BREAKING NEWS: Valery Gergiev To Conduct Verdi ‘Requiem’ In Memory Of Tupolev-154 Victims

By Francisco Salazar

On Dec. 29, Valery Gergiev will lead the Mariinsky Orchestra and Chorus, the Student Chorus of the Popov Academy of Choral Art and the State Academic Kozhevnikov Chorus of the Moscow Region at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Verdi’s “Requiem.”

The soloists will include Tatiana Serjan (soprano), Yulia Matochkina (mezzo-soprano), Najmiddin Mavlyanov (tenor), Ildar Abdrazakov (bass).

The company announced that the concert would “be dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Tupolev-154 air disaster over the Black Sea.”

The Marrinsky Theatre stated, “The victims of the Tupolev-154 air crash included principal military conductor Valery Khalilov, artistes of the Russian Army’s Academic Alexandrov Song and Dance Ensemble, head of the Department of Culture of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation Anton Gubankov and advisor to the Department Oxana Badrutdinova – colleagues and friends who for many years have been involved in artistic projects of Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre including the annual Moscow Easter Festival.”

The Tupolev-154 crashed occurred on Dec. 25 and was carrying 84 passengers and eight crew members. The aircraft took off from Moscow and was flying to the Russian Hmeymim airbase in Latakia, Syria.

Gergiev is the Marrinsky Theatre’s music director. He is one of the most sought after conductors in the world. He has led operas around the world including the Metropolitan Opera where he served as the principal guest conductor until 2008.

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