TCHAIKOVSKY JOURNEY
“Tchaikovsky Journey” is a unique cultural project aimed at preserving and popularizing the composer’s heritage and developing the cultural environment in the regions associated with his life and work. Over the three years of its existence, the project has shown its high demand, attracting increasingly more spectators and tourists from different cities of Russia.
The project expands its geography every year and focuses on large-scale open-air concerts in the places important for Tchaikovsky’s life. The concerts’ programs include Tchaikovsky’s works in all genres: ballet, opera, instrumental music, and symphony. The concerts feature famous opera singers, ballet dancers, theatre and film actors, and leading Russian musical ensembles that increase the project’s significance and attract a wide audience.
In 2024, concerts took place in Demyanovo, Alapaevsk, and in Tchaikovsky’s hometown of Votkinsk, where he spent a significant part of his life and created many famous works.
On July 6, 2024, the Demyanovo estate in Klin hosted the large-scale gala concert “The Tchaikovsky Night” for the third time. That year it was dedicated to the 225th anniversary of Alexander Pushkin. The concert included a performance of “Eugene Onegin” in the version by Yuri Bashmet. Fragments from Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” were recited by theatre actors Konstantin Khabensky and Olga Litvinova, and scenes from Tchaikovsky’s eponymous opera were performed by Moscow and St. Petersburg soloists Elizaveta Narcia (soprano), Anna Yurkus (mezzo-soprano), Ilya Legatov (tenor), Oleg Tsybulko (bass), Anastasia Bibicheva (mezzo-soprano), and Alexandra Saulskaya-Shulyatieva (mezzo-soprano). The State Symphony Orchestra Novaya Rossiya was conducted by maestro Yuri Bashmet. A unique light and visual show contributed to the concert’s general effect.
On July 12, 2024, an open-air gala concert took place in the courtyard of Tchaikovsky’s house-museum in Alapaevsk for the first time. Its program featured Tchaikovsky’s instrumental and vocal chamber music performed by the “Moscow Soloists” chamber ensemble conducted by Yuri Bashmet. The concert also featured laureates of international competitions Albina Tonkikh (soprano), Bogdan Guenok (baritone), Sofia Wieland (flute), Valeria Abramova (violin), and Arkady Yakovlev (cello). The concert host Polina Agureeva read excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s diaries and recollections of his early years.
On August 25, 2024, a gala concert of the project took place on Votkinsk Central Square for the second time. It featured fragments of the operas “Eugene Onegin” and “The Queen of Spades,” the ballets “Swan Lake” and “The Nutcracker,” as well as rarely performed Tchaikovsky’s early operas. The concert featured the State Symphony Orchestra Novaya Rossiya conducted by Yuri Bashmet, singers Ramilya Baimukhametova (soprano), Igor Onishchenko (tenor), Albina Tonkikh (soprano), Valeria Torunova (mezzo-soprano), Danila Knyazev (bass), Nikolai Zemlyanskikh (baritone), Ilya Legatov (tenor), Valeria Abramova (violin), as well as People’s Artist of Russia ballet dancer Natalia Somova, the Bolshoi Theatre prima ballerina Eleonora Sevenard, and the Bolshoi Theatre principal dancer Denis Rodkin.
The project is supported by the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives.