A collection of rarely-seen images of the Russian composer, Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) will go on display at the University of Bristol this month to celebrate the centenary of his birth.
The photographic exhibition, organised by RIA Novosti, the Russian state news agency, opens on Thursday 28 September 2006 at the Department of Music, Victoria Rooms, Queen’s Road, Bristol. Entry is free of charge.
The exhibition provides a rare opportunity to see these images of the composer at work and at leisure. It is part of a season of events arranged by the University to mark the Shostakovich centenary which includes free lunchtime concerts and a major international conference entitled Shostakovich 2006.
Dmitri Shostakovich was born on 25 September 1906. During his lifetime, Shostakovich was a paradoxical figure: he was the Soviet Union's most successful composer, yet his public censure during Stalin's regime was reported around the world. Despite the restrictions placed on musicians, scholars and journalists throughout the Soviet period, Shostakovich's popularity in the West flourished, and his reputation as one of the 20th century's greatest composers has never been stronger.
After the sensation of his alleged memoirs, Testimony, Shostakovich has been widely perceived in the West as a Soviet dissident. While this view has served to distance Shostakovich from the corruption of the Soviet regime under which he worked, it has also distracted scholars from seeking out a more complete picture of his career and music.
Dr Pauline Fairclough, Lecturer in Music at the University of Bristol and the conference organiser said: “In the last ten years, archival research has transformed our understanding of who Shostakovich was. Though there is still much to learn, the patient work of scholars, musicians and archivists is continually throwing up new discoveries.
“Unfinished or neglected works continue to be found in the Shostakovich Family Archive in Moscow and we are delighted that two of Russia's most distinguished Shostakovich specialists, Olga Digonskaya and Olga Dombrovskaya, will be giving presentations at the conference on their recent work.
“Many other distinguished names in Russian music scholarship from Britain, Russian and the U.S. will also be attending the conference, including Laurel Fay, the foremost expert on Shostakovich in the West, who will give the keynote address.”
The conference begins on Friday 29 September. On Friday evening, the internationally acclaimed Brodsky Quartet will be concluding their cycle of Shostakovich quartets at St George’s Bristol with a performance of the Fifteenth Quartet. (Box office: 0845 40 24 001)
There will also be a series of six free lunchtime concerts devoted to Shostakovich at the Victoria Rooms throughout the Autumn Term. For details, please contact Ruth Hill on 0117 954 5032 or ruth.hill@bristol.ac.uk
The exhibition runs until Friday 15 December. Opening times: Monday – Thursday 9 a.m. – 9 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Shostakovich 2006 will take place in the Victoria Rooms from Friday 29 September to Sunday 1 October. The major conference themes are manuscript and archival sources, analysis and aesthetics. There will also be sessions on reception, Shostakovich's contemporaries, song and opera, performance issues, film, theatre and incidental music.