In the past seven days, 400 musicians from 18 countries have performed before 20,000 spectators. The average daily turnout of over 2,800 has become a record-breaker.
On the closing night, the Gergiyev-conducted Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra played Tchaikovsky's Hamlet Fantasy Overture, the prelude to Act Three, and a fragment of Act Three of Wagner's opera Tristan And Isolde.
Valery Gergiyev conducted a joint session of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mariinsky Orchestra from St. Petersburg, Russia. The audience gave him and both orchestras a standing ovation.
After the concert board chairwoman of the Gergiyev Festival Sylvia Tot announced the topic of the next Tenth Festival: "From Tristan to Electra." The next Festival will be dedicated to Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.
"Preceding Rotterdam festivals included many thins written by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and of course Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and other Russian composers," the famous Russian conductor said, "sometimes we switch to great Western European composers. At the next festival, these will be Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, whose most interesting masterpieces will be selected for the program."
"Each season, the Gergiyev Festival is a major event for the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra," the Orchestra's director general Jan Raes said, "This is a world-class unique festival gathering music-lovers from all over the Netherlands and abroad. All tickets are sold long before the beginning. Tchaikovsky is an ideal composer for the Russian conductor."
Raes said the culmination and the unique feature of this year's event was the performance of the famous Ballet of the Gergiyev-managed Mariinsky Theater. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of George Balanchin, they danced the ballet composition to Tchaikovsky's music Serenade For Strings and Stravinsky's ballet Apollo Musagetes.
