RCS Haven E-Bulletin - August 2017

 

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Compelling conductor, virtuoso pianist and respected musical thinker, Mikhail Pletnev is an extraordinary all-round musician – and celebrated for his many exceptional past performances at the International Festival. His all-Rachmaninov recital includes the hugely passionate and rarely performed First Piano Sonata and a wide ranging selection from the playful Fantasy Pieces Op 3, the powerful Preludes Op 23 and the dark Etudes-tableaux Op 39. The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG

 

Benjamin Appl Baritone,  Pavel Kolesnikov Piano

They open with a broad Schubert collection – from the joyous affirmation of Die Taubenpost to the gruesome Romantic horror of Der Zwerg – and travel through dramatic songs by Schumann and Grieg’s achingly melodious Sechs Lieder to a new work by contemporary German composer Matthias Pintscher. The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG

 

Valery Gergiev Conductor

Prokofiev Symphony No 1 in D 'Classical', Britten Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Shostakovich Symphony No 4

Only at the International Festival could you experience two of the world’s finest orchestras in a single concert.  Both orchestras join forces for the overwhelming power of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony, whose shattering climaxes demand the most gargantuan forces the composer ever wrote for. Usher Hall, Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH1 2EA

 

Songs and piano music by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glière, Vlasov and Vasilenko.

One of the most exciting new voices in Russia, young lyric soprano Venera Gimadieva has bewitched audiences at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, London’s Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne and throughout the world with her compelling musical personality and her astonishingly expressive vocal artistry. The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG

 

 

The rapscallions and runaways of St Petersburg's legendary Youth Circus make their delightful Fringe debut. Share our smiles and dreams in a spellbinding story for all ages, told with a high-energy fusion of circus skills, modern dance and clowning, and featuring a stunning soundscape of live and electronic music, abstract noises and human voices. At the centre of our imagined universe sits the Ping-Pong Ball, an unpredictable object which evolves an extraordinary identity of its own. With ping-pong balls setting the pace, we can guarantee that every performance will be unique!

Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33), 60 Pleasance, EH8 9TJ

 

Celebrating 20 years since their Fringe debut, multi award-winning Russian physical theatre company Derevo return with their latest masterpiece. Through mime, butoh and spectacular visuals and sound, a deeply fallen and pushed around Anton Adasinky immortalises the cosmic figure of the clown, full of inner joy yet trapped in a never ending cycle of self-sacrifice and rebirth. Forever – with a smile. Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33), 60 Pleasance, EH8 9TJ

Nikolai Zykov Theatre

Award-winning, funny and unpredictable wordless puppet show featuring a stunning variety of innovative electro-luminous objects. Unique marionettes, giant, rod, hand and experimental puppets will entertain and delight the whole family. Nikolai Zykov is a world famous puppeteer who has performed his puppet shows in more than 40 countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America and has created more than 200 unique puppets. â€‹C venues – C (Venue 34), Chambers Street, EH1 1HR

 

American High School Theatre Festival.

The Sneeze is a collection of hilarious short plays by the great Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, translated and adapted by Michael Frayn. Among history’s most celebrated dramatists next to Shakespeare, Chekhov wrote plays that could expose our deepest fears and longings while leaving us laughing through the tears. These are just a handful of the vaudeville-inspired short plays and stories that Chekhov wrote early in his career before creating the full-length masterpieces for which he would become most famous. Anyone who has seen The Seagull or Three Sisters will recognize Chekhov’s distinct voice in these vividly drawn characters. Central Hall (Venue 295), 2 West Tollcross, EH3 9BP

 

Who will risk their life tonight? A rotating bill of bang-up performers from all over the Fringe, hand-picked by your charming Russian hostess Shantisha, the only belly dancing compere on the Fringe. High energy, unique dancing technique, exquisite costumes, tasteful choice of guest acts and an element of danger make Shantisha’s cabaret the perfect Fringe taster experience. Liquid Room Annexe/Warehouse (Venue 276), 9c Victoria St, EH1 2HE ​

 

Michael Mofidian (bass-baritone), Michael Foyle (violin) and Maksim Stsura (piano)

A programme of British and Russian songs of love and loss marking the centenary of the Russian Revolution, with music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Sergei Prokofiev. Conceived and devised by Ian McFarlane, produced and funded by McFarlane Productions. St Andrew's and St George's West, George St (Venue 111), 13 George Street, EH2 2PA

Re: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Theatre (comedy, family) 
 

14-15 August, 11.30am 

Shakespearia Land (Russia)

A unique take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from a Russian company dedicated to the Bard. This production sees the play daringly re-imagined without the lovers, centring on the stories of the fairies and Mechanicals. Professionally directed, with amateur actors who have eagerly dipped themselves into the era and art of Shakespeare, the portrayal of the Mechanicals’ journey takes on a new significance. C venues – C primo (Venue 41), Lodge No 1, 19 Hill Street, EH2 3JP ​

On This Side of Time. Alyona Ageeva Physical Theatre PosleSlov
 

On This Side of Time is a movement fable exploring the expressive abilities of bodies and the possibility of expressing the inexpressible through movement. It explores the relation between a human being and time, attempting to understand the phenomenon of time and to live this understanding through the body. This show is a philosophical, symbolic reflection on life, death, love and breaking away.

SpaceTriplex (Venue 38),

The Prince Phillip Building, EH8 9DP ​

 

Partners in life and on canvas, Marc and Bella Chagall are immortalised as the picture of romance. But whilst on canvas they flew, in life they walked through some of the most devastating times in history. Daniel Jamieson’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk traces this young couple as they navigate the Pogroms, the Russian Revolution and each other. Emma Rice’s production is drawn in a theatrical language as fluid as Chagall’s paintings and woven throughout with music and dance inspired by Russian Jewish tradition. Traverse Theatre (Venue 15), 10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED

 

16 August, 2.30pm
Michael Mofidian Bass-Baritone and Keval Shah Piano 
A programme of Finnish, German, English, Scottish and Russian 19th to 21st-century songs conceived and devised by Ian McFarlane, produced and funded by McFarlane Productions. Part of the baroque to 21st-century recital series.  St Andrew's and St George's West, George St (Venue 111), 13 George Street, EH2 2PA

 

Everything you would expect from a renowned Russian string orchestra... and some things you would not! Following recent sell-out concerts in Russia, USA and China, Misha Rachlevsky and his 14-strong Gang bring to the Fringe a compelling mixture of passion, energy, fun and great music, designed for all ages and guaranteed to make you look with fresh eyes upon the world of classical music.

 Valery Ponomarev. The Messenger Jazz 

  

24-28 August, 10pm 

An unmissable performance from world-renowned trumpeter Valery Ponomarev, who dramatically escaped 70s USSR and toured the world with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers for four years, making 11 albums! Here his top five-piece band recreates Art's timeless music. An exclusive annual show from a master of his craft, only at The Jazz Bar!

The Jazz Bar (Venue 57), 1a Chambers Street, EH1 1HR

Group: Ekaterina Gopenko, Sergio Bueno Vázquez, Michal Jesionowski