For over two centuries, the Mariinsky Theatre has shaped the canon of Western performing arts, boasting one of the world’s most prestigious ballet and opera companies. It is a place where great singers, dancers and masters of stage design come together, making this theatre a beacon of constantly evolving interpretative genius.
A stage for great artists
The Mariinsky Theatre has welcomed numerous artists who have shaped the performing arts, such as the singers Osip Petrov, Fyodor Shalyapin, Ivan Yershov, Medea, Nikolai Figner and Sofia Preobrazhenskaya, and ballet dancers such as Mathilde Kschessinska, Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Galina Ulanova, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The theatre has also witnessed the start of George Balanchine’s artistic career and the emergence of brilliant stage designers such as Konstantin Korovin, Alexander Golovin, Alexandre Benois, Simon Virsaladze and Fyodor Fyodorovsky, amongst many others.
The cradle of the Romantic repertoire
The theatre’s destiny is inextricably linked to the birth of national opera and the scores that moved the nineteenth-century world. From the historic premieres of Glinka’s masterpieces, through the baton of Eduard Nápravník and the choreographic genius of Marius Petipa, the theatre has defined the union between music and dance.
