The Saint Petersburg Contemporary Music Center “reMusik.org” holds the VI St. Petersburg International New Music Festival that will take place from May 21st to May 25th, 2019, under the artistic direction of composer Mehdi Hosseini. Festival events will take place in distinguished venues around the city, including the Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall, the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater, Masterskaya M. K. Anikushina, St. John’s Church Jaani Kirik, the St. Petersburg State Conservatory, the creative space of the Lumiere Hall, and others.
Since the Festival aims to create a platform to foster open dialog between composers and musicians and present new trends in new music to a wide audience, the Festival program has numerous highlights that will be of interest both to the general public and music professionals. This year, the five-day music forum will bring together musicians from Australia, Belgium, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the USA, the UK, Venezuela and Russia.
Acting as a crossroads of new musical paths that have emerged in the past few years, the reMusik.org Festival offers rare opportunities to experience world-class performances of internationally-renowned ensembles specializing in new music: ensemble für neue musik zürich (Switzerland), Chronos (Cyprus), A&C Quartet (Russia), Ensemble for New Music Tallinn (Estonia), Around the Corner Duo (Spain), Makrokosmos Quartet (Switzerland) and the long-time guest of the Festival, Studio for New Music Ensemble (Russia).
The program of the Festival consists exclusively of world and Russian premieres and includes the works by Russian composers Alexander Khubeev, Nikolay Popov, Alexander Radvilovich, Svetlana Lavrova, Oleg Paiberdin, Alexandra Filonenko, Vladimir Tarnopolsky, their international counterparts Oscar Bianchi, Raphaël Cendo, Simon Steen-Andersen, Hans Thomalla, Wolfgang Rihm, Katharina Rosenberger, Martin Matalon, Cecilia Marti, Alexander Schubert, Xavier Dayer and others. Despite their complexity and ingenuity, all the compositions are very relatable for amateur listeners. The format of music presentation is not limited to traditional academic concerts but also includes performances and music experiments.
The festival program will additionally be offering lectures, master classes, presentations, workshops with composers and meet-the-artist sessions. Besides, the scientific agenda of the Festival includes the III International Academic Conference “Music in the Age of New Media” organized by the St. Petersburg Contemporary Music Center “reMusik.org” in association with the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory and the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. The subject for discussion is multiform art transformations related to digital representations of objects.
This year, reMusik.org launches a unique educational project — a composition course which will be held from May 17th to May 26th. This creative composing lab is an exciting opportunity for young and emerging composers from around the world. Twenty-five selected composers will participate in the Festival’s events, master classes, reading sessions and workshops, as well as receive a professional live recording of their work at one of the festival concerts. Participants will spend the day learning techniques, gaining ideas, and trying new things out with a focus on composing under direction esteemed faculty: Oscar Bianchi (Switzerland), Raphaël Cendo (France) and Vladimir Tarnopolsky (Russia).
The 2019 Festival is supported by the Government of St. Petersburg, the St. Petersburg Committee on Culture, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, the Embassy of Switzerland in Russia, the Consulate General of Switzerland in St. Petersburg, the French Institute in St. Petersburg, the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in St. Petersburg, the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Belgium in St. Petersburg, and the Polish Institute in St. Petersburg.