The Russians Are Coming (to the Concert Halls)

When Richard Nixon warned us not to underestimate the importance of Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, he was talking politics. But he might just as well have been talking music.

We need look no further than the fall season to appreciate the influence Russia, political power or no, exerts on our musical life. It is to Russia that Placido Domingo turned to usher in the first season he has planned since becoming artistic director of the Los Angeles Opera. Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades” continues through Sept. 25 with a cast featuring some of St. Petersburg’s finest performers. Then to complete the trilogy of the three great Russian operas based on Pushkin, the St. Petersburg Chamber Opera will make a number of appearances around Southern California in October, winding up at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts with productions of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” and Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov.”

Russian concert music is also inescapable this fall. Haven’t had enough Rachmaninoff or Tchaikovsky (or Khachaturian or Schedrin or Shostakovich) at the Hollywood Bowl this summer? The Pacific Symphony opens its season Oct. 3 with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony (written at the same time as “The Queen of Spades”), and the Los Angeles Philharmonic follows suit with Esa-Pekka Salonen leading the performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto (with Leif Ove Andsnes as soloist) in October and the Symphonic Dances in November. (Rachmaninoff is in the air: In New York, both Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall will concentrate on his music this fall.)

For three days in October, the Eclectic Orange festival honors a more modern Russian, Alfred Schnittke, in concerts by the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin and the Kronos Quartet featuring the composer’s widow, Irina Schnittke, as soloist at the Irvine Barclay Theater.

If you are wondering where Shostakovich is in all this, not to worry. He is patiently waiting in the wings for the winter and spring, when his music will be featured prominently at Philharmonic concerts, UCLA and Ojai.

Verdi died 100 years ago; Schoenberg, 50 years ago. Not surprisingly, the quintessential 19th century Romantic and quintessential 20th century Modernist are important components of the new season. Verdi’s most popular operas, “La Traviata” and “Rigoletto,” are being offered by Los Angeles Opera and Opera Pacific, respectively; the Los Angeles Philharmonic performs the Requiem under Zubin Mehta in December. Schoenberg will be highlighted by the Philharmonic in a festival it is calling the Schoenberg Prism, which starts with the beginning of the season.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Opera will host a concert performance of Schoenberg’s momentous opera, “Moses and Aron,” led by the company’s new principal conductor, Kent Nagano, with his Berlin-based German Symphony Orchestra.

Finally, fall will provide local audiences with an opportunity to check out today’s three most talked-about young composers. The Philharmonic chamber music series and the Kronos concert will feature recent works by Osvaldo Golijov; Eclectic Orange will present Tan Dun conducting new concertos at the Orange County Performing Arts Center; and Long Beach Opera will produce Thomas Ades’ R-rated “Powder Her Face.”