Archive for May, 2010
Valery Gergiev ‘The State of Culture and the Culture of a State’
The world’s busiest conductor, Artistic and General Director of the St Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov), Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, is at the Union on the 20th of May (3-4pm).
Union Society and CURS members: free
Guest tickets cost £5. These can be bought from the Union office Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, or on the door of the event.
Valery Gergiev is also founder and Artistic Director of the Stars the White Nights Festival and New Horizons Festival in St Petersburg, the Moscow Easter Festival, the Gergiev Rotterdam Festival, the Mikkeli International Festival, and the Red Sea Festival in Eilat, Israel. He succeeded Sir
Georg Solti as conductor of the World Orchestra for Peace in 1998.
He has recorded exclusively for Decca (Universal Classics), but appears also on the LSO Live, Philips and Deutsche Grammophon labels. His vast discography includes Russian operas, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Mahler symphonies among many others.
Gergiev is not only a famous conductor but a prominent public figure. Being an Ossetin he made an appeal on television after the 2004 Beslan school massacre, against any revenge. In 2008 he came to Tskhinvali and conducted a concert near the ruined building of the South Ossetian Parliament as tribute to the victims of the war. Gergiev has worked in fund-raising for such projects as the recently
built Mariinsky Concert Hall, and intends to achieve to build a new Mariinsky Opera House as well as complete renovations of the Mariinsky Theatre historical building.
Gergiev is known as a charismatic and inspirational speaker. At the Union he will talk about music, culture and politics in Russia and the world. His great experience and high flier career promise a fascinating perspective. There will be an opportunity to ask questions.
Directions to the Cambridge Union Society Building
This is a past event now. Listen to the recording if you are interested.
Chto? Gde? Kogda?
“Chto? Gde? Kogda?” is a team erudition competition taking its roots from the homonymous Soviet TV programme which later developed into an international intellectual sport enjoyed in many parts of the world with Russian-speaking diasporas: the countries of the former USSR, Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, United Kingdom, United States etc.
CU Russian Society and Trinity College Russian Society are delighted to add Cambridge to the global geography of “Chto? Gde? Kogda?”. The game is played in Russian language.
This Sunday’s tour is called the “Jerusalem Cup”.
WHEN: 2.30pm until approximately 5.30-6pm, Sunday, 16 May
WHERE: Junior Parlour, Trinity College
ROUTE DIRECTION : http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=290&subid=6
LANGUAGE: RUSSIAN
Refreshments will be provided.
The rules of the game:
The players will group into teams of 6. The game consists of 45 questions. After each question is posed, teams will have 1 minute to discuss and then come up with an answer. Each team will nominate a captain who makes the final decision on the answer for each question. Team that answered the most of questions correctly, wins.
More info:
wikipedia
Film Nights for the Victory Day
These days we would like to draw your attention to the Victory Day of the 9th, May and devote most of our activities to this celebration!
This week has been declared a film week where we are eager to show you both documentary and fiction films about this legendary epoch.
*** 1 *** FILM NIGHT – Destiny of a man (Судьба человека) – 3 MAY
Movie Based on Story by Mikhail Sholokov
Russian filmmaker Sergei Bondarchuk is both director and star of this melancholy wartime fable. Bondarchuk portrays Andrey Sokolov, a World War II-era Soviet citizen who is captured by Nazis. He goes through hell, but is sustained by the possibility that someday he’ll be reunited with his loved ones. Upon his release, Sokolov discovers that his whole family has died during the war. Originally titled Sudba Cheloveka, Destiny of a Man represented Sergei Bondarchuk’s directorial debut. Its international release in 1961 (two years after it was made) was a genuine eye-opener to film-critic curmudgeons who believed that Russian filmmakers, while brilliant in assembling propaganda pieces, were lacking in humanity and emotionalism. An enormous worldwide success, Destiny of a Man fully proved that it was not true…
WHEN: 5PM, Wednesday, 3 MAY
WHERE: TV room, Darwin College
GENRE: a staging drama about the War
PRICES: CURS members free, £1 others
*** 2 *** FILM NIGHT – They Fought for Their Motherland (Они сражались за Родину) – 4MAY
It is a screen adaptation of Nobel Prize winning author Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel. This is a war film from a Russian point of view.
* Prize of the Union of the Anti-Fascist Fighters of Czechoslovakia at the 20th IFF in Karlovy Vary, 1976
* Award for Best Director to S. Bondarchuk and Award for Best Performance of 27 male roles of soldiers at the 14th IFF in Panama, 1976
* The Vassiliev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR to director S. Bondarchuk and cinematographer V. Yusov, 1977
* Leninist Komsomol Prize to composer V. Ovchinnikov, 1977
“…the film concentrates on the remnants of one shattered regiment and its individual soldiers’ thoughts and fears in the face of impending annihilation, not only of themselves but Mother Russia too.”
WHEN: 8.30PM, TUESDAY 4th May
WHERE: Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Trinity College
GENRE: war drama
LANGUAGE: in Russian with English subtitles
PRICES: Trinitarians and CURS members free, Ј1 others
*** 3 *** FILM NIGHT – Ordinary Fascism (Обыкновенный фашизм) – 5 MAY
A fascinating documentary on Nazism by Soviet film maker Mikhail Romm. Made in 1961, it is remarkable both for its portrayal of that weird brand of fascism and for the way it does so.
This 1965 documentary by Mikhail Romm is an excellent example of the special position of film directors in the former Soviet Union, who didn’t have to succumb to the economic hardships typically imposed on art by Western market economies. However, the film implicitly reveals the political interventions under which all art suffered under the Soviet system.
WHEN: 8PM, Wednesday, 5 MAY
WHERE: TV room, Darwin College
GENRE: documentary
PRICES: CURS members free, £1 others
*** 4 *** FILM NIGHT – Ivan’s childhood (Иваново детство) – 6 MAY
Directed by Andrey Tarkovsky
The film is based on the 1957 short story Ivan (Russian: Иван) by Vladimir Bogomolov, with the screenplay written by Mikhail Papava and an uncredited Andrei Tarkovsky. The film tells the story of orphan boy Ivan and his experiences during World War II. Ivan’s Childhood was one of several Soviet films of the late 1950s, such as The Cranes Are Flying and Ballad of a Soldier, that looked at the human cost of war.
WHEN: 7PM, Thursday, 6th May
WHERE: TV Room, Darwin College
GENRE: war drama
PRICES: Trinitarians and CURS members free, £1 others
*** 5*** FILM NIGHT – Hurricanes over Russia – 7 MAY
Directed by Roy Perkins
Sixty two years ago the might of Hitler’s Army’s invaded Russia and took on the might of Stalin’s army. Within a matter of hours hundreds of Russian aircraft were destroyed on the ground, and the Wehrmacht were heading East in another phase of their Blitzkrieg. By the first of September, the front was 400 miles East, and the Wehrmacht were already at the doors of Leningrad.
WHEN: 8PM, Friday 7 MAY
WHERE: TV room, Darwin College
GENRE: documentary
PRICES: CURS members free, £1 others
*** 6*** FILM NIGHT – Could Stalin stop Hitler? (Мог бы Сталин остановить Гитлера?) – 8MAY
WHEN: 8PM, Thursday, 8th May
WHERE: TV Room, Darwin College
GENRE: documentary in Russian
PRICES: Trinitarians and CURS members free, £1 others
*** 7*** FILM NIGHT – Battle for Moscow (Битва за Москву) – 9MAY
Directed by Yuri Ozerov
A magnificent film about the War and its heroes. It is like the final accord for the Victory Day!
Join us and you will never forget it!
WHEN: 8PM, Friday 9 MAY
WHERE: TV room, Darwin College
GENRE: war drama (with English subtitles)
PRICES: CURS members free, £1 others