• New opera production: Ariadne auf Naxos
• Ballet on tour: Moscow, Golden Mask Festival
• Subscription continues: Glinka, Shchedrin, Tchaikovsky
• New opera production: Dead Souls
• Online quiz: Rodion Shchedrin’s legacy

Early next week, our theater will be presenting the third operatic premiere of this season — Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, directed by Michael Shturminger. The opera unfolds as a “theater within the theater”, where the first part (prologue) is filled with preparations for the performance and the second part (opera) is itself a performance. In the new production all the recitatives and dialogues will be in conversational Russian, and all arias will be sung in German. The director invited to participate the well-known actress Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė, which will perform a spoken role of Major Domo, or more precisely, in the capacity of the mediator between the customer and the benefactor, who in this play appears more clear to us in a contemporary figure of tycoon.

In mid-March, the Mariinsky Ballet performs at the annual National Theatre Festival Golden Mask. By tradition, our performances are presented within the framework of a special joint project of the festival and our theater: “Mariinsky Theatre premieres in Moscow”. The capital will see two ballet premieres of the last season: Anna Karenina choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky and Spartacus in the restored original choreography by Leonid Yacobson. It is noteworthy that for three nights on stage of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre the title role in Anna Karenina will be created by three different ballerinas of our theater: Diana Vishneva, Ulyana Lopatkina and Yekaterina Kondaurova.

“Fringing” the Moscow tour, Anna Karenina will be performed twice at home, at the Mariinsky Theatre, both evening featuring Diana Vishneva in the title role.

In March, at the Mariinsky Concert Hall we continue a subscription series Russian music from three eras, showing the development of musical culture of Russia as an example of works by three composers: Glinka, Tchaikovsky and Rodion Shchedrin. Glinka’s legacy is presented with his overtures and symphonic sketches, demonstrating the emergence of Russian classics. Shchedrin’s works reflect the composer’s distinctive approach to working with the orchestra and assigning virtuoso roles to solo instruments and orchestral groups. Tchaikovsky’s contribution to Russian music is presented in the genre of large-scale symphony. During the three evenings this March our Orchestra will perform his last three, the most famous symphonies.

In March, we continue another specially programmed subscription: A lively conversation with other people, consisting of three concerts that include works by Modest Mussorgsky and Georgy Sviridov. The concert on 15 March will present the most famous works by Mussorgsky for orchestra, including Pictures at an Exhibition suite orchestrated by Maurice Ravel.

The long-anticipated premiere of Rodion Shchedrin’s opera Dead Souls will be received at the Mariinsky Theatre two weeks. The strong artistic team that works on this production includes Vasily Barkhatov (Director), Zinovy Margolin (Set Designer), Maria Danilova (Costume Designer) and Damir Ismagilov (Lighting Designer). The new opera production promises to be a great event both in musical and theatrical life in Russia: one of the indisputable operatic masterpieces of the 20th century will appear in the brand new, bright, expressive staged version, more than 30 years later, again at the Mariinsky Theatre. Valery Gergiev will conduct the premiere.

We are running an online quiz on Rodion Shchedrin’s legacy. This month is particularly rich in events associated with the name of the composer. Topics of this e-newsletter reflect this quite well. You are welcome to take part in our online quiz by sending your answers to our questions to marketing@mariinsky.ru by the end of Friday, 11 March. Those first three participants who will submit correct answers to all four questions, will receive various prizes from our theater, which... will all be related to Rodion Shchedrin’s legacy in some way. Quiz answers and winners will be announced and e-mailed to all participants on Monday, 14 March. Good luck!

1. 2 years;
2. 5 years;
3. 10 years.

1. Maya Plisetskaya;
2. Jakob Flier;
3. Tikhon Khrennikov.

1. Flutes;
2. Cellos;
3. Violins.