Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra Play MPAC Tonight

In early 1994, Valery Gergiev and his friend, pianist Alexander Slobodyanik, then a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, entered a shuttered up old single-screen movie theatre known as The Community Theatre.

The Theatre, which originally opened in 1937, was once Morristown's premier movie house, but had fallen on hard times with the advent of the multiplex, closing for good in the mid-1980s. In the intervening 10 years, neglect took its toll, as the building became a local eyesore targeted for demolition.

But Slobodyanik had other ideas. What most saw as a rotten shell of a building, he saw the possibility of performance hall. So on that cold day in 1994, he and Valery Gergiev took a tour inside the building. According to local legend, Gergiev stood on the stage and snapped his fingers, heard the acoustics and proclaimed, "The Kirov will play here."

After a summer in which hundreds of volunteers labored to remove everything from mushrooms growing inside to mildew staining the walls, The Community Theatre reopened on September 29, 1994. And the Kirov, conducted by Valery Gergiev, performed on that very stage for a memorable concert that brought tears to all who attended - and in the process launched the theatre's revival.

In the intervening years, the Theatre, now known as Mayo Performing Arts Center, has been renovated several times over to where it is now a gleaming concert hall, home to over 200 events annually, and a robust arts education program. Over 200,000 patrons annually enjoy the world class roster of talent MPAC now presents. On January 30, 2015, Valery Gergiev returns with the Mariinsky Orchestra for the first time since that opening night concert, in a performance 20 years in the making, to celebrate what how that vision from that cold day in 1994 has become reality.

The Concert: Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, Denis Matsuev, piano
Tonight, January 30, 2015 at 8 pm

Program:
Shchedrin Concerto for Orchestra No. 1 "Naughty Little Limericks"
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, op 44
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. Ravel)

Mayo Performing Arts Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, presents a wide range of programs that entertain, enrich, and educate the diverse population of the region and enhance the economic vitality of Northern New Jersey. The 2014-2015 season is made possible, in part, by a grant the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as support received from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, F.M. Kirby Foundation and numerous corporations, foundations and individuals. The Mayo Performing Arts Center has been designated a Major Presenting Organization by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!