IX Festival Maslenitsa (Shrovetide)11 March 2013 - 17 March 2013 SCHEDULE 11 March 2013 - 17 March 2013
At the Mariinsky Theatre and at the Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall Artistic Director of
the Festival - Valery Gergiev
The festival presents the greatest operas and ballets based
on Russian fairytales at the Mariinsky Theatre, masterpieces of Russian
symphony music and vocal programmes at the Concert Hall. The festival
strives to revive the traditions of the secular Maslenitsa
celebrations with vivid and colourful performances, balls and concerts that are
open to all.
Russia’s most ancient and beloved festival of Maslenitsa
(Shrovetide) was celebrated on a grand scale
in the pre-Revolutionary capital. The merriments of
Maslenitsa visited every home and every family. The aristocracy,
government officials, the intelligentsia and city residents at large were
all involved. In Tsaritsino Park and at the Admiralty there were
public celebrations throughout Maslenitsa week, palaces and townhouses
hosted dances and masked balls and theatre playbills dazzled with
the titles of the finest productions. Several years ago
the Mariinsky Theatre returned to the wonderful tradition of
Maslenitsa celebrations. The festival programme invariably
includes the finest productions, among them works based on fairytales as
well as vocal and instrumental programmes. Continuing the tradition of
open-to-all performances, which were run by the Imperial Theatres during
Maslenitsa, the Mariinsky Theatre will be running a series of
charity concerts. Reviving the primordially Russian tradition of
Maslenitsa student balls, the Mariinsky Theatre and the St
Petersburg University have, for several years now, been inviting students to
take part in bidding farewell to winter. The programme of
the university ball includes public entertainment, dancing, music
(featuring Mariinsky Theatre performers), pancakes and fireworks. Last
season the festival’s motto was Igor Stravinsky. Audiences had
the opportunity to see a broad ranging retrospective of
the composer’s music. Valery Gergiev said that “Maslenitsa
itself in Russia is a phenomenon, I believe, that is dear to us all on
some subconscious level. We didn’t see with our own eyes the stunning
festivities of the early 20th century, when the young
Stravinsky was probably enchanted by the atmosphere of Maslenitsa.
It is not by chance that one can sense – in so many of his
works – the biting frost, the snow, the merriment, probably
very tasty food and a good time had by all. And he was able to convey this
very well in his wonderful music.” Maslenitsa at
the Mariinsky is also a festival of stars. Regular participating
performers include the acclaimed pianists Denis Matsuev and Alexei Volodin
and the renowned violinists Sergey Khachatryan and Vadim Repin.
The Maslenitsa music festival, which brings together folkloric
traditions and the “society glamour” of the Imperial theatre, will be
taking place this season at the Mariinsky Theatre and the Concert Hall
for the seventh time.
Maslenitsa 2013: Mariinsky (Kirov) Opera and Ballet theatre |
Mariinsky hall plan |
Mariinsky Slide Show |
Mariinsky 3D View |
About Valery
Gergiev ARCHIVE: 2012
| 2011 |
2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005
About festivals "Maslenitsa"
(Shrovetide)
The festival presents the greatest operas and ballets based on Russian
fairytales at the Mariinsky Theatre, masterpieces of
Russian symphony music and vocal programmes at the Concert Hall. The festival strives
to revive the traditions of the secular Maslenitsa celebrations with
vivid and colourful performances, balls and concerts that are open to all.
Russia’s most ancient and beloved festival of
Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) was celebrated on a grand scale in the pre-Revolutionary
capital. The merriments of Maslenitsa visited every home and every family. The
aristocracy, government officials, the intelligentsia and city residents at
large were all involved. In Tsaritsino Park and at the Admiralty there were
public celebrations throughout Maslenitsa week, palaces and townhouses hosted
dances and masked balls and theatre playbills dazzled with the titles of the
finest productions. Several years ago the Mariinsky Theatre returned to the
wonderful tradition of Maslenitsa celebrations. The festival programme
invariably includes the finest productions, among them works based on fairytales
as well as vocal and instrumental programmes. Continuing the tradition of
open-to-all performances, which were run by the Imperial Theatres during
Maslenitsa, the Mariinsky Theatre will be running a
series of charity concerts. Reviving the primordially Russian tradition of
Maslenitsa student balls, the Mariinsky Theatre and the St
Petersburg University have, for several years now, been inviting students to
take part in bidding farewell to winter. The programme of the university
ball includes public entertainment, dancing, music
(featuring Mariinsky Theatre performers), pancakes and
fireworks.
Maslenitsa 2013: Mariinsky (Kirov) Opera and Ballet theatre |
Mariinsky hall plan |
Mariinsky Slide Show |
Mariinsky 3D View |
About Valery
Gergiev ARCHIVE: 2012
| 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005
About previous festival
"Maslenitsa 2012" 20 February - 26 February 2012 Mariinsky Theatre
and the Concert Hall Artistic Director: Maestro Valery
Gergiev
Maslenitsa opens on 20 February at two venues – at
the Concert Hall there will be a performance of Stravinsky’s opera Le
Rossignol after the famous fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen, while at
the Mariinsky Theatre there will be a ballet evening featuring Fokine’s
Petrouchka to music by Stravinsky and Presentiment of Spring
to music by Lyadov, created for last year’s festival by the dancer and
choreographer Yuri Smekalov.
On 1 and 5 March the Mariinsky Theatre will be hosting
performances of popular fairytale operas by Rimsky-Korsakov – The Snow
Maiden and The Tale of Tsar Saltan, a production that brought back
the primordial, full-blooded and enchantingly colourful world of Ivan Bilibin’s
illustrations for Pushkin’s fairytales to the Mariinsky Theatre.
Cinderella, choreographer Alexei Ratmansky’s first full-length ballet
to music by Prokofiev, will be performed on 4 March.
On 5 March at the Concert Hall the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
under Valery Gergiev will perform Glinka’s famous symphonic fantaisie
Kamarinskaya, highlights of the ballet Anna Karenina and
Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, while Alina Ibragimova will be performing the
solo in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto at the Concert Hall for the first time. A
recent graduate of the Gnesins’ School of Music, she has already garnered
positive responses from critics throughout the world: Ibragimova’s style has
been referred to as “a blend of utter freedom and total control which, in her
case, is no contradiction”, and she herself has been predicted to “shine on the
horizon of classical music for decades to come.”
3 March will see a performance of the theatre’s recent opera
premiere – Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. Laurent Pelly’s lively and
sparkling production, filled to overflowing with dazzling humour, is incredibly
suitable for the amusements of Maslenitsa week. The lead roles will be
performed by Zhanna Dombrovskaya (Adina) and Stanislav Leontiev (Nemorino).
One vocal highlight of the festival will be baritone Vasily
Gerello’s solo recital on 4 March at the Concert Hall. The singer, who appears
free and incredibly artistic in solo chamber recitals, has prepared a programme
especially for the festival including romances by Boris Fomin, Pyotr Bulakhov,
Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Nikolai Listov and Nikolai Shishkin. The
evening will also include some of the surprises that Vasily Gerello loves so
much.
The festival comes to a close on 6 March at the Mariinsky
Theatre with a performance of the ballet The Nutcracker (production by
Mikhail Chemiakin, choreography by Kirill Simonov), the stunning sets, unique
costumes and dynamism of which have ensured its well-deserved audience success.
At the Concert Hall the festival comes to a close with a special
performance as part of the children’s subscription In the World of Ancient
Legends and Traditions after motifs from Wagner’s grandiose tetralogy
Der Ring des Nibelungen. The twenty-hour-long operatic cycle – the
libretto of which is based on the Middle High German epos the
Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs) – will be enacted,
sung and told onstage in just one and a half hours. Leading Mariinsky Theatre
singers including Larisa Gogolevskaya, Leonid Zakhozhaev and Mikhail Kit among
others are engaged for the performance.
During the festival, in the theatre’s White Foyer outside the
Tsar’s Box there will be a series of open-to-all daytime chamber concerts, and
before the start of performances and during intervals the foyer will host the
Quintet of the State Academic Andreyev Russian Orchestra.
One special event of the festival will be the
Maslenitsa Student Ball on 4 March in the Assembly Hall of the St
Petersburg State University. The ball will be directed by Irkin Gabitov while
the choreographer is Dmitry Korneyev. During the ball, artistes of the Mariinsky
Ballet Company will help the students learn and perform popular ballroom dances
of the past, ranging from the polonaise to the mazurka and the waltz. The music
at the ball will be provided by the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and soloists of
the Opera Company. The University’s Maslenitsa balls generally bring
together students from the city’s various higher education institutions and are
exciting and inspired. There will be prizes for the most skilful and active
dancers – invitations to performances at the Mariinsky Theatre.
Russia’s most ancient and beloved festival of Maslenitsa
(Shrovetide) was celebrated on a grand scale in the pre-Revolutionary capital.
The merriments of Maslenitsa visited every home and every family. The
aristocracy, government officials, the intelligentsia and city residents at
large were all involved. In Tsaritsino Park and at the Admiralty there were
public celebrations throughout Maslenitsa week, palaces and townhouses
hosted dances and masked balls and theatre playbills dazzled with the titles of
the finest productions. Several years ago the Mariinsky Theatre returned to
the wonderful tradition of Maslenitsa celebrations. The festival
programme invariably includes the finest productions, among them works based on
fairytales as well as vocal and instrumental programmes. Continuing the
tradition of open-to-all performances, which were run by the Imperial Theatres
during Maslenitsa, the Mariinsky Theatre will be running a series of
charity concerts. Reviving the primordially Russian tradition of
Maslenitsa student balls, the Mariinsky Theatre and the St Petersburg
University have, for several years now, been inviting students to take part in
bidding farewell to winter. The programme of the university ball includes
public entertainment, dancing, music (featuring Mariinsky Theatre performers),
pancakes and fireworks. Last season the festival’s motto was Igor
Stravinsky. Audiences had the opportunity to see a broad ranging retrospective
of the composer’s music. Valery Gergiev said that “Maslenitsa
itself in Russia is a phenomenon, I believe, that is dear to us all on some
subconscious level. We didn’t see with our own eyes the stunning festivities of
the early 20th century, when the young Stravinsky was probably
enchanted by the atmosphere of Maslenitsa. It is not by chance that one
can sense – in so many of his works – the biting frost, the snow, the merriment,
probably very tasty food and a good time had by all. And he was able to convey
this very well in his wonderful music.” Maslenitsa at the Mariinsky is
also a festival of stars. Regular participating performers include the acclaimed
pianists Denis Matsuev and Alexei Volodin and the renowned violinists Sergey
Khachatryan and Vadim Repin. The Maslenitsa music festival, which
brings together folkloric traditions and the “society glamour” of the Imperial
theatre, will be taking place this season at the Mariinsky Theatre and the
Concert Hall for the seventh time.
SCHEDULE 11 March 2013 - 17 March 2013
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