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Mariinsky Theater of Opera and Ballet Review

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Mariinsky Theater of Opera and Ballet

  • Address: 1/2 Teatralnaya Pl., Admiralteisky, St. Petersburg
  • Phone: 812/714-1211
  • www.mariinsky.ru/en

Fodor's Review:

Formerly known as the Kirov, the world-renowned Mariinsky is one of Russia's finest artistic institutions, a definite must-see. The names Petipa, Pavlova, Nijinsky, and Nureyev—and countless others associated with the theater and the birth of ballet in St. Petersburg—are enough to lure ballet lovers to an evening here. The Mariinsky is without doubt one of the best ballet companies in the world, with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of stars.

While maintaining its reputation as a citadel of classical ballet, the works of George Balanchine, Kenneth MacMillan, Michel Fokine, John Neumeier, and William Forsythe are winning greater prominence on the playbill. However, audiences are slow to change their expectations and modern ballets almost always perform to a half-empty auditorium. Between February and March, the company runs the Mariinsky International Ballet Festival, an impressive and tantalizing one that features at least one premiere and an array of guest performers from other renowned companies such as London's Royal Ballet, Opera Bastille, and the American Ballet Theater.

The Mariinsky is also at the forefront of the world's opera companies, thanks largely to the achievements of the Mariinsky's artistic director Valery Gergiev (who now also masterminds many productions at New York City's Metropolitan Opera). The company's best operatic repertoire centers on Russian opera of all centuries: Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Prokofiev's Semyon Kotko, Shostakovich's The Nose, Rimsky-Korsakov's The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, and The Snow Maid are particularly recommended.

Wagner is sung in German, Puccini in Italian, and Saint-Saens in French. Russian operas are all provided with English subtitles, while Russian subtitles are given for foreign operas. Verdi can be hit-or-miss but Wagner is one of Gergiev's greatest passions, and the company now feels very much at home with the composer. Basses Yevgeny Nikitin and Viktor Chernomortsev have excellent Wagnerian voices and technique. The orchestra's rapport with the conductor is amazing, the sound is nuanced and powerful. Be sure to see Parsifal and Tristan und Isolde, and of course, if you have the stamina, the whole of Wagner's Ring Cycle.

Ballet and opera mix freely in the calendar schedule throughout the year; the opera and ballet companies both tour, but at any given time one of the companies is performing in St. Petersburg. The Mariinsky's main venue will be closed for renovation for two years starting August 2006. The second stage, just across Kryukov Canal, is scheduled to open in 2008. In the summer of 2006, the company opens its third concert venue on nearby ulitsa Pisareva to host most of its shows during the years of renovation and construction.

  • Metro: Sadovaya
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