2024 will present us a major festival dedicated to the musical legacy of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov timed to the 180th anniversary of the composer's birth. This festival-tribute, spanning the entire theatre season, will highlight exchange tours between the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres and their joint performance in the city of Tikhvin, Rimsky-Korsakov's birthplace.
Starting the new year in Moscow and St Petersburg both theatres will honour the great Russian composer. The Bolshoi Theatre's New Stage will host The Tale of Tsar Saltan on 4 January at 12:00 and 19:00, and again on 5 and 6 January, while The Tsar's Bride will grace the Historic Stage on 20 and 21 February. The Mariinsky's schedule includes The Tale of Tsar Saltan on 3 January at 13:00 and 19:00, Christmas Eve on 7 January at 12:00 and 19:00, May Night on 10 January, and The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya on 16 and 23 January.
From 23 to 25 February the Mariinsky Theatre will perform at the Bolshoi's Historic Stage. The first performance will be The Maid of Pskov with the prologue The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga, followed by Christmas Eve on 24 February, and The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya on 25 February, staged and decorated by Alexei Stepanyuk with costumes by Irina Cherednikova. Valery Gergiev will conduct all performances.
On 27, 28 and 29 February the Bolshoi Theatre troupe will present The Tsar's Bride at the Mariinsky's Historic Stage – a legendary mid 20th century production from its golden repertoire lavishly decorated by Fyodor Fedorovsky and revived in 2014 by director Yulia Pevzner. Scenography by Alona Pikalova with costumes by Elena Zaitseva.
Throughout the theatre season audiences in Moscow and St Petersburg can also enjoy other masterpieces by Rimsky-Korsakov: Sadko, The Golden Cockerel, The Snow Maiden, Kashchey the Immortal, Mozart and Salieri. Vocal and symphonic works by the composer will also be widely featured. For instance, on 17 and 19 July the Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Liss will perform a concert with opera soloists and choir at the Historic Stage.
Another key event in honouring Rimsky-Korsakov will be the performance of both theatres in Tikhvin, continuing the Mariinsky's tradition of musical tributes to great Russian composers in their hometowns. In previous seasons artists from the Mariinsky's opera company and orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev, already performed Rimsky-Korsakov's works in Tikhvin, Stravinsky's in Oranienbaum, Mussorgsky's in Pskov, Tchaikovsky's in Votkinsk, Glinka's in Smolensk, and Rachmaninoff's in Veliky Novgorod.
Events commemorating Rimsky-Korsakov's 180th anniversary will also be prominently featured at the Mariinsky's Primorsky Stage in Vladivostok and at the branch in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania in Vladikavkaz.
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