“So, you too, the famous Knight of the Rueful Countenance, did not escape the fate of all famous heroes of literature. And you undertook your own travels onto the stage!” wrote one critic who on 19 February 1910 attended the premiere of the opera Don Quichotte in Monte-Carlo. Strictly speaking, the cavalier of La Mancha had already “made it” onto the stage of the opera house, though never before with such triumph. To a great extent, Massenet’s last opera owes this triumph to one legendary performer of the title role – Fyodor Chaliapin. It was specifically for him that the opera was in fact written. And so Don Quichotte is that rare example of an opera for a basso cantante, a “singing bass”. In as much as the role of Sancho Panza is also performed by a low male voice and the role of the fair Dulcinée by a mezzo-soprano, the entire cast of protagonists here forms an ensemble that is unusual in terms of its colours.

Don Quichotte

Mariinsky TheatreMariinsky Theatre

EPSG:4326

Otello

Mariinsky II

La Bohème, directed by English director Ian Judge, turned out to be one of the most successful Puccini productions at the Mariinsky Theatre. It's pleasingly conservative, and although the setting is shifted from the 1830s to the 1930s, it doesn't harm the spirit of the music in the least. At the beginning and end of the opera, set in the attic rented by the artist Rodolfo, there's a huge window looking out over the Latin Quarter so picturesque that it could be listed as a character in the programme. The interior of the Café Momus, where the characters gather to celebrate Christmas, is meticulously detailed. It creates an almost cinematic atmosphere, tinged with the anxiety of the interwar period, yet not clashing with the music – instead, it adds a sense of the tragedy of the events and amplifies the joys in the lives of the characters. This production is a wonderful example of how to stage in a historical style while maintaining a sense of liveliness and freshness in a work created one hundred and twenty-five years ago. Denis Velikzhanin

La Bohème

Iolanta, King Rene’s daughter, is blind. But the girl herself as yet does not know she is blind: Rene has issued a decree by which it is forbidden for anyone to speak of sight or light in her presence. Her father, friends and elderly nurse are all polite and gentle towards Iolanta. The King never abandons hope of his daughter being cured, though he is worried at the idea that in order for this to happen Iolanta must learn that she is blind and that she must desire to be able to see. The knights Gottfried of Vaudemont and his friend Robert arrive at Iolanta’s peaceful refuge. Robert cares little for Iolanta, to whom he has been affianced since childhood, while Vaudemont falls completely in love with the girl. Left alone with Iolanta, Vaudemont asks for a red rose by which to remember her. 

Iolanta

Mariinskiy-2

Ferruccio Furlanetto recital (bass)

Shchedrin. Poetoria Dvořák. Cello Concerto

The Adventures of a Monkey
a musical narrative based on Mikhail Zoshchenko's eponymous tale, a concerto for narrator, trumpet, horn, flute, harp and two percussionists accompanied by string orchestra and cembalo in memory of Maya Plisetskaya who dearly loved this story

Shchedrin. The Adventures of a Monkey

On 8 and 9 December the Mariinsky Theatre's historic stage hosted the premiere of the ballet Anyuta. The plot of Anton Chekhov's short story Anna on the Neck has come to life in a choreographic realization, co-created by Vladimir Vasiliev.
The Anyuta ballet first captivated audiences not in a theatre but on television, marking a unique biography as it was perhaps the only ballet in history to transition from screen to stage. The teleballet's concept originated from Leningrad director and screenwriter Alexander Belinsky, who proposed the idea to Vladimir Vasiliev to choreograph and co-direct. Their collaboration began with selecting various compositions by Valery Gavrilin for the teleballet and developing its script. Filming took place at "Lentelefilm", involving Leningrad artists from the Leningrad Academic Maly Opera Theatre (MALEGOT), several soloists from the Kirov Theatre, and the astonishing Ekaterina Maximova in the leading role. 

Anyuta

The music of Rostov composer Leonid Klinichev is well-known to adult audiences at the Mariinsky Theatre. As a result of his collaboration with the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers several new works have appeared. The Little Prince was Klinichev's first opera, written especially for young audiences. The idea behind its creation belongs to Larisa Gergieva, Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers. The composer had thought about an opera based on the famous story by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry for a long time, and so, on receiving a new commission in December 2015 already by January 2016 he had completed work on the opus.

The Little Prince

Tchaikovsky

Aida is a grand opera in the tradition of works like Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, but it is also a deeply personal, psychological drama. As in many of Verdi’s operas, the characters’ inner struggles collide with broader political conflicts. At the heart of Aida lies a love triangle set against the backdrop of a devastating war. I have grown weary of typical productions: all those piles of sand, colourful hieroglyphs, elephants and camels… On the other hand, I didn’t want to stage Aida in the way it’s currently done in, say, Germany, or as it was recently presented at Covent Garden, with direct references to contemporary conflicts. I wanted to offer a fresh perspective, something unusual but always within the framework of Verdi’s work and with the utmost respect for his creation.

Aida

Swan Lake

On the eve of the Battle of Borodino
Getting ready for the battle of Borodino, militiamen are building a redoubt. The troops are being brought in. Lieutenant-Colonel Denisov, looking for Field-Marshal Kutuzov, meets Prince Andrei and tells him about his plan of a partisan campaign at the enemy’s rear. Prince Andrei, on meeting Denisov, who had once proposed to the fifteen-year-old Natasha Rostova, is carried back by both sweet and sad memories. Pierre Bezukhov arrives on the battlefield to see the battle for himself. He distracts Prince Andrei from his gloomy thoughts about Natasha’s breach of their engagement and the death of his father. “The burning of Smolensk and its abandonment formed an epoch in Prince Andrei’s life. A novel feeling of anger against the enemy have made him forget his own sorrow. He was entirely devoted to the affairs of his regiment and was considerate and kind to his men and officers.” In the regiment they called him “our prince”, they were proud of him and they loved him. Field-Marshal Kutuzov appears, warmly welcomed by all. “A wonderful, a matchless people,” he says. “The beast will be mortally wounded by all of Russia’s might, it will be driven out of our sacred land.”

Mariinsky Theatre

Jun 17, 2025

Don Quichotte

Jun 16 - Jul 16, 2025

Otello

Mariinsky Theatre