance Love Will Tear Us Apart directed by Anna Guseva and choreographed by Anastasia Peshkova on the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre.
On the 5 and 6 of March 5 at the St Petersburg Capella, and on the 8 of March at the Moscow Zaryadye Hall, the musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir conducted by Teodor Currentzis performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 and Requiem. With the same programme, the orchestra and choir went on a tour along the route Madrid — Barcelona — Seville — Bari — Turin — Bologna (from 10 to 18 of March).
In early April, restoration work began in the building of Dom Radio. All members of the musicAeterna family of collectives remained in St Petersburg. They continued to rehearse and perform at various venues in the city.
On the 8 of April, in the Great Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonic, and on 10 and 11 of April in the Moscow Zaryadye Hall, a major repertory premiere took place — the musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir with the participation of the Vesna children’s choir conducted by Teodor Currentzis performed for the first time the St Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach.
On 27 and 28 of April, the first musicAeterna tour took place in Dubai (UAE). In the concert hall of the Dubai Opera, the musicians performed Tchaikovsky’s symphonic overtures and fantasies and Wagner’s opera overtures. A programme of Tchaikovsky’s works was also performed in Uzbekistan (25 of April, Tashkent).
On 26 of May, Alexander Sladkovsky, Artistic Director of the Tatarstan Symphony Orchestra, conducted the musicAeterna Orchestra at the St Petersburg Capella. In the concert featuring the Symphony No. 8 and the Cello Concerto by Antonin Dvořák, the soloist was the concertmaster of the cello group Alexey Zhilin.
On 1 and 2 of June, the baroque instrumentation of musicAeterna gave two concerts in the Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace. The programme of hits of the High Baroque era was timed to coincide with the largest Hermitage exhibition of 2024 — ARS VIVENDI. Frans Sneijders and the Flemish Still Life of the 17th Century.
On 20 of June, Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion performed by the musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir conducted by Teodor Currentzis opened the Diaghilev Festival in Perm. The soloists of the orchestra and choir under the direction of Teodor Currentzis, as well as the musicAeterna Dance troupe, also performed in the Russian premiere of Pascal Dusapin’s opera Passion staged by Anna Guseva (from 27 to 29 of June). The musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir also took part in a new production of Mozart’s Magic Flute (staged by Nina Vorobyova, musical director and conductor — Evgeny Vorobyov, 25 and 26 of June). The musicAeterna Brass ensemble performed a presentation concert (21 of June), the orchestra concertmaster Olga Volkova performed Six Sonatas for Solo Violin by Eugene Ysaÿe (25 of June), and the musicAeterna Dance troupe and the Moscow Percussion Ensemble under the direction of the musicAeterna percussionist Andrey Volosovsky presented the physical drama okho to the music of Xenakis and Thompson staged by Vladimir Varnava (23 of June).
