Overwhelming Close Of The Heavily-Attended Gergiev Festival
Leidsch Dagblad
Rotterdam
September 17, 2006
His contribution was short, but overwhelming and will long remain in the memories
of those who attended the close of the eleventh Gergiev Festival on Sunday afternoon.
Maximillian Schell may be 75, but the voice of the cosmopolitan actor and director sounded rock hard and gruesome through the Rotterdam Doelen when he appeared as narrator in Arnold Schoenberg’s “A survivor from Warsaw,” the piece about the Nazi terror for which no applause was permitted.
The actual close, following immediately, was Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony number 9, with the utopian “Alle Menschen werden Bruder,” also performed by the Rotterdam Philharmonic. The public, among whom there were relatively few “seniors,” practically tore the hall down afterwards. Especially the Yale Festival Chorus was heartily cheered.
According to inside sources on Sunday afternoon, audiences for the entire series totaled 19,500. Some performances, such as the closing, were totally sold out, and attendance for the symphonic concerts was at least 98% of capacity.
The theme this year was “Freedom.” Next year, the “namegiver” of the Festival, chief conductor Valery Georgiev of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, will celebrate twenty years of involvement in The Netherlands. The theme of his festival in 2007 will be “Liebesnacht” (night of love). Among other performances is expected to be one of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde.” This has long been the wish of Gergiev, who holds high the banner of opera.