The
Mariinsky Theatre
[1]
is a famous theatre of
opera
and
ballet
in
Saint Petersburg
,
Russia
. It was opened in 1860 and soon became the most important theatre for opera and ballet in Russia. Many great operas and ballets of the 19th century were first performed there, including the greatest stage works by
Tchaikovsky
,
Mussorgsky
, and
Rimsky-Korsakov
.
The Mariinsky Theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. The conductor
Valery Gergiev
has been the general director there since 1988.
The theatre is named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of
Tsar Alexander II
. There is a
bust
of the Empress in the main entrance hall. The theatre's name has changed several times during its history, because of different political parties that were in power.
[2]
From
|
To
|
Russian
|
English
|
1860
|
1920
|
Императорский Мариинский театр
|
Imperial Mariinsky Theatre
|
1920
|
1924
|
Государственный академический театр оперы и балета
|
State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet
|
1924
|
1935
|
Ленинградский государственный академический театр оперы и балета
|
Leningrad State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet
|
1935
|
1992
|
Государственный академический театр оперы и балета имени С.М. Кирова
|
Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet
|
1992
|
Present
|
Государственный aкадемический Мариинский театр
|
State Academic Mariinsky Theatre
|
The theatre building is commonly called the
Mariinsky Theatre
. The companies that use it have kept the famous
Kirov
name, which it got during the
Soviet
period in honour of the murdered
Leningrad
Communist Party
leader,
Sergey Kirov
(1886-1934).
The first ballet groups to perform in St Petersburg were
Italian
ballet dancers in the early 18th century.
Catherine the Great
wanted a Russian theatre to be built. It was built in 1783. It was called Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre (“Kamenny” is the
Russian
word for “stone”. It was used to distinguish the building from the wooden theatre that was being used.). The building we see today dates from 1860. It opened with a performance of
Glinka
’s opera
A Life for the Tsar
. It was called the Mariinsky Theatre, named after the Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The great
choreographer
Marius Petipa
put on the first performances of many famous ballets such as
Tchaikovsky
’s
The Sleeping Beauty
in 1890,
The Nutcracker
in 1892,
Alexander Glazunov
's ballet
Raymonda
in
1898
, and an updated version of Tchaikovsky's
Swan Lake
(with
Lev Ivanov
) in 1895.
When the theatre became the main home of the Imperial Ballet and Opera in 1886, the theatre was improved. Many operas were performed there, including first performances of
Mussorgsky
's
Boris Godunov
,
Rimsky-Korsakov
's
The Golden Cockerel
,
Tchaikovsky
's
The Queen of Spades
and
Iolanthe
,
Prokofiev
's
Romeo and Juliet
and
Cinderella
, and
Khachaturian
's
Spartacus
were also produced there.
The imperial and Soviet theater was the home of many great impresarios, conductors, and musicians. The
Vaganova Academy of Russia Ballet
, the
ballet
school of the Mariinksy Theatre, started the careers of
Mathilde Kschessinskaya
,
Olga Preobrajenskaya
,
Anna Pavlova
,
Tamara Karsavina
,
Vaslav Nijinsky
,
Marina Semenova
,
George Balanchine
,
Galina Ulanova
,
Rudolf Nureyev
,
Natalia Makarova
,
Mikhail Baryshnikov
,
Irina Kolpakova
,
Galina Mezentseva
,
Altynai Asylmuratova
, and in more recent times famous dancers like
Ulyana Lopatkina
,
Diana Vishneva
, and
Svetlana Zakharova
.
Yuri Temirkanov
was Principal
Conductor
from 1976 to 1988. He conducted many modern and classical operas. Since 1988,
Valery Gergiev
has brought even more fame to the theatre. It has now got links with many of the world's great opera houses, including the
Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden, the
Metropolitan Opera
, the
Opera Bastille
,
La Scala
,
La Fenice
, the
Tel Aviv Opera
, the
Washington National Opera
and the
San Francisco Opera
. Today, the Opera Company regularly tours to most of these cities.
- ↑
Russian
:
Мариинский театр
,
Mariinskiy Teatr
, also spelled
Maryinsky
,
Mariyinsky
- ↑
The
acronym
"GATOB" (Gosudarstvenniy Akademicheskiy Teatr Operi i Baleta, meaning: “State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet”) is often found in historical accounts.