From 17 to 21 July the Mariinsky Theatre’s opera and ballet troupes will grace the Historic and New stages of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia. The St Petersburg company will present performances from the golden fund of their repertoire – Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila and Asafyev’s The Fountain of Bakhchisarai.
Since the beginning of the year the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres have been celebrating a significant anniversary in the world of art – the 225th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pushkin. The plots of his poems, novels, and fairy tales have repeatedly attracted the attention of major composers, becoming the basis for the most famous musical works. The July exchange performances of the two theatres will be one of the central points of the celebration: the Bolshoi Theatre will bring the ballet The Queen of Spades to music by Tchaikovsky–Krasavin to St Petersburg, while the Mariinsky Theatre will present Glinka’s opera Ruslan and Lyudmila and Asafyev’s ballet The Fountain of Bakhchisarai in Moscow. Both composers are also celebrating anniversaries: this year marks the 220th anniversary of Glinka’s birth and the 140th anniversary of Asafyev’s birth.
Ruslan and Lyudmila has been in the Mariinsky Theatre’s repertoire for almost two centuries – its world premiere took place in 1842 on the stage of the Bolshoi (Stone) Theatre, the predecessor of the Mariinsky, and it still enjoys unwavering success. Today’s production, first shown in 1994, has become a kind of encyclopaedia of the grand Russian style: it revives the luxurious sets and costumes by Alexander Golovin and Konstantin Korovin for the 1904 production, as well as the legendary choreography by Michel Fokine from 1917.
Two versions of Ruslan and Lyudmila will be presented to the Moscow public: a full version and an abridged version adapted for family viewing. Performances of the full version will take place on 17, 18, 20 and 21 July under the baton of Valery Gergiev and on 19 July under the baton of Bolshoi Theatre conductor Anton Grishanin. He will also take the podium during the performance of the abridged version on 20 July at 12:00. The performances will feature the Chorus and Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre.
The premiere of the ballet The Fountain of Bakhchisarai also took place on the Mariinsky stage – almost a century later, in 1934, when the theatre was named after Kirov. It was the first Soviet ballet based on literary classics and the first performance of a new genre – the drama ballet. The premiere of The Fountain of Bakhchisarai with choreography by Rostislav Zakharov became a turning point both for the director himself – the ballet was transferred to the Bolshoi Theatre, where Zakharov took the post of chief choreographer – and for all of Soviet choreographic art – the vector of its development was determined for the next twenty years.
Performances of the ballet in sets and costumes by Valentina Khodasevich will take place on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. The main roles will be played on 17 July by Maria Ilyushkina, Nikita Korneyev, Roman Belyakov, Viktoria Tereshkina and Maxim Izmestiev; on 18 July by Maria Shirinkina, Yevgeny Konovalov, Danila Korsuntsev, Oxana Skorik and Khalid Mardini; on 19 July by Camilla Mazzi, Alexei Timofeyev, Soslan Kulaev, Maria Bulanova and Maxim Izmestiev; on 20 July by Maria Ilyushkina, Nikita Korneyev, Roman Belyakov and Viktoria Tereshkina; and on 21 July by Maria Shirinkina, Yevgeny Konovalov, Danila Korsuntsev, Oxana Skorik and Maxim Izmestiev.
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