Every year the Music Festival Stars of the White Nights brings together the leading lights of the international opera stage – brilliant artists whose names have long become synonymous with artistry and excellence. This July, audiences can look forward to an exceptional constellation of world-renowned performers. Featured in opera productions at the Mariinsky Theatre will be Ambrogio Maestri, Albina Shagimuratova, Hibla Gerzmava, Hovhannes Ayvazyan, Olga Borodina, Vladislav Sulimsky, Mikhail Petrenko, Sergei Skorokhodov, Alexey Markov, Dmitry Korchak, Tatiana Serjan and Irina Churilova

On 26 June the awards ceremony for the II Rachmaninoff International Competition for Pianists, Composers and Conductors took place at the Petrovsky Travel Palace in Moscow.

Soloists of the Mariinsky Orchestra, Alexey Krasheninnikov (violin) and Eduard Kiprsky (piano), were among the winners in the composition category. Krasheninnikov was awarded 2^nd prize and a Silver Medal, while Kiprsky received 3^rd prize and a Bronze Medal as well as the special prize for the best piano work

On 4, 5 and 6 July the New Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will host one of the most anticipated premieres of the XXXIII Music Festival Stars of the White Nights – Giuseppe Verdi’s Ernani, adapted by the renowned Bulgarian bass and opera director Orlin Anastassov. The production team includes set and costume designer Denis Ivanov, choreographer Yulia Smirnova, chorus master Konstantin Rylov and principal répétiteur Yuri Kokko. The production is under the musical direction of Valery Gergiev

On 9 and 10 June the Mariinsky Ballet Company will tour the Armenian capital of Yerevan. The performances will take place on an open-air stage in Tumanyan Park. On the first evening the programme will feature one-act ballets by Michel Fokine; on the second evening audiences will enjoy a ballet divertissement drawn from masterpieces of the world repertoire. The tour will feature stars of the St Petersburg ballet stage alongside rising young artists. The Mariinsky Orchestra will be conducted by Arseny Shuplyakov

In June and July the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres will embark on a major series of reciprocal tours in St Petersburg and Moscow. First, however, on 9, 10 and 11 June the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev will perform at the Zaryadye Moscow Concert Hall. In this anniversary year celebrating the 185^th anniversary of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s birth, the orchestra and maestro will present a lavish programme devoted to the composer’s works. Across three evenings the complete cycle of Tchaikovsky’s numbered symphonies will be performed