Pétrouchka. The Firebird

PÉTROUCHKA
burlesque in four scenes

Music by Igor Stravinsky
Choreography by Michel Fokine (1911)
Libretto by Alexandre Benois
Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Staging by Gary Chryst
Revival Designer: Batozhan Dashitsyrenov
Lighting design: Vladimir Lukasevich
Coach: Igor Petrov

World premiere: 13 June 1911, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris
Premiere of this production: 6 February 2010, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg

Running time of the ballet Petrouchka: 40 minutes

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THE FIREBIRD
russian fairytale in two scenes

Music by Igor Stravinsky
Choreography by Michel Fokine (1910)
Libretto by Michel Fokine
Reconstruction by Isabelle Fokine, Andris Liepa
Set and costume design by Anna and Anatoly Nezhny
after original sketches by Alexander Golovin, Léon Bakst and Michel Fokine

World premiere: 25 June 1910, Les Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilev, Théâtre de l´Opéra, Paris
In the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre since 1994

Running time of the ballet The Firebird: 44 minutes

Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Pétrouchka was first staged by Michel Fokine during the saisons russes in Paris in 1911. Fokine’s ballet was brought to the Mariinsky Theatre’s repertoire by Leonid Leontiev in 1920. Specially for the VI Festival Maslenitsa (Shrovetide), the American dancer and choreographer Gary Chryst has worked to bring back the ballet to the Mariinsky Theatre. Chryst worked on stage rehearsals of Pétrouchka for the acclaimed Joffrey Ballet in New York in 1970 under Diaghilev’s friend Léonide Massine, a soloist with the Ballets russes and an renowned choreographer. In 2006, Chryst staged Pétrouchka for American Ballet Theatre and later for the National Ballet of Canada.

“The ballet The Firebird <…> is dear to me not just because the music was written to my own subject, not just because it was a tremendous success and remained in Diaghilev’s repertoire throughout the entire existence of his company. The main reason was that here I embodied my ideal of a union of choreographic art and musical art, and it is also dear to me for the memories it evokes of the worries and the joys that the composer and I felt.”

M. Fokine about the ballet The Firebird