Thursday, the SF Symphony opens a two week Prokofiev festival. They even have a fancy title: Russian firebrand, Russian virtuoso: the music of Prokofiev. We think they're trying to say that Prokofiev was Russian. He wrote five Russian piano Russian concertos which will all be performed by four Russian soloists: Yefim Bronfman, Vladimir Feltsman, Ilya Yakushev (he'll do two), and Mikhail Rudy. That's a pretty rare opportunity to hear all these concertos performed in such a short span by such distinguished performers.

There will be a party on Thursday night after the performance to start the Russian festival, which you can join too (ticket info here). We would suggest showing the Big Lebowski on a giant screen as an excuse to drink some white Russians. We even rehearsed: "that red carpet really ties Davies Symphony hall together." But from the web site, it looks more like a Russian caviar and Russian vodka affair.

Preview continues after the jump

There are four concert series, and we picked a few youtube clips to whet your appetite for each.

The first series, features the Suite from The Love for Three Oranges, the Piano Concerto No.3 (by Bronfman, who was absolutely magnificent last time we saw him in Davis; this is the only piano concerto recording by Prokofiev at the keys), and the Theme from Romeo and Juliet in an arrangement by SF Symphony conductor Michael Tilson-Thomas. We picked the Chanel Egoïste commercial to show the Romeo and Juliet suite in Cannes with pretty women. What more could you want?

There's a lot of screaming over the music, so here's Prokofiev himself playing the March of the Three Oranges:

The second installment has the American Overture, the Symphony No. 3 and the Piano Concerto No. 2, Vladimir Feltsman soloing. Below is a bit of that piano concerto, by Nikolai Lugansky. It's only a one-time performance on this Saturday, don't miss it.

The third concert series, Friday and Saturday next week, presents the Lieutenant Kijé Suite, and two-fer with Piano Concerto No. 1 AND the Piano Concerto No. 5 for the same ridiculously low price, and MTT's arrangement of the Suite from Cinderella. Here's a ballerina dancing with a broom to the sound of Cinderella. You'll never do house chores the same way:

As for an illustration of the Lieutenant Kije, we had the choice between a community college orchestra laboring through it, or a pop version by Sting. It's called Russians, so you bet we're going with that one:

As for the last concert, it's another one-time occurrence on Sunday, 6/24, with a program of the Piano Sonata No. 7, the Piano Concerto No. 4 For the Left Hand, the Seven, They Are Seven cantata, and the Scythian Suite. Our appetizer for this one is the Sonata no.7 by Glenn Gould.