The lavishly scored music is regarded by many as some of the most grandiose music that Tchaikovsky ever wrote. RMP Chief Conductor Andrew Wailes conducts the RMP Choir and Orchestra, and soloists Sally-Anne Russell, and Christopher Hillier in a rare performance of this dramatic musical panorama of Russian history, from the foundation of Moscow to the enthronement of the first Tsar.

It is possible that this was the first full-scale performance of the work in Australia sung in Russian.

Andrew Wailes, conductor
Sally-Anne Russell, mezzo-soprano
Christopher Hillier, bass-baritone
Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir
Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra

Filmed live in concert on Saturday 30 July, 2022 in Melbourne Town Hall.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s (1840-1893) Festival Coronation March is a majestic orchestral work commissioned by the city of Moscow for the coronation of Tsar Alexander III in 1883. It was first performed on June 4, 1883 in the Sokolniki-Park (Moscow). The music includes excerpts from the national anthem of the Russian Empire, God save the Tsar! (Bozje, Tsarja chrani!), which Tchaikovsky also treated in his famous 1812 Overture, as well as in the Slavonic March.

He also composed the great ‘Moscow’ Cantata in 1883 to mark the Coronation of Emperor Alexander III. Set to an epic poem by Apollon Maikov (1821-1897).