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History of the Orchestra The Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra has played a role in countless Russian premieres as well as the first Russian performances of European operas and ballets including works by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, operas by Mikhail Glinka, Аlexander Dargomyzhsky, Аlexander Serov, Anton Rubinstein, Modest Musorgsky, Alexander Borodin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Gioacchino Rossini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Daniel Auber, Giacomo Meyerbeer, ballets by Riccardo Drigo, Cesare Pugni, Boris Asafiev, Dmitry Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian, Vasily Soloviev-Sedoi and Andrei Petrov – the list is endless... In 1978 the Mariinsky Theatre (then still the Kirov) appointed Valery Gergiev Conductor, making him Artistic and General Director in 1996. With maestro Gergiev´s arrival, the Orchestra´s repertoire expanded significantly. In addition to operas (first and foremost the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen as well as all of Wagner´s other operas starting with Lohengrin performed in German, all of Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitry Shostakovich´s operas, the lion´s share of Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky´s operatic legacy, both of Musorgsky´s versions of Boris Godunov, operas by Richard Strauss, Leoš Janáček, Mozart, Puccini and Donizetti) the Orchestra´s repertoire has come to include symphonic works and other genres of philharmonic music. The Orchestra has performed every symphony by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Mahler and Beethoven, Requiems by Mozart, Verdi and Tishchenko and works by Shchedrin, Gubaidulina, Kancheli and Karetnikov among many others. In 2008, according to results of a survey of leading music critics from major publications in America, Asia and Europe, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra was one of the top twenty orchestras in the world, beating two other Russian orchestras also listed in the ratings.
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Mariinsky Theatre:
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