Mariinsky Theatre premieres in Moscow

Scene from the opera Les Contes d’Hoffmann

On 15 and 17 February as part of the Golden Mask Russian theatre festival and prize’s project Premieres of the Mariinsky Theatre in Moscow Valery Gergiev will be conducting the Mariinsky Opera and Orchestra in two opera premieres from the 229^th season – Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann.

Stage Director Vasily Barkhatov’s production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann has been nominated in three categories – “Best Production”, “Best Male Role” (Ildar Abdrazakov as Lindorf, Coppélius, Dr Miracle and Dapertutto) and “Best Lighting Designer” (Alexander Sivaev).

In Moscow on 31 March and 1 April the Mariinsky Ballet will be performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream featuring choreography by George Balanchine. The Golden Mask awards ceremony will take place on 16 April at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre. Singers engaged for the performance of Pelléas et Mélisande on 15 February include Andrei Bondarenko, Anastasia Kalagina, Yevgeny Ulanov, Oleg Sychov, Platon Cherkasov, Zlata Bulycheva and Timur Abdikeyev. On 17 February, the lead roles in the opera Les Contes d’Hoffmann will be performed by Sergei Semishkur, Larisa Yudina, Anastasia Kalagina, Yekaterina Solovyova, Yulia Matochkina and Ildar Abdrazakov.

Valery Gergiev will be conducting on both evenings.