2009 Art-November festival

The festival is distinguished by its combination of chamber concerts and exhibitions for the discerning public held in magnificently appointed old mansions, and of cultural events for larger audiences held at the main theatrical and concert venues.

The artistic concept of the festival aims at creating a cultural space at the cross-section of the main genres of classic art. The festival’s programme includes concerts by the best Russian and international musicians, opera and theatre performances, poetry readings, shows of Russian and international graphic artists and painters, and exhibitions of modern and contemporary Russian artists.

The programme of 2009 Art-November festival includes 8 art exhibitions (curator - Art Director of the festival, Natella Voiskunski) and 25 events, including concerts, films and theatre performances at six prestigious venues in the Russian capital.

A gala concert and a solo exhibition of paintings of Irina Machitski (Great Britain/Russia) “The Power of Destiny” will open the Festival on the 1st of November in the State Institute of Art Sciences. For the first time in the Festival's history all concerts from that hall will be broadcasted live on our website.

The performance of the three renowned countertenors Terry Barber (USA), Jordi Domenech (Spain) and Andrei Nemzer (Russia) dedicated to Henry Purcell’s 350th anniversary takes place in Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music and is one of the festival’s pivotal events.. Compositions of the "Orpheus Britannicus" (British “Orpheus”) will be performed along the commissioned compositions dedicated to him, including the world premieres by the prominent modern composers Georgy Pelecis and Iraida Yusupova. The premiere show of Vera Korshunova’s “A Painterly Octet” is also timed to this event.

The long awaited performance of the Grammy laureate, the legendary American group The Klezmatics, which has incorporated the klezmer tradition (the Eastern European Jewish traditional music) into a contemporary music context is also in the festival programme. The presentation of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s silent movie masterpiece “Nosferatu. A Symphony of Horror” (music by one of the most eccentric contemporary Russian composers Iraida Yusupova) is another illustrious event of the festival.

Among the participants of the festival are musicians and painters from the USA, France, Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Israel, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Azerbaijan and Russia. More than 100 music compositions will be performed by Alexander Knyazev, Tatiana Grindenko, Lovro Pogorelic, Graf Murzha, Grigory Zhislin, Daniel Propper, Hans-Joachim Fuss, Yana Ivanilova, the Moscow Trio, the Brams Trio, The Pocket Symphony Ensemble of Soloists under Nazar Kozhukhar, the State Shostakovich String Quartet and other famous artists and ensembles. The visual arts part of the Festival will be presented by the well-known artists, namely, Ekaterina Vorona (“The Poetry of Gardens”), Margarita Syurina (“Clos-Luce-Chufut-Kale”), Olga Lisenkova (“Enchanted Wanderer”), Vera Korshunova (“Colour of the Sound”), a Slovakian photographer Eduard Somov (“Genius Loci – the Spirit of the Place”). The premiere show “Homage to Diaghilev” of the Israeli artist Lora Verkhovsky parades a unique series of leather intarcias and is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Sergei Diaghilev’s Russian ballets.

A separate festival programme “New Generation” will present to the audience paintings and graphic works of students of the Moscow Art Lyceum of the Russian Academy of Arts and the Serov Children Art School alongside a concert of young musicians – laureates of international contests – from Moscow, Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Almaty.

The festival will take place in the halls of the Moscow International House of Music, State Institute of Art Sciences, the Marina Tsvetaeva Home and Museum, the Bogolyubov Library of Arts and the newly re-opened Concert Hall of the Russian Academy of Music.
The Festival Art-November has been one of the major charity events in Russian culture since the day of its foundation. This year the Festival is supporting the Charity Fund “A Family for Every Child”.