Based on music from the opera by the same name but with a score recreated by Yuri Krasavin specifically for this production, Yuri Possokhov’s “Queen of Spades” premiered at the Mariinsky in July 2024. Describing the ballet, Possokhov stated, “It’s a fantasy. For me the most important thing is to give the production the meaning …
This year’s White Nights festival has included numerous changes at the Mariinsky Theatre: the troupe’s second “tour” to the Bolshoi stage set for mid-July with “Fountain of Bakchisarei”, the appointment of the troupe’s first “artistic director” in many decades, the premiere of a new version of “Coppelia” (coming July 25th) and also a few debuts in …
As a precursor to their week-long run of “The Fountain of Bakchisarei” at the Bolshoi Theatre in mid-July, the Mariinsky troupe presented three performances of this ballet at home first, which included a handful of debuts. On 12 July, Camilla Mazzi portrayed a gentle and tender Maria who was clearly in love with her fiancé, …
As part of a three-day festival dedicated to Igor Stravinsky and falling on the composer’s 142th birthday, the Mariinsky offered several evenings of Stravinsky-based music, including the premiere of dancer/choreographer Alexander Sergeev’s latest work, “Concert Dances”, an intelligent multi-layered ballet that highlights the structures in Stravinsky’s score and includes allusions to choreographic works from Balanchine …
Coinciding with the birthday of the city of Saint Petersburg, the Mariinsky’s annual White Nights Festival began on 27 May with summer heat flowing through the city. A full house ushered in the start of this yearly celebration of dance, symphony, and opera delights. Although they’ve not performed together in this ballet previously, Oksana Skorik …
Even the most talented writer cannot find words that do justice to artists of the highest caliber, finely tuned ballet dancers in this case, who have spent years and sometimes decades of daily toil to perfect their art. The Bolshoi Ballet troupe, now united with the Mariinsky under the same overall directorship of Valery Gergiev, …
Within the last 12 months, three Mariinsky dancers were promoted to prima ballerina. One of the three is Nadezhda Batoeva, who hails from the city of Volgograd. VaganovaToday first met her when she was just starting her career, and sat down with her recently to see what has changed in the last decade. Read on …