The Mariinsky Ballet Company to perform in Edinburgh for the first time

Jonathan Mills presented the festival programme for this year. “Each year we select different themes, and even our understanding of the theme always varies. This year we have not selected a specific theme as such, though we do have a certain focus – a comparison between the festival and the Olympic Games, which were based on shared values and principles. It is well known that in Ancient Greece one of the conditions for taking part in the Olympics was the observance of peace during the games and ensuring safe passage for all, even mortal enemies, throughout the country. That is something I call an Olympic truth. And the Edinburgh Festival is a place of truth that brings together different cultures, audiences and ideas. To imagine the scale of the events taking place in Edinburgh I can say that when the world will be following the Olympic Games and fifteen thousand athletes in London, twenty-five thousand performers will be appearing in Edinburgh.”

Mills focussed on his long and fruitful artistic ties with the Mariinsky Theatre and with Valery Gergiev personally. “We are delighted to be in St Petersburg once more. It was here that I discussed the 2008 programme with maestro Gergiev and his plans to perform all of Prokofiev’s symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra and stage a premiere of Szymanowski’s opera Król Roger. Starting back then and ever since we have worked together on several major projects. The highlight of our co-operation came when the maestro agreed to be the festival’s Honorary President. We offered him the position not just as a brilliant performer himself but as an outstanding personality. It’s a great honour for us and for a performer who links his life so closely with art.” Mills recalled that Gergiev began his career in Britain at the Edinburgh Festival – in 1991 and 1992 the Mariinsky Theatre staged five operas that caused a sensation in Great Britain.

This summer the Mariinsky will be appearing twice in Edinburgh. At the start of the festival Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra will be performing all of Johannes Brahms and Karol Szymanowski’s symphonies, while at the close of the festival there will be four performances of Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet Cinderella with choreography by Alexei Ratmansky. “I believe that this is one of Prokofiev’s most beautiful and lyric works, comparable with Romeo and Juliet,” Mills commented. “This visit by the Mariinsky Theatre is remarkable for the fact that this will be the first time the ballet company is taking part in the festival.”

Other Russian participants at this year’s Edinburgh Festival include Dmitry Krymov’s Laboratory school of dramatic art which will be staging A Midsummer Night’s Dream (As You Like It) . Vladimir Jurowski will be conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra, violinist Alina Pogostkina will appear with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and singers Tatiana Monogarova, Sergei Skorokhodov and Vladimir Chernov will perform with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus.

Another interesting point with regard to the programme, Mills said, will be Tatyana which has been created by acclaimed Brazilian choreographer Deborah Colker after motifs from Eugene Onegin – the story told from Tatyana’s point of view by Colker’s dance company from Rio de Janeiro.

Asked what he would advise to young and unknown ensembles that wished to take part in the festival, Mills replied that they have to “be determined and be confident in the fact that they really know their jobs and to have a precise idea of the scale and context of this event.”

Maestro Gergiev noted that he feels at home at the Edinburgh Festival and drew parallels with the Stars of the White Nights festival, this meeting having taken place on the day the Starsopened. “Edinburgh amazes you not just with the number of events that are of the highest order, variety, interest and scale but also with the unique atmosphere that seizes the entire city. You get the impression that nothing much apart from the festival is happening in Edinburgh at this time of the year.” The maestro stressed that the “ Stars should in no way submit to the ambitious and emotional desire to catch up with Edinburgh and try to be active in all those areas in which our elder ‘colleague’ is so successful. The main difference is that ours is principally a music and theatre festival.”

Sir Angus Grossart spoke of a joint project between the State Hermitage and the National Museum of Scotland, as part of which during the festival there will be a major exhibition dedicated to Empress Catherine the Great and her connections with the Scottish nobility.