On 7 August 2024 the Mariinsky Theatre proudly declared the close of its 241st season, a year brimming with artistic triumphs and innovative performances.
The season concluded with two exceptional operas: Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande graced the Concert Hall on 29 July, while Wagner’s monumental Götterdämmerung, the concluding opera of the Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle, resonated through Mariinsky-2 on 6 August. The Historic Stage bid farewell to the season with a final performance of Swan Lake by the Leonid Yacobson Ballet Theatre on 11 August.
The 241st season saw eight premieres, showcasing operas such as Rubinstein’s The Demon, Bellini’s I puritani, Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos. The ballet repertoire expanded with Anyuta, set to music by Gavrilin and choreographed by Vladimir Vasiliev, as well as Concert Dances, set to music by Stravinsky, and Delibes’ Coppélia, choreographed by Alexander Sergeev. A novel educational initiative, Theatrical Lesson, also debuted, offering immersive performances for ninth-grade students, a programme set to continue into the new season.
The Mariinsky Theatre’s St Petersburg stages welcomed nearly two million patrons throughout the season, presenting 363 ballet performances, 495 opera performances and 454 concerts, including events featuring guest ensembles. Over twenty live broadcasts and four recorded performances reached a global audience of over seven million viewers, spanning fifty-two countries across continents.
The Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre thrived, attracting over 200,000 attendees and showcasing 109 ballet performances, 151 operas and forty-five concerts. The company unveiled new productions of Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges and Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, alongside a musical fantasy, The Bremen Town Musicians by Gladkov, tailored for young audiences. The Primorsky Stage also embarked on a triumphant tour, captivating audiences in Harbin (China), Doha (Qatar), Pyongyang (DPRK) and various cities across Russia.
The Mariinsky Theatre’s branch in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania welcomed nearly 60,000 spectators to its stages, presenting ninety-seven operas, thirty ballets and eighty-nine concerts. The season’s highlights included the premieres of the ballets Fatima with music by Zhanna Pliyeva and The Picture of Dorian Gray with music by Max Richter, Murat Kabardokov and Abel Korzeniowski, as well as the operas Fedora by Giordano, The Dawns Here Are Quiet by Molchanov and Iolanta. The company also embarked on a successful tour, enchanting audiences in Tskhinval, Sukhum, Volgodonsk, Chelyabinsk and St Petersburg.
The 241st season featured the Genius of the Place project, a festival of musical tributes to renowned Russian composers. Valery Gergiev, alongside artists from the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres, performed nearly thirty times in Tikhvin, Pskov, Votkinsk, Smolensk, Oranienbaum and St Petersburg, showcasing works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Glinka and Stravinsky. This event was made possible through the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, and Rosconcert.
This season also marked the first time in history that the Moscow Easter Festival featured artists from the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia. A combined symphony orchestra from the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres, led by Valery Gergiev, presented the symphony programme for the twenty-third festival. Over twenty-two festival days, the musicians journeyed over 15,000 kilometres, performing in twenty-four cities across Russia. The Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre also joined the festivities for the first time, presenting the Far Eastern Easter Festival in Sakhalin Region, Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai.
The 241st season witnessed the most extensive tour of the Mariinsky Theatre in China to date, with performances in six cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Harbin, Taiyuan and Zhuhai. The company garnered immense acclaim for its presentations of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Minkus’ Don Quixote, the complete cycle of Richard Wagner’s monumental Der Ring des Nibelungen in updated stagings, and nine symphonic concerts, one of which inaugurated the new hall at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts.
The Mariinsky Theatre also graced stages in three cities in Turkey (Ankara, Istanbul and the ancient city of Aspendos), the capitals of Uzbekistan and Abkhazia, and numerous locations across Russia.
The 241st season saw a significant revival of exchange tours between the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres, marking the first time in two decades that these two leading Russian institutions performed on each other’s stages. Throughout the season St Petersburg audiences enjoyed Bolshoi Theatre productions, while Moscow audiences experienced Mariinsky Theatre performances.
Both theatres jointly celebrated significant anniversaries in the world of art, including the 225th anniversary of Pushkin’s birth, the 220th anniversary of Glinka’s birth, the 185th anniversary of Musorgsky’s birth and the 180th anniversary of Rimsky-Korsakov’s birth.
The Mariinsky Theatre’s 241st season was a resounding success, showcasing the institution’s unwavering commitment to artistic excellence, cultural exchange and community engagement. The new, 242nd season promises to be equally captivating, with a diverse programme of performances and events that will continue to inspire and enthral audiences around the world.
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