On May 31st and June 28th, the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will host a performance of Modest Mussorgsky’s opera Khovanshchina in a legendary production by Leonid Baratov of 1960, staged in the classical traditions with the use of convincing means of expression in the style of realism. Gorgeous set designs by Fyodor Fyodorovsky take a spectator to a historical epoch of the opera story. Mussorgsky’s masterpiece features magnificent choral scenes, famous orchestral introduction “Dawn on the Moscow River” as well as vivid images of its principal characters of Old Believers Marfa and Dosifei, Princes Ivan Khovansky and Vasily Golitsin, Boyar Fyodor Shaklovity et al. This is one of those operas that demonstrates an imposing strength and sumptuous sonority of the Mariinsky Opera Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. Mussorgsky’s real masterpiece, “national musical drama”, in the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre his opera performed in the version orchestrated by Dmitri Shostakovich, which enriches this dramatic work, revealing its great scale and depth. Three weeks ago the opera was presented by the Mariinsky Theatre at the Ukrainian National Opera in Kiev.

A pair of performances at the Stars of the White Nights Festival this year will feature eminent soloists of the Mariinsky Opera: Sergei Aleksashkin and Alexei Tanovitski, Vladimir Galouzine and Alexei Steblianko, Yevgeny Nikitin and Nikolai Putilin, Ildar Abdrazakov and Vladimir Vaneyev et al. In the performance on May 31st, Olga Borodina will sing the part of Marfa, the role she performs almost every year since the 1st edition of the Festival in 1993. In the performance on June 28th, Larisa Diadkova will perform the part of Marfa to mark her jubilee. The performance on May 31st will see a pair of debuts: Vladimir Galouzine will sing the part of Vasily Golitsin, whilst Maxim Axenov will appear as Andrei Khovansky. Valery Gergiev will conduct both of these performances at the Mariinsky Theatre.

On June 1st, Mariinsky Theatre Opera Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev will present a concert performance of Les Troyens, a grand epic opera by Hector Berlioz. The music of this opera naturally combines the strength of truly exciting orchestral playing, impressive large-scale choral scenes and the beauty of human’s voice that enjoys a charm of the French language. This time, the opera will be performed in concert at the Mariinsky Concert Hall.

The Mariinsky Theatre holds a staged version of Les Troyens in the regular repertoire. This is our co-production with the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia and the Polish National Opera in Warsaw. The Mariinsky Theatre Opera Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev presented Les Troyens in concert in New York (at the Carnegie Hall), Moscow (at the Great Hall of the Conservatory), Tokyo (at the Suntory Hall), Yekaterinburg (as part of the 10th Moscow Easter Festival) and also at the Red Sea Festival in Israel and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Gergiev Festival in the Netherlands.