On 28 July the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra open their three-week season at the Royal Opera House in London, Great Britain.
The Mariinsky Theatre’s tours to London have become a welcome tradition, with the company presenting its finest productions at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. The Mariinsky Ballet was last in London three years ago. The current tour features a diverse repertoire for the St Petersburg company. The leader in terms of the number of performances (nine in total) will be the Mariinsky Ballet’s “calling card” – its classical production of Swan Lake with several different casts. The tour programme also includes ballets based on works by William Shakespeare, the birth of whom four and a half centuries ago is being celebrated this year: the tour opens on 28 July with Leonid Lavrovsky’s Romeo and Juliet starring Diana Vishneva and Vladimir Shklyarov in the lead roles, while also featured in the programme is George Balanchine’s full-length ballet A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The theatre’s recent premiere of Frederick Ashton’s ballet Marguerite and Armand will be presented to London audiences with Ulyana Lopatkina and Timur Askerov and Diana Vishneva and Konstantin Zverev in the title roles. This season, the Mariinsky Theatre has adopted two works by the great British choreographer Frederick Ashton – the three-act Sylvia and the one-act ballet Marguerite and Armand. “It is a tremendous responsibility to dance the choreography of any genius in his own country,” explains Yuri Fateyev, Acting Director of the Mariinsky Ballet.
London will also be treated to Michel Fokine’s The Firebird, George Balanchine’s Apollo and Alexei Ratmansky’s ballets Cinderella and Concerto DSCH, the latter of which entered the company’s repertoire last season.
In addition, exacting British audiences will see the performance potential of the company. The tour programme features both leading soloists, many of whom are well-known throughout the world, as well as young performers. The playbill for the London tour lists the names of Diana Vishneva, Ulyana Lopatkina, Viktoria Tereshkina, Alina Somova, Anastasia Matvienko, Oxana Skorik, Kristina Shapran who recently joined the company, Timur Askerov, Yevgeny Ivanchenko, Andrei Yermakov, Konstantin Zverev, Alexander Sergeyev, Filipp Stepin, Yuri Smekalov and Vladimir Shklyarov. At the Royal Opera House where the dancer began his career as a member of the corps de ballet, “Russian Brit” Xander Parish – after five years with the St Petersburg company where he is now a soloist – will be performing lead roles in Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake and Apollo. Determinedly assimilating the classical repertoire, Kimin Kim will perform a lead role in Swan Lake as well as the role of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, the pas de deux in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the trio in Concerto DSCH. This season, British audiences will see Yulia Stepanova (as Odette-Odile and the Firebird) and Nadezhda Batoeva (whose Cinderella brings the tour to a close on 16 August) take their first steps as principal dancers. Taking part in the tour is Renata Shakirova, a talented student from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet which, according to Yuri Fateyev, highlights the strong bond between the academy and the theatre. Renata Shakirova has already appeared in various roles in Mariinsky Theatre productions, and in London she will be performing in the ballets Apollo and Concerto DSCH.
As part of the tour programme the Mariinsky Theatre will also be showcasing its “top star” – the corps de ballet, the skill, co-ordination and stylistic unity of which are highly praised by audiences throughout the world. In line with tradition, the Mariinsky Ballet’s tour is being managed by impresarios Victor and Lilian Hochhauser.
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