Anacrusis*
With this special edition, the Russian magazine, MusicuM, created in 2013 and devoted to the world
of classical music, marks a new and important milestone in its development. We offer the Englishspeaking audience a digest of the vital themes covered in 2015 and 2016. This magazine is a cultural
bridge that underscores what unites rather than divides America, Russia, and Europe. Following
in the footsteps of Piotr Tchaikovsky who opened the great cultural symbol of America, Carnegie
Hall, and Sergei Rachmaninoff, who performed on its stage the most, we use this magazine to make
the cultural bridge between the USA and Russia stronger. MusicuM is the result of a colossal effort
by Russian artists and journalists whose aim is to make classical music accessible, attractive, and
indispensable as well as Russians who have a long and strong tradition of creating classical music
that has contributed to world culture. Classical music is like oxygen that is necessary for our existence.
The special edition appears during the year that marks the 125th anniversary of Sergei
Sergeevich Prokofiev’s birth. A majorpart of my creative life has passed under the influence
of this great composer. Even now his music not only retains its freshness, but has rather increased its
possibilities. Its time is constantly coming. Prokofiev’s music, especially his symphonies and even
some operas, were absent from the world map of music. The Mariinsky Theater played a significant
role in bringing his works to the world’s best concert halls and theaters. During the last 25 years,
we performed Prokofiev’s operas War and Peace, The Fiery Angel, Betrothal in a Monastery, Semen
Kotko, The Gambler, and Cinderella on some of the world’s best stages. The Mariinsky Symphony
Orchestra has performed a cycle of all Sergei Prokofiev’s symphonies in Pekin, Rome, New York,
Mexico City, and Havana.
When Prokofiev composed these immortal scores, he committed so much talent and creativity
to them that the compositions sparkled all on their own. His melodies resemble plants. Prokofiev’s
melody is akin to Puccini’s, Verdi’s, Mozart’s, and Tchaikovsky’s. Prokofiev has no equals in the
twentieth century. He thought that music could not exist without melody and ascend to the level
of communication with a listener at which classical music must continue to live and develop.
In 2015, we marked the 90th anniversary of Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya, one of the world’s
foremost ballerinas, a friend of mine and of the Mariinsky Theater. Her art and grace made this world
a more beautiful place.
2015 was a remarkable year for the world of classical music because the XV International
Tchaikovsky Competition brought many discoveries. More than 10 million people from 153 countries
watched the competition online. Many brilliant young musiciansperformed in Russia’s two cultural
capitals, Moscow and St. Petersburg, and even those who did not win left a bright trail behindthem.
And that was one of the most important accomplishments of the Tchaikovsky Competition.
The competition was stiff and the caliber of performances the highest possible. Now the
Tchaikovsky Competition allows young performers to demonstrate their talents on the world’s most
prestigious stages — Carnegie Hall, the theaters of Moscow and Petersburg, Suntory Hall in Tokyo…
My own concerts have featured a dozen winners within four months of the competition’s conclusion.
We had performances in Finland, Sweden, Holland, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, and the US. The special
edition offers you a number of interviews with the winners of this historical competition.
I sincerely hope that MusicuM will become your excellent guide, an exquisite companion,
and a great cultural bridge between Russia, the United States, and Europe.
Valery GERGIEV
Chairman of the Board
*Anacrusis, also known as a pickup, is a note or sequence of notes that precedes the first downbeat in a bar