International Ballet and Opera Festival. Artistic Director: Valery Gergiev.
26 May – 23 July 2017 Mariinksy Theatre.
There is considered to be only 10 best and famous music festivals all over the world. We are glas to admit, that “Stars of the White Nights” Festival is surely one of them.
Its history starts in 1993 when Valery Gergiev – General and Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Theatre – decided to give “a musical gift to the city [of St. Petersburg] from the Mariinsky Theatre’s performers and soloists”. The idea was so successful that now, being held more than 20 years, the festival lasts almost three months although at the beginning it was just 10 days.
What does the festival offer to Saint Petersburg? What is this “musical gift”? At first, the best opera and ballet performances are presented. Secondly, dozens of great composers masterpieces are played in Mariinskyi – the symphonies of Sergei Prokofiev; concert of Ludwig van Beethoven; and the operas, ballets, and symphonic music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
Evening performances at the Mariinsky theatre are held almost every day. At the Mariinsky Concert Hall, which is one of the best-sounding halls in the world, there are almost daily evening performances at. Be careful that evening performances usually start at 7 pm. Each year the White night stars festival improves and extends the programme of the Festival, performing in and giving some open-air concerts. The largest one takes place in the Peterhof suburb of St. Petersburg. It is a carnival. The actors are dressed in old-fashioned costumes give performances reconstructing some of the historic events of that period. That time carriages are ridden around the Peterhof park as part of the carnival entertainment.
The Palace Square in St. Petersburg is used as a stage for numerous carnival events and outlooks showing the costumes of the Tsars and Tsarinas. As you can understand the demand for the festival performances is quiet high and usually tickets are sold out several weeks or even months before the performance date. The most popular are ones with Valery Gergiev participation. If you are a tourist in St. Petersburg, best idea is to buy tickets in advance online.
• Over 190 performances and concerts featuring international stars.
• Premiere of Francesco Cilea’s opera Adriana Lecouvreur featuring Anna Netrebko.
• The St Petersburg premiere of Alexander Tchaikovsky’s opera The Chess King.
• Ballet premieres: Boris Tishchenko’s Yaroslavna staged by Vladimir Varnava and Ilya Zhivoi’s production of The Four Seasons to music by Max Richter (after motifs of Antonio Vivaldi’s cycle Le quattro stagioni).
• Marking 135 years since the birth of Igor Stravinsky.
• Marking 85 years since the birth of Rodion Shchedrin.
• A parade of renowned instrumentalists.
Programm XXV MUSIC FESTIVAL STARS OF THE WHITE NIGHTS
