World Peace Orchestra to Give First Concert in Russia

On Thursday the World Orchestra for Peace will give its only concert in St.Petersburg. It will be held at the Mariinsky Theatre within the framework of the Stars of the White Nights Festival.

The concert will be one of the most important events at the festival, Valery Gergiev, the prominent conductor and art director of the Mariinsky Theatre, told journalists the day before.

Gergiev himself will conduct the orchestra, which will perform Overture and Scherzo "Midsummer Night's Dream" by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartoldy, the symphonic poem "Don Juan" by Richard Strauss, Sergei Prokofiev's "Ode to the End of War" and Igor Stravinsky's "Petrushka".

The World Orchestra for Peace is "a unique team and I always enjoy performing with it," the conductor said. The orchestra was set up by outstanding director Georg Solti to give a concert in Geneva devoted to the UN's 50th anniversary.

Today the orchestra comprises over 100 musicians from 50 countries. So far it has only given three concerts.