Gergiev is building a concert hall in his garden

Gergiev is building a concert hall in his garden

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norman lebrecht

April 20, 2017

It is reported in St Petersburg that Valery Gergiev is building a 100-150 seat concert hall in the garden of his house in Repino, the suburb where Shostakovich used to live.

The hall will cost 150 million rubles – around $2 million – and Gergiev is paying for it himself.

The house, formerly a trade union rest home, was given to him by the Governor of St Petersburg in 2005.

Gergiev intends to give his first house concerts during the White Nights festival in June.

Comments

  • John says:

    Oh wow, he’s paying for something on his own property all by himself! Amazing.

  • Has Been says:

    I am sure Gergiev has given back to St Petersburg in tourist dollars/euros far more than the value of the house, not to mention that he has single handedly restored St Petersburg as the cultural capitol of Russia and enlarged the prestige of the Mariinsky organisations.

  • Thomasina says:

    A concert hall could be built for $2 million ? It’s not cheaper than an apartment in London, Paris, NY or Tokyo etc…?

  • Elizabeth Owen says:

    It’s only for 100/150 audience so should not cost millions and maybe the cost of living is much lower than in London.

    • Max Grimm says:

      The $2.000.000 mentioned in the thread intro aren’t the actual cost of the concert hall. According to the article, Gergiev, after leasing the land in 2005, received permission to construct a two-story cottage of 570m² and with a anticipated build time of 16 months.
      In the 12 years since then, Gergiev’s plans underwent several changes, there were delays, there were fees to be payed (ie. being permitted to build 570m² and ending up with more than 2.500m²) etc., all of which was apparently covered by Gergiev, culminating in the ~$2.000.000 with which he is personally invested in the project now.

  • Has Been says:

    Thank you Max Grimm for clarifying the situation. I am sorry but the persistent Gergiev bashing is tiresome. Everyone knows he has an idiosyncratic way of working but on the positive side he has supported many artists and given his time, sometimes spread to thinly, to the broad cause of music and the arts.

  • Alexander says:

    ….it is clearly stated that “…instead of his own Dacha ( summer cottage) Mr.Gergiev decided to build a new concert hall FOR the Mariinsky ….bla-bla… on the plot ( land plot) which has been given to him ( as many other Russians, for building their own dachas, I think this is a kind of an internal state politics in Russia to give plots to people free of charge to help him to have a kind of summer “getaway” for a while ) ….bla-bla… at his own expenses …
    Of course Gergiev is not poor, but he works as a working horse, everybody knows that fact …
    Actually it is cool , eat you heart out , Europe 🙂

  • stefan verbeek says:

    awful man….Poetin’s friend

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