"The Stars of the White Nights 2010" International Ballet and Opera Festival

21 May – 21 July 2010

Mariinsky Theatre and Concert Hall
Artistic Director: Maestro Valery Gergiev

The Mariinsky Theatre presents the XVIII International Stars of the White Nights Festival.

Mariinsky Theatre and Mariinsky Theatre Opera and Concert Hall

From 21 May to 21 July 2010 St Petersburg, Russia will be hosting the XVIII Stars of the White Nights Music Festival, which has always enjoyed the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Over eight weeks, the Festival will present over 90 opera and ballet performances, symphony and chamber concerts and solo performances by international stars of the stage.

One new feature of the XVIII Festival, which traditionally features works by Russian and European composers in its programme, will be the thematic three and four day programmes at the end of each week. These unique festival weekends will be dedicated to the most important events in the arts and classical music as well as to the work of Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei PROKOFIEV, Rodion SHCHEDRIN and Frederic Chopin.

The Festival opens with a huge programme that marks the Year of Russia in France and France in Russia. On 21 May, Valery Gergiev will be conducting the Bizet-Shchedrin ballet Carmen Suite. Later in the Franco-Russian weekend there will be a performance by violinist Nikolaj Znaider, a revival of the ballet Ondine with choreography by Pierre Lacotte and a series of concerts by the outstanding French pianist Helene Grimaud. She will be performing Ravel's Piano Concerto together with the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev on 23 May. Grimaud's recital on 28 May and the pianist's collaboration with Dutch cellist Clemens Hagen on 27 May will be held as part of the Mariinsky Theatre's Artist of the Month project.

The Festival will be presenting ballet and opera premieres, internationally acclaimed performers and renowned orchestras as well as giving audiences the opportunity to see and hear the Mariinsky Theatre's own top soloists – Ildar Abdrazakov, Olga Borodina, Vladimir Galuzin, Vasily Gerello, Alexei Markov, Anna Netrebko, Yevgeny Nikitin, Yekaterina Semenchuk, Sergei Semishkur, Mikhail Petrenko, Ulyana Lopatkina, Alina Somova, Leonid Sarafanov, Vladimir Shklyarov, Viktoria Teryoshkina and Igor Zelensky in the most significant performances of recent times.

During the Festival, recordings of concerts featuring Leonidas Kavakos and of Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold with Rene Pape will be made for the Mariinsky recording label. 

GUEST ORCHESTRAS AND ENSEMBLES:

– the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under Myung Whun-Chung (11 June);

– the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel (15 June);

– the Moscow Soloists chamber orchestra under Yuri Bashmet (24 June) in a programme of all of Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concerti;

-– the Baltic Youth Orchestra under Kristjan Jarvi (1 July);

– Polish National Ballet (3 and 4 July) with Chopin, with choreography by Patrice Bart created especially to mark two centuries since the composer's birth;

– the Wiener Philharmoniker under Valery Gergiev (10 July);

GUEST ARTISTS:

Nikolaj Znaider, violin (22 May),

Helene Grimaud, piano (23, 27 and 28 May),

Clemens Hagen, cello (27 May),

Arkady Volodos, piano (1 June),

Ferruccio Furlanetto, bass (3 June, Jules Massenet's Don Quichotte),

Rene Pape, bass (10 June, Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold),

Denis Matsuyev, piano (16 June),

Nathalie Dessay, soprano (gala concert with the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, 18 June),

Leonidas Kavakos, violin (22 and 23 June; the concert programme features Sibelius' Violin Concerto, Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto and Dutilleux' Violin Concerto),

David Geringas, cello (26 June and 4 July),

Sergey Khachatryan, violin (28 June),

Gianandrea Noseda, conductor (29 June, Lohengrin),

Yundi Li, piano (30 June; the programme features works by Frederic Chopin),

Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor (3 July),

Alexei Volodin, piano (6 July; the programme features works by Frederic Chopin),

Christian Blackshaw, piano (8 July; the programme features works by Robert Schumann),

John Malkovich, actor (12 July, the mono-performance The Infernal Comedy),

Boris Berezovsky, piano,

Maria Guleghina, soprano

FESTIVAL PREMIERES:

Aram Khachaturian. Spartacus (30 June, 1, 5 and 19 July) 
Choreography by Leonid Yakobson 
(revival of the original 1956 production)

Bela Bartok. Duke Bluebeard's Castle (11 and 14 June)
Production by the English National Opera 
Stage Director – Daniel Kramer 
Featuring Elena Zhidkova and Willard White 

Giuseppe Verdi. Attila (13, 14 and 21 July) 
Stage Director – William Friedkin