From the 24th of May to the 7th of June, 2023 the 10th St. Petersburg International New Music Festival will be held by Saint Petersburg Contemporary Music Center ‘reMusik.org’. This annual major forum of contemporary music in Russia will take place with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the local Government of St. Petersburg under the direction of the artistic director and composer Mehdi Hosseini.
The two-week festival will present more than 50 different events to the public, with concerts taking place at some of St. Petersburg’s finest music venues, such as the Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall, the Great Hall of the Saint Petersburg State Philharmonia, the New Stage of Alexandrinsky Theatre, Radio House, the Museum of Music (Sheremetev Palace), the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory, and other venues in the city.
The ‘St. Petersburg International New Music Festival’ is a unique event in the Russian music culture, which has no analogues. It covers various areas of contemporary classical music such as experimental, electroacoustic, electronic music, multimedia projects, free improvisation and others. The format of the music presentation is not limited to traditional academic concerts, but also includes experimental performances.
The festival will feature concerts by outstanding Russian musicians and ensembles specializing in ‘New Music’ performances, such as: the Répons Ensemble, Studio for New Music Ensemble, Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, CEAMMC Artists, St. Petersburg Improvisation Orchestra, Gallery of Actual Music, Vacuum Quartet, La Gol Voice Theatre, MolOt-ensemble, Vladislav Pesin (violin), Vyacheslav Gaivoronsky (trumpet), Georgy Mansurov (clarinet), Mikhail Krutik (violin), Yulia Migunova (cello), Nikolay Popov (electronics) and many other festival participants.
The educational contribution to the festival includes lectures, presentations, round table discussions, master classes, reading sessions, and creative artist meetings. The festival will also include an educational component titled “Composition Courses reMusik.org”, which will be held for the fifth time running this festival and is curated by the composer Aleksandr Khubeev. The ‘Creative Lab’ will give young composers from all over the world (which are selected by a jury), the opportunity to work with famous guest performers and internationally renowned composers. Lectures and individual tutorials will be given by acknowledged masters of music compositions.
An addition to the educational activities is the ‘Laboratory of Improvisational Music’, which is presented for the second year in a row at our festival and will be curated by the pianist and conductor Dmitry Shubin. This year’s lab is focused on the theme of “space” and includes lectures, practical workshops and master classes. The results of the lab will be presented at the final concert by the lab participants in the State Museum of the City Sculpture “M.K. Anikushin”.
As has become customary during past festivals, the program will feature a variety of discussions on the following themes: “New Music in digital format in the post-pandemic reality”, “New Music as a form of communication”, “New Music and the challenges of our time”, as well as a round table discussions on “New Music and artificial intelligence: composer vs machine”. Famous cultural figures, composers, music critics, and all interested listeners are invited to take part in the discussions.
As part of the festival’s jubilee program, World and Russian premieres of works by composers from the 21st century will be presented.