About Festival

An International festival of Chamber Artists and Ensembles "Silver Lyre" has always consisted of eight concerts. However, this tenth (anniversary) festival, unlike previous ones, includes eleven of them. The audience will meet different ensembles and musicians from 9 countries (Austria, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, the USA, France, Switzerland, and Japan). Along with Russian musicians they will demonstrate their mastery in chamber music performing.
This festival can be considered special because all the artists, with one exception, performed at the previous festivals. In a way, the idea to hold this very festival among friends was purposed by the musicians who had already performed on Russian stage and fell in love with St. Petersburg and its sensitive and responsive audience.
The only exception to this condition will be the closing of the festival held in the Grand Philharmonic Hall, where the listeners will hear an aspiring twelve-year-old pianist Alexandra Dogvan. She has already stolen hearts of many Russian and foreign listeners, and she has also managed to win recognition from such Maitres as Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov and GrigorySokolov. Her recital will mark the next decade of the Silver Lyre.
Another peculiarity of the current festival will be the organizers' attempt to revive, to some extent, the Leningrad Philharmonia long-standing tradition. According to this tradition, a guest performer is to play with the orchestra in the Grand Hall; as for a solo concert, they are to perform in the Small Philharmonic Hall. Inspired by this idea the organizers have decided that Israeli cellist Amit Peled, Dutch violinist Frederieke Saeijs and Petersburg pianist Peter Laul will play with Singolo Orchestra under Yaroslav Zaboyarkin for the opening of the festival in the Grand Hall. In the following days of the festival, they will perform on the stage of the Small Hall.
As for the other participants of the festival, they are also familiar to St Petersburg music lovers. These are the chamber music ensemble “Soloists of St. Petersburg” under the direction of Mikhail Gantvarg, the German piano Faure Quartet, two piano trios: Peter Laul, Ilya Gringolts and Dmitry Kouzov, and also a trio of the Philharmonic Society (Dmitry Pavliy, Igor Zolotarev and Nikita Zubarev). In the list of the musicians one can also find such names as Miki Aoki, the Japanese pianist, Roberta Mameli, the Italian singer, and Xavier de Mestre, the French harpist, and the duet of the Japanese violinist MayukoKamio and Russian pianist Miroslav Kultyshev.
In addition, the organizers did not abandon their long-standing idea to include at least one crossover concert in the playbill of each festival. This time, three Austrian musicians will perform on the stage: violinist Sebastian Gurtler, accordionist Tommaso Huber and double bass player Georg Breinschmid.
The organizers thank all the ensembles and soloists who have agreed to take part in the traditional St. Petersburg festival, and hope that the Silver Lyre will continue to introduce the best world art and chamber music achievements to their listeners.