29.01.2019

The Mariinsky Theatre Marks 175 Years Since the Birth of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

18 March 2019 marks 175 years since the birth of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The Mariinsky Theatre has prepared an extensive festival programme Rimsky-Korsakov – 175 to mark the occasion. The events will span across St Petersburg, Vladivostok, Vladikavkaz, and Moscow. The XVIII Moscow Easter Festival, which covers all regions of Russia, will also be dedicated to the memory of the great Russian composer. The Mariinsky Theatre’s Rimsky-Korsakov – 175 festival will run from 17 March to 12 April and will feature performances of all the fifteen operas, seventy-nine romances, the famous Schéhérazade ballet set to the composer’s music, as well as most of Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphony and choral works.

The Mariinsky Theatre can justly be called Rimsky-Korsakov’s “home” as it hosted world premieres of seven out of the composer’s fifteen operas. Over the span of 146 years since the premiere of the first opera – The Maid of Pskov (1873) – the theatre has staged about 50 productions of Rimsky-Korsakov’s works. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s name has been a constant presence on the playbill of first the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre and then the Kirov Theatre. Stars of St Petersburg/Leningrad companies starred in various productions of the composer’s operas. In 1994, the Mariinsky Theatre hosted a major festival dedicated to Rimsky-Korsakov at the initiative of Valery Gergiev to mark 150 years since the birth of the composer. And now, 25 years later, the theatre dedicates a truly nation-wide festival to Rimsky-Korsakov.

The Rimsky-Korsakov – 175 festival will open with a gala concert under the baton of Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky II on 17 March. The marathon will continue with performances of repertoire productions: The Maid Of Pskov (18 March, the Mariinsky II), May Night (19 March, the Concert Hall), The Snow Maiden (20 March, the Mariinsky II), Christmas Eve (23 March, 4 April, the Mariinsky Theatre), The Tsar’s Bride (24 March, the Mariinsky II), Sadko (27 March, the Mariinsky Theatre), The Tale of Tsar Saltan (31 March, 7 April, the Mariinsky Theatre), The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (2 April, the Mariinsky II), and The Golden Cockerel (12 April, the Mariinsky II). The premiere of one-act operas Kashchey the Immortal and Mozart and Salieri staged by Vyacheslav Starodubtsev will be the jewel in the festival’s crown (26 March and 28 March, the Concert Hall).

The highlight of the ballet programmes is the legendary production of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes – Schéhérazade – choreographed by Michel Fokine and designed by Léon Bakst. Such rarely-performed productions as Boyarinya Vera Sheloga (18 March, the Mariinsky II), Mlada (21 March, the Mariinsky II), Servilia (3 April, the Concert Hall), and Pan Voyevoda (6 April, the Concert Hall) will be presented in concert versions. The soloists of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers will present an anthology of Rimsky-Korsakov’s romances at three chamber concerts (29 March and 31 March, 5 April, the Mussorgsky Hall). Other concerts will feature the prize-winners of the International Rimsky-Korsakov Competition (23 March, the Concert Hall) and students of the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire (30 March, the Concert Hall). The performances of The Maid of Pskov, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, and The Golden Cockerel will be conducted by Valery Gergiev.

The Rimsky-Korsakov – 175 festival will have a flexible subscription system. Spectators will have an opportunity to compose their own subscriptions out of three or more Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s works and choose only those productions and concerts that they want to see.

Various branches of the Mariinsky Theatre will also mark 175 since the birth of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will show its own productions of The Tsar’s Bride (17 March and 12 April) and The Tale of Tsar Saltan (31 March). The Primorsky Stage and the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania Branch of the Mariinsky Theatre will also host performances of the composer’s chamber, vocal, and symphonic works.

Any use or copying of site materials, design elements or layout is forbidden without the permission of the rightholder.
user_nameExit