On 4 August the Mariinsky Theatre closed the 2018-19 season. The final performance was of Adolphe Adam’s ballet Le Corsaire with additional music by Cesare Pugni, Léo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo and Pyotr Oldenburgsky performed by the ballet company of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre.
• Performances and concerts took place at seven venues: the historic Mariinsky Theatre, the Concert Hall, the Mariinsky II and its four chamber venues;
• Over one thousand one hundred events;
• Six opera and two ballet premieres;
• Audiences included visitors from ninety-eight countries including Australia, the USA, Canada, Japan, China, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and countries in Europe, Africa and South America;
• Ten festivals in St Petersburg, the II International Caucasus Festival The Mariinsky – Vladikavkaz, the XI International Festival The Mariinsky in Samara, the XVIII Moscow Easter Festival and the IV International Far East Festival Mariinsky (Vladivostok);
• The XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition – competition tours and a Gala Concert of prize-winners and concerts by jury members and prize-winners from previous years at Mariinsky Theatre venues;
• The project The Mariinsky for Children: during the 2018-19 season more than one hundred thousand young spectators attended various theatre performances and cultural and educational programmes;
• Concerts by grant-recipients of the Atkins Young Artists Program and the project Sounds of Change run in conjunction with Hamburg’s TONALi competition.
Mariinsky Theatre tours
In the 2018-19 season the Mariinsky Theatre (opera and ballet companies, chorus and symphony orchestra) toured to nineteen countries, visiting fifty towns and cities abroad and forty in Russia. Major trips undertaken included an extensive tour by Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, which visited ten cities in the USA and Mexico, and appearances in countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, performing in large cities in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan as well as in Vladivostok and a tour of cities in Spain. Among significant musical projects were the Tchaikovsky Festival at the Gasteig Philharmonie in Munich, a series of all of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s symphonies at Vienna’s Konzerthaus and a musical tribute to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov as part of the Moscow Easter Festival.
Valery Gergiev also appeared with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, the orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Verbier Festival Orchestra, having become Music Director of the latter ensemble in 2018. In the course of the 2018-19 season Valery Gergiev performed for the first time at the Bayreuth Festspiele – he conducted a series of performances of a new production of Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser, and starting on 15 August he will be conducting one of the Salzburg Festival’s premieres – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Simon Boccanegra. The Münchner Philharmoniker, which Valery Gergiev has directed for the past four seasons, appeared under his baton in concerts in Germany, France, The Netherlands, South Korea, China and Japan. As part of this collaboration Munich hosted Valery Gergiev’s 360 Degrees festival for the fourth time, events of which this year celebrated 125 years since the founding of the Münchner Philharmoniker.
Season premieres
• The first premiere of the season was Gaetano Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor staged by Andrea De Rosa at the Mariinsky II;
• As part of the festival marking 175 years since the birth of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov the Mariinsky Theatre presented premieres of three new productions: the one-act operas Mozart and Salieri and Kashchey the Immortal staged by Vyacheslav Starodubtsev (Concert Hall) and the one-act prologue The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga at the Mariinsky II (staged by Yuri Laptev), which is performed on the same evening as the opera The Maid of Pskov as the composer had envisioned;
• A premiere of Giacomo Puccini’s opera La fanciulla del West staged by Arnaud Bernard at the Mariinsky II opened the XXVII Stars of the White Nights music festival;
• Another Stars of the White Nights festival premiere came with Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser staged by Vyacheslav Starodubtsev at the Concert Hall;
• A premiere of the ballet Push Comes to Shove by legendary American choreographer Twyla Tharp (recipient of Emmy and Tony awards and America’s National Medal of the Arts) opened the XVIII International Ballet Festival Mariinsky;
• The premiere of the ballet Jeu de cartes choreographed and staged by Ilya Zhivoi expanded the collection of ballets by Igor Stravinsky in the Mariinsky Theatre’s repertoire;
• As part of the project A Creative Workshop of Young Choreographers Melanie Hamrick, Alexander Sergeyev, Vladimir Shklyarov with Alexander Chelidze, Dmitry Pimonov, Ilya Zhivoi, Maxim Petrov and Yuri Smekalov all presented their works;
• Following an absence of eight years, the historic Mariinsky Theatre saw a return of Richard Wagner’s “festival play for the consecration of the stage” Parsifal staged by Tony Palmer (1997 production, current version by the Mariinsky Theatre);
• The theatre saw a return of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera The Enchantress staged by David Pountney (co-production by the Mariinsky Theatre and the Teatro Nacional de Sāo Carlos, 2003). The production was revived following an absence of ten years;
• The Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre hosted significant concert premieres under Valery Gergiev: the world premiere of Rodion Shchedrin’s new work Commemoration Mass, which is dedicated to the composer’s late wife, the great ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, and the Russian premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s oratorio Über Liebe und Haß;
• The world premiere of David Krivitsky’s opera Doctor Zhivago after the eponymous novel by Boris Pasternak was presented by soloists and the ensemble of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers;
• At the XXVII Stars of the White Nights music festival British singers and the London Chamber Orchestra presented the Russian premiere of contemporary composer Benjamin Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence.
Festivals
• The II International Caucasus Festival The Mariinsky – Vladikavkaz (30 September – 7 October) opened the second season of the Mariinsky Theatre’s branch in Vladikavkaz. The forum’s programme included appearances by the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, lead soloists of the Mariinsky Opera and Academy of Young Opera Singers, the National State Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania (a branch of the Mariinsky Theatre) and a tour by the Leonid Yakobson Ballet Theatre.
• The VI International Organ Festival (13 – 21 October) offered seven programmes performed by musicians from Russia, France, Sweden, The Netherlands and South Korea, including by a prize-winner of the Grand Prix de Chartres, one of the world’s most prestigious organ music competitions;
• The XI Mariinsky music festival ran in Samara on 10 and 11 November. Performances by the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev formed a continuation of the tradition of running the annual music festival To Mstislav Rostropovich in Samara, which this year changed its format: the eleventh season ran using the title The “Mariinsky” Music Festival in Samara;
• The XIII International Piano Festival (13 – 31 December) – this year, the festival playbill focussed particular attention on appearances by young performers. There were several classes by acclaimed Russian teachers, students from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and soloists from the St Petersburg House of Music as well as a new project – Rising Stars at the Mariinsk which featured the participation of very young musicians. Pianists who appeared at the festival’s concerts included Valery Afanassiev, Sergei Babayan, Boris Berezovsky, Alexei Volodin, Pavel Gililov, Alexandra Dovgan, Denis Matsuev, Rustam Muradov, Dmitry Kalashnikov, Federico Colli, Alexei Kurbatov, Peter Laul, Sergei Redkin, Andrew Tyson, Vadym Kholodenko, Daria Tchaikovskaya and Sa Chen;
• The Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre and the chamber venues of the Mariinsky II played host to the III Virtuosi of the Flute international festival (21 – 25 February), marking 225 years since the birth of Theobald Böhm – a flautist, composer, musical maestro and creator of the flute as we know it today. Festival participants included Mariinsky Orchestra flautists and guests soloists from leading international ensembles such as Julien Beaudiment (Lyon’s Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse, Orchestre National de Lyon), Matvey Demin (Tonhalle Orchester, Zurich) and Walter Auer (Wiener Philharmoniker);
• The IV Maslenitsa in Song international festival (3 – 10 March) saw the participation of choral ensembles from Russia, Finland and Japan in bright and vivid opera performances and an a cappella marathon;
• The festival Rimsky-Korsakov – 175 (17 March – 12 April) was a musical tribute from the Mariinsky Theatre to this great Russian composer. The expansive festival programme took in St Petersburg, Vladivostok, Vladikavkaz and Moscow, including performances of all fifteen operas, seventy-nine romances, the famous ballet Schéhérazade set to music by the composer and most of his symphonies and choral works;
• The XVIII International Ballet Festival Mariinsky (21 – 31 March) opened with the Russian premiere of the ballet Push Comes to Shove by legendary American choreographer Twyla Tharp. The festival playbill was adorned by names of guest stars from New York City Ballet, the Opéra de Paris, Great Britain’s Royal Ballet, The Netherlands’ Het Nationale Ballet and the Bolshoi and Mikhailovsky Ballet Companies;
• The III Northern Lyre International Harp Festival (21 – 24 March) saw the participation of harpists from France, Belgium, Spain, the Czech Republic, Japan, China and Canada, musicians from St Petersburg orchestras (the Mariinsky Orchestra, the Philharmonic, the Mikhailovsky Theatre and the St Petersburg Chamber Opera Company) and musicians from Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Petrozavodsk. The programme included both classical works and several pieces composed especially for the festival;
• The XVIII Moscow Easter Festival did not break any records regarding length this year – it lasted 16 days (27 April – 12 May 2019), but the tour route of the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev remained as intense and impetuous as ever. Concerts of symphony, choral and chamber music as well as a bell-ringing programme took place at key concert venues in Moscow and in Russia’s regions;
• In continuing to develop one of its priority strategies – to support young talent – the Mariinsky Theatre again presented two spring festivals for children: The V Mariinsky NEXT festival for children’s and youth orchestras (31 March – 29 April) and the III Mariinsky for Children: Children at the Mariinsky festival of children’s music and theatre studios (7 – 12 May);
• The XXVII Stars of the White Nights music festival ran for sixty-one days (22 May – 21 July). During the festival the Mariinsky Theatre, Concert Hall, Mariinsky II and its chamber halls presented over two hundred events, among them premieres of the opera La fanciulla del West by Giacomo Puccini staged by Arnaud Bernard and Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser staged by Vyacheslav Starodubtsev, the Russian premiere of George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence performed by the London Chamber Orchestra, events marking 175 years since the birth of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a musical tribute to Hector Berlioz (marking 150 years since the composer’s death), participation in a live broadcast of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazepa on French TV channel Mezzo and Mezzo Live HD and much more besides;
• The programme of the IV International Far East Festival Mariinsky (24 July – 9 August) included the Far East premieres of Mariinsky Theatre productions, events marking 175 years since the birth of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and 180 years since the birth of Modest Musorgsky and appearances by young stars from China, South Korea and Japan, as well as outstanding musicians and conductors and stars of opera and ballet.
Marking 175 years since the birth of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
18 March 2019 marked 175 years since the birth of Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. To mark the composer’s anniversary year, the Mariinsky Theatre prepared the expansive festival programme Rimsky-Korsakov – 175 (17 March – 12 April), which took in St Petersburg, Vladivostok, Vladikavkaz and Moscow and included a performance of all fifteen operas, seventy-nine romances, the famous ballet Schéhérazade set to music by the composer and most of his symphonic and choral works. The XVIII Moscow Easter Festival and a series of events as part of the XXVII Stars of the White Nights music festival were dedicated to the composer.
The Mariinsky Theatre may justifiably call itself the “house” of Rimsky-Korsakov – it hosted the world premieres of seven of the composer’s fifteen operas. The name of Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov never vanished from the playbills first of the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre and, later, those of the Kirov State Theatre, and stars of the St Petersburg/Leningrad company dazzled in his operas. In 1994, marking 150 years since the composer’s birth, on the initiative of Valery Gergiev the Mariinsky Theatre ran a major festival dedicated to Rimsky-Korsakov. Twenty-five years later the theatre dedicated another festival to the maestro, this time on an all-Russian scale.
The festival Rimsky-Korsakov – 175 opened with a Gala Concert conducted by Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky II. Special festival events included premieres of the one-act operas Kashchey the Immortal and Mozart and Salieri staged by Vyacheslav Starodubtsev at the Concert Hall, the one-act prologue The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga staged by Yuri Laptev, concert performances of such repertoire rarities as Mlada, Servilia and Pan Voyevoda, and performances of all of the great Russian’s romances by soloists of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers. The festival marathon also included performances of established repertoire productions of The Maid of Pskov, May Night, The Snow Maiden, Christmas Eve, The Tsar’s Bride, Sadko, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia and The Golden Cockerel.
Other musical tributes of the 2018-19 season included a marathon of operas by Giuseppe Verdi marking 205 years since the composer’s birth, performances and concert programmes commemorating 105 years since the birth of Benjamin Britten and a series of major events as part of the XXVII Stars of the White Nights music festival dedicated to Hector Berlioz marking 150 years since his death.
The XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition
The Mariinsky Theatre was one of the most important venues taking part in the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, which was held in Moscow and St Petersburg from 17 to 29 June. During the Stars of the White Nights festival, on the eve of the competition, the Mariinsky Theatre hosted the series of concerts Approaching the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, as well as concerts by jury members of the XIV competition and prize-winners from previous years. They included Lucas Debargue, Denis Matsuev, Jan Vogler, Mario Brunello, Nelson Freire, Daniil Trifonov, Sergei Roldugin, Kristóf Baráti, Pavel Milyukov, Jonathan Roseman, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Aylen Pritchin, Lukas Geniušas, István Várdai and Dmitry Masleev. On 29 June the competition concluded with a grand Gala Concert of the 2019 prize-winners at the Mariinsky II.
Following the close of the 2018-19 season Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra will be appearing on tour in Austria, Slovenia, France and Switzerland.
The opening of the 2019-20 season will take place on 6 September. The Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre will host a performance by Sergei Dogadin (violin), recipient of the 1st prize at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, accompanied by the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev. The programme is to include Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, Olivier Messiaen’s four symphonic meditations L’Ascension and Igor Stravinsky’s fantasia for full orchestra Feu d’artifice and music from his ballet The Firebird. On 7 and 8 September at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre there will be recitals by young pianists who were prize-winners at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition: Alexandre Kantorow, recipient of the Grand Prix and 1st prize (7 September) and Tianxu An, recipient of the 4st prize and Special Prize for self-control and courage (8 September). The first performance at the Mariinsky II will take place on 8 September with a premiere from the 2018-19 season – Giacomo Puccini’s opera La fanciulla del West staged by Arnaud Bernard. The lead roles will be performed by Maria Bayankina (Minnie), Akhmed Agadi (Dick Johnson), Kirill Zharovin (Jack Rance), Andrei Popov (Nick), Oleg Sychov (Ashby), Sergei Romanov (Sonora) and Gleb Peryazev (Jake Wallace). Valery Gergiev will be conducting.
Performances at the historic Mariinsky Theatre will commence on 21 September.
| user_name | | Exit |
