Highlights:
- The fourth performance of Jules Massenet’s opera Don Quichotte, 1 February
- In February Valery Gergiev will conduct fifteen concerts and performances at the Mariinsky Theatre and the Concert Hall
- Eeraterina Gubanova in Giuseppe Verdi’s operas Don Carlo and Aida, 3 and 13 February
- Ildar Abdrazakov as Filippo II in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Don Carlo, 3 February
- Ulyana Lopatkina in the ballet Jewels, 8 February
1 February
Mariinsky Theatre
The premiere of Jules Massenet’s opera Don Quichotte took place just before the 2013 New Year celebrations. One of the French composer’s late operas, it is known, first and foremost, for the fact that it was composed especially for Fyodor Chaliapin following a commission from Raoul Gunsbourg, the Director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Don Quichotte became one of the Russian singer’s favourite roles in his entire repertoire. The opera was premiered on 6 February 1910 at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, while in autumn the same year it was staged at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, where Chaliapin directed the production in addition to singing the title role. Subsequent productions followed in Paris, Nuremberg, London and the USA. In 1919 the opera was staged at the Mariinsky Theatre, again with Chaliapin directing.
A concert version of the opera Don Quichotte featuring Ferruccio Furlanetto and soloists of the Mariinsky Opera and the Chorus and Orchestra under the baton of maestro Valery Gergiev has been performed several times at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre as well as being recorded and released on the Mariinsky label.
Stage Director Yannis Kokkos has staged a spectacular, theatrical and stylistically integral production, appearing as the Production and Costume Designer in addition to directing the opera.
Performing the lead roles will be Anna Kiknadze (the Beautiful Dulcinée), Mikhail Kolelishvili (Don Quichotte), Andrei Spekhov (Sancho Pança), Eleonora Vindau (Pedro), Yulia Matochkina (Garcias), Andrei Ilyushnikov (Rodriguez) and Dmitry Koleushko (Juan).
Ekaterina Gubanova and Ildar Abdrazakov in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Don Carlo
3 February
Mariinsky Theatre
Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Don Carlo. The role of Princess Eboli will be performed by Ekaterina Gubanova, one of the finest mezzo-sopranos of her generation who has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Wiener Staatsoper among other leading international opera houses.
The singer has performed at the Mariinsky Theatre on numerous occasions. In 2006 Ekaterina Gubanova made her Mariinsky Theatre debut as Olga (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin), later performing as Marina Mnishek (Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov), Pauline (Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades), Lyubasha (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride), Marguerite (Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust), Eboli (Verdi’s Don Carlo), Brangäne (Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde) and Erda (Wagner’s Das Rheingold).
The role of King Filippo will be performed by Ildar Abdrazakov and that of Don Carlo by Viktor Lutsyuk. Valery Gergiev will be conducting.
4 February
Concert Hall
A gala concert of opera stars featuring highlights from Sergei Prokofiev’s opera War and Peace. Conductor – Valery Gergiev.
5 February
Mariinsky Theatre
Richard Strauss’ opera Die Frau ohne Schatten. One of three operas by Richard Strauss in the theatre’s repertoire. The recent history of Strauss’ operas at the Mariinsky Theatre commenced with the arrival of Valery Gergiev at the helm. In 1995 and 2000 he was the Musical Director of two different productions of Salome, and in 2004 came a production of Ariadne auf Naxos. In 2007 the Mariinsky Theatre set its sights on Elektra with a production team that returned in 2009 for Die Frau ohne Schatten (Stage Director Jonathan Kent and Set Designer Paul Brown). The production proved a tremendous success at the Edinburgh Festival. The Mariinsky Theatre’s production of Die Frau ohne Schatten will soon be released on DVD.
The lead female roles will be performed by singers famed for their Wagnerian and Straussian voices who sang in the premiere – Mlada Khudoley (the Empress) and Olga Sergeyeva (Barak’s wife), alongside Niktor Lutsyuk (the Emperor). The Mariinsky Orchestra will be conducted by Valery Gergiev.
6 February
Mariinsky Theatre
Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake with Yekaterina Kondaurova and Timur Askerov in the lead roles.
6 February
Concert Hall
Sergei Prokofiev’s opera War and Peace in concert. Valery Gergiev will be conducting. The lead roles will be performed by Yekaterina Goncharova (Natasha Rostova), Yulia Matochkina (Sonya), Vladimir Moroz (Andrei Bolkonsky), Irina Bogacheva (Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova), Alexander Gergalov (Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov), Alexei Steblianko (Pierre Bezukhov), Oleg Balashov (Anatol Kuragin), Eduard Tsanga (Dolokhov), Zlata Bulycheva (Princess Mary) and Vasily Gerello (Napoleon).
7 February
Mariinsky Theatre
Valery Gergiev will be conducting La traviata, Giuseppe Verdi’s most popular opera. Making her debut as Violetta Valéry will be Maria Bayankina, a soloist with the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers, a recent graduate of the Gnesin Academy who has won prizes at several competitions in addition to having worked with the Petit Opera art group, a project of the Moscow City Department of Culture’s Open Stage project. She will be partnered by Dmitry Popov, a graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatoire who has a rare voice covering two ranges – those of tenor and countertenor. The role of Giorgio Germont will be performed by Vasily Gerello.
8 February
Mariinsky Theatre
George Balanchine’s ballet Jewels. Rubies will see a debut by Filipp Styopin, currently still a second soloist in the ballet company but already acclaimed as one of the finest performers of the role of James in La Sylphide. Following Filipp Styopin’s debut as Romeo, balletomanes began to speak of him as one of the theatre’s brightest hopes. Ulyana Lopatkina will be performing the solo in Diamonds in which she will be partnered by Andrei Yermakov.
8 February
Concert Hall
Claude Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande in concert. Maeterlinck’s symbolist play about a magical medieval land, love, jealousy and the death of two young lovers – rather like the story of Tristan and Isolde – was set in music by Claude Debussy – a highly subtle maestro in terms of composition. The composer did not interpret the plot in the traditional framework of the operatic genre, instead creating an almost mystical musical atmosphere corresponding with Maeterlinck’s play. The vocal roles are included as colours in the poetic palette of the orchestra’s musical fabric. Maestro Valery Gergiev will be conducting.
The lead roles will be performed by Irina Mataeva (Mélisande) and Andrei Bondarenko (Pelléas), a soloist with the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers who sang at the premiere of the opera Pelléas et Mélisande and who recently gave a dazzling performance in the extremely demanding role of the sailor Billy Budd in Benjamin Britten’s opera, performed in Russia for the first time at the Mikhailovsky Theatre. The role of Golaud will be performed by Yevgeny Ulanov.
9 February
Mariinsky Theatre
Jacques Offenbach’s opera Les Contes d’Hoffmann, directed by Vasily Barkhatov. The cast for the performance includes Sergei Semishkur (Hoffmann), Yekaterina Solovieva (Giulietta), Anastasia Kalagina (Antonia), Larisa Yudina (Olympia’s Voice), Sergei Aleksashkin (Lindorf, Coppélius, Dr Miracle, Dapertutto). Conductor – Valery Gergiev.
10 February
Concert Hall
Concert in subscription series No 18 of the Academy of Young Theatre-Goers - A Journey into the World of Classical Music. Conductor – Valery Gergiev.
11 February
Mariinsky Theatre
Adolphe Adam’s ballet Giselle. Featuring Svetlana Ivanova as Giselle. Xander Parish will be making his debut as Albrecht. Xander Parish is a graduate of the Royal Ballet School and danced with the Royal Ballet from 2005 to 2009, joining the Mariinsky Ballet in 2010.
12 February
Mariinsky Theatre
Rodion Shchedrin’s opera Dead Souls staged by Vasily Barkhatov. Maestro Valery Gergiev will be conducting.
Dead Souls was first performed at what was then the Kirov Theatre in 1978 under the baton of Yuri Temirkanov (production by Boris Pokrovsky with sets by Valery Levental). The 2011 production of Dead Souls by Stage Director Vasily Barkhatov, Production Designer Zinovy Margolin and Musical Director Valery Gergiev formed the culmination of Gergiev’s “epoch of Shchedrin,” already encompassing the ballets The Little Humpbacked Horse, Carmen-Suite and Anna Karenina as well as the opera The Enchanted Wanderer at the Mariinsky Theatre. The lead roles will be performed by Vladislav Sulimsky (Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov), Sergei Semishkur (Nozdryov), Larisa Diadkova (Korobochka), Sergei Aleksashkin (Sobakevich) and Svetlana Volkova (Plyushkin).
Ekaterina Gubanova in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aida
13 February
Concert Hall
Daniele Finzi Pasca’s production of Aida. Valery Gergiev will be conducting. The lead roles will be performed by Viktoria Yastrebova (Aida), Ekaterina Gubanova (Amneris), Mikhail Vekua (Radames) and Nikolai Putilin (debut as Amonasro).
14 February
Mariinsky Theatre
Elektra, another opera by Strauss in the Mariinsky Theatre’s repertoire. The lead roles will be performed by Larisa Gogolevskaya (Elektra), Irina Vasilieva (Chrysothemis), Olga Savova (Klytemnästra), Vadim Kravets (Orest) and Vasily Gorshkov (Aegisth).
The programme is subject to change.
The Mariinsky Theatre’s broadcasting department
The playbill for February
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