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_____ From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 09 October 2006 11:08 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Dmitri Shostakovich For Immediate Release Shostakovich: My Life at the Movies Dancers on a Tightrope: Beyond Shostakovich Sunday 15 October 2006 Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre There is the opportunity to step back in time and be taken through the life and career of composer Dmitri Shostakovich in Shostakovich: My Life at the Movies at the South Bank Centre on 15 October. The specially-commissioned evening concert uses the actor Simon Russell Beale to play the part of Shostakovich and takes the audience through reminiscences of his life from being a pianist in the pit at the cinema to the end of his life when he had become one of the greatest film composers of his age. With excerpts of rarely – seen films, the evening is accompanied by Mark Fitz-Gerald leading the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and gives a unique chance to hear the composer's music in context. The programme has been devised by John Riley, the UK’s leading expert in Russian and Soviet cinema and author of a recent book of the same title. Shostakovich, whose centenary is celebrated this year, composed nearly 40 film scores throughout his life. His long career in cinema stretched from boyhood to old age – from accompaniments to silent films, early Stalinist epics, comedies and animations, propaganda films and, finally his late Shakespearean scores. The evening includes excerpts from the youthful silent-movie fun and games of The New Babylon and Alone, through the1930’s optimism of The Counterplan, the unexpected comedy of The Adventures of Korzinkina and the kitsch of The Gadfly, to his late scores for Grigory Kozintsev’s Hamlet and King Lear. Earlier in the day there is also a chance to see a free screening of the documentary film Family Album, which features rare footage of Dmitri Shostakovich and his family. The events are part of a weekend entitled Dancers on a Tightrope: Beyond Shostakovich (13 – 15 October) which has been devised to shed a fascinating light on two crucial but neglected areas of his output: songs and film music. Throughout the weekend there will also be the opportunity to watch screenings of short Soviet cartoons in the QEH foyer, including classics by Yuri Norstein, and cartoons featuring the music of Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina and others. Other film events held throughout the weekend are on Saturday 14 October when there will be a free screening of A Cry in the Universe, a documentary film about the Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya, who studied with Shostakovich at the Leningrad Conservatory (1939 – 1947). The accompanying film of her Symphony No.2 will also be shown. For further press information please contact Jenny Wegg at the South Bank Centre on 020 7921 0824 or email <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] or Kenny Morrison on 020 7921 0962, email: <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] Dancers on a Tightrope: Beyond Shostakovich Film Events Sat 14 Oct 2006 PR 1.30pm Film: A Cry In The Universe Documentary film about Ustvolskaya Admission free Sun 15 Oct 2006 PR 4pm FAMILY ALBUM Screening of the documentary film, Family Album, featuring rare footage of Dmitri Shostakovich and his family, directed by Oksana Dvornichenko Admission free Sun 15 Oct 2006 QEH 7.30pm CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Mark Fitz-Gerald conductor Simon Russell Beale actor Anna Azernikova soprano Shostakovich: Film Music Tickets: £8 - £22 Society for Co-operation in Russian & Soviet Studies 320 Brixton Road London SW9 6AB Tel: 020 7274 2282 Fax: 020 7274 3230 Eml: [log in to unmask] Web: www.scrss.org.uk Registered Charity: 1104012