Concert in Memory of Maestro Yuri Temirkanov at the Mariinsky Theatre

Hi, friends! I was putting my photos in order today, and among the folders of autumn photos I found one that brought back a wave of memories. In early November we were bidding farewell to great conductor Yuri Temirkanov, Principal Principal Conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. The news of the maestro's passing caused many hearts to feel sorrow and bitter loss. Valery Gergiev gave a free concert on the main stage of the Mariinsky Theatre on the day of the farewell to Yuri Temirkanov.

The concert was scheduled to begin at 17:30. The time was chosen so that the concert would finish before the evening performance. Information about the upcoming concert appeared on social media message boards. A free ticket should have been obtained at the box office, which opened an hour before the concert started.

I didn't know what I would see at the door of the theater as I approached the theater entrance on this rainy autumn day. Would all admirers of Yuri Temirkanov's talent have time and be able to come to this concert? After all, it is a weekday, and most people are busy at work at this time. What if there are so many people that I don't get a ticket? The poster said that the number of tickets was limited to the number of seats in the auditorium.

I took my place in line, and fifteen minutes later I entered the foyer of the theater, and soon the cardboard rectangle of a ticket was in my hands. I got a seat in one of the upper tiers of the theater. I turned off my smartphone and stowed it in my bag, but after the concert was over, I took a few photos of the auditorium as well as the hallway at the box entrance.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Sixth ("Pathétique") Symphony was being performed. This is the last symphony of the great composer. It is a complex piece of music in which joy and sorrow, movement and freezing, striving for an ideal and sadness of parting are intertwined. It was about this symphony that Tchaikovsky said: "I am now wholly occupied with the new work ... and it is hard for me to tear myself away from it. I believe it comes into being as the best of my works."