Cue James Bond?

The 2010 fall benefit gala for Purchase College’s Performing Arts Center on Oct. 23 is “From Russia With Love,” minus Bond, James Bond.

Valery Gergiev, conductor and artistic director of the Maryinsky Orchestra (formerly the Kirov Orchestra), will lead that group in Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 – the only evening performance of what may be Mahler’s best-known symphony during the orchestra’s New York tour. (Certainly, it is one of his most-often performed works. This reporter will never forget the New York Philharmonic’s titanic reading of the piece, under the baton of Erich Leinsdorf, during the 1975 Mahler Festival at Carnegie Hall.)

Valery Gergiev leads the Maryinsky
Orchestra in Mahler’s Fifth at the
Oct. 23 gala for Purchase College’s
Performing Arts Center.

The Performing Arts Center concert opens with Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.” Both works have inspired artists in other disciplines. Debussy’s prelude is the sensual undertow in Nijnsky’s controversial ballet as well as a modern one by Jerome Robbins that is a meditation on love and art. Mahler’s martial, transcendent symphony colors Luchino Visconti’s 1971 film “Death in Venice.”

Maestro Gergiev – who has led the Maryinsky since 1988 and is also artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg -- will be the guest of honor at a pre-concert cocktail reception and dinner by Corner Stone Caterers of Rye. The evening, which also features a silent auction, will conclude with a post-concert reception and – what else? – a dessert and vodka bar.

The festivities get underway at ?  Tickets are $1,500 (platinum), $1,000 (gold) and $500 (silver). Platinum tickets get you a backstage pass to a VIP reception with Gergiev.

Proceeds will benefit the Performing Arts Center’s plan to expand its 2011-12 season and its Arts-in-Education program, serving 7,500 students in 31 schools.

The center’s 33^rd season is made possible in part by the Basic Program Support Grant of ArtsWestchester, with funds from Westchester County. Major sponsorship for the 2010-11 season is provided by Vivian Milstein through the SVM Foundation.

The college is on Anderson Hill Road between Purchase and King streets. For gala information and tickets, call Anthony Busti in the Development Office, 914-251-6213.

Read Georgette Gouveia’s cultural musings at the artsmuse.blogspot.com, a collaboration with artswestchester.org.