Starting from November 21 a series of events will take place in South Korea as part of the international cultural project Russian Seasons tour. The program includes the unveiling of a bust of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, an exhibition of works by young artists from the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, and concerts by the Stradivarius Ensemble of the Mariinsky Theatre under the baton of maestro Valery Gergiev.
Leo Tolstoy is one of the most famous Russian writers in the Republic of Korea. The writer’s works have resonated with the Korean audience. He has been loved and revered for generations. Russian literary heroes and their characters are also reflected in the works of Korean writers, becoming part of the common cultural code. In 1907, Leo Tolstoy’s parable “Karma” was translated. Tolstoy was the first Russian writer who was introduced to Korean readers.
On November 21, there will be a meeting with Vladimir Tolstoy, a descendant of the writer and advisor to the President of the Russian Federation on cultural issues. At the Seoul Institute of Foreign Language Studies Vladimir Tolstoy will give a lecture to undergraduate and graduate students of Russian language.
The good tradition of Russian Seasons presenting sculptures to the host country continues, on November 22 a ceremony will be held to hand over a bust of the great Russian classic, Leo Tolstoy. This initiative was personally supported by Vladimir Tolstoy. The welcome speech will be made by the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Korea Oh Young-woo, as well as representatives of cultural institutions and famous artists.
The bronze bust of the writer was made by Ekaterina Pilnikova, a young sculptor from the Ilya Repin Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. She is also the author of the bust of Tchaikovsky, which was also presented as a gift to the host country of the Russian Seasons in 2019 – Germany. This action is consonant with the main goals of the festival – to present Russian art abroad as widely and as varied as possible.
On November 22 at the Seoul House of Literature, an exhibition of the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg Academy of Arts will be opened. The leitmotif of the exhibition will be the young artists’ interpretation of the Russian classics and their ideas that are in tune with our time.
Rector of the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg Academy of Arts – Semyon Mikhailovsky, will present the exhibition to the Korean audience. The exhibition will feature works by 30 authors who have studied at the Academy in recent years, based on the works of A.S. Pushkin, A.P. Chekhov, V.V. Nabokov, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, N.V. Gogol, M.Y. Saltykov-Shchedrin, N.S. Leskov and I.S. Turgenev. The paintings of young artists are made in different graphic techniques – drawing, watercolor, engraving, etching.
The week-long tour will conclude on 24 November with two unique concerts by the Stradivarius Ensemble of the Mariinsky Theatre under the baton of maestro Valery Gergiev. The ensemble was founded in 2009 at the initiative of Valery Gergiev, Artistic Director and Director of the Mariinsky Theatre; it is led by violinist Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici. The ensemble’s extensive repertoire includes both classical works for string orchestra by great composers and the very best examples of ‘light music’. The ensemble includes leading soloists from the theater’s Symphony Orchestra. Each of the instruments played by the musicians of the Stradivarius Ensemble is a masterpiece with its own story full of amazing events. Popular and beloved classical works in their performance sound completely different thanks to the timbres of the instruments of the great Italian masters of the XVII-XVIII centuries: Nicolo Amati, Antonio Stradivari, Giuseppe Guarneri, Giovanni Battista Guadagnini and Mateo Goffriller. The concerts will take place in the LOTTE Concert Hall at 12:00 and 18:00 CET.
As a reminder, the grand opening of the tour in the Republic of Korea took place on October 2. The new season of the project will last till the end of the year and will give the audience a lot of bright impressions and unique emotions.