From 15 to 22 January the ballet company of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will once again be on tour in St Petersburg. For several years now following the Christmas and New Year festivities, the ensemble of the Vladivostok branch has been bringing its own versions of classical ballets and new productions to the Mariinsky Theatre. This year the tour opens with the St Petersburg premiere of A Thousand and One Nights based on motifs from the famous Arabian tales.
A Thousand and One Nights is a project of Eldar Aliev, Principal Ballet-Master of the Primorsky Stage. He has previously staged this ballet in America and Europe, while in 2020 he created a new version for Vladivostok engaging almost the entire company: in addition to the expansive crowd scenes there are thirteen solo roles in the production.
The ballet is based on original music by renowned Azerbaijani composer Fikret Amirov and the libretto by the first production team of A Thousand and One Nights (1979) – the acclaimed men of letters, the Ibrahimbeyov brothers. From the myriad eastern tales, the creators selected the first and most important – The Story of King Shahryar and His Brother. Its narrative alternates with Scheherazade's most popular stories: Sinbad the Sailor and the Roc Bird, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
Aliev's co-creator is Pyotr Okunev, Principal Designer of the Primorsky Stage. In designing the production he has combined picturesque sets created by the Mariinsky Theatre's St Petersburg workshops with video images depicting panoramas of ancient cities and ornamental Arabic script. The oriental motifs are also plainly visible in the performers' luxuriant clothing – over three hundred complex costumes have been executed from the designer's sketches, hand-decorated with embroidery, painted patterns and appliqué work.
The St Petersburg premiere, like the Vladivostok premiere before it, is to be conducted by Ayyub Guliyev, Honoured Artist of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
For the second half of the tour, the company of the Primorsky Stage will be presenting classical productions that are firm audience favourites – Le Corsaire and The Sleeping Beauty.
| user_name | | Exit |
