Great operas Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be presented for the first time in semi-staged performance at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre.
Solo parts will be performed by the world opera stars under the baton of Valery Gergiev and Nikolaj Znaider (Denmark).
On 3 August at 20.00 the Festival playbill features Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, the plot of which is based on a famous legend about a nobleman notorious for his amorous victories. Don Giovanni’s story, masterfully translated into music by the Austrian composer, has become one of the most popular ones works in opera theatres.
The Primorsky audience will see a semi-staged version of this opera with an excellent cast and the Symphony Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre conducted by Valery Gergiev. The part of Donna Anna will be performed by one of the world’s most celebrated coloratura sopranos, whose voice is often compared with “the Stradivarius violin”, an invited soloist of the Metropolitan Opera and Covent Garden Albina Shagimuratova. She will be partnered by the Mariinsky leading soloists Yevgeny Nikitin (Don Giovanni), Mikhail Petrenko (Leporello), Mlada Khudoley (Donna Elvira), Violetta Lukyanenko (Zerlina) and Yevgeny Akhmedov (Don Ottavio).
On 6 August at 19.00 — the Primorsky audience will for the first time hear Mozart’s sparkling comic opera Le nozze di Figaro based on the play of the same name by Pierre Beaumarchais. It is a “situation comedy”, one of the gems of the operatic art, invariably receiving ovations and rapturous reception. The title part is performed by the renowned Chinese baritone, winner of the the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Shenyang. He will be supported by the Mariinsky soloists Violetta Lukyanenko (Susanna), Vladimir Moroz (Count Almaviva), Anastasia Kalagina (Countess Almaviva), Yekaterina Sergeyeva (Cherubino). The Mariinsky Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage will be conducted by Nikolaj Znaider - an absolute star in the world of classical music, combining the talents of a soloist, musician and a conductor.
Nikolaj Znaider ranks among the world’s best violinists and chamber musicians, In addition to his successful international career as a violinist, over the last decade, he has achieved a high international status as a conductor, receiving engagements from the world’s leading European and American orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest (Amsterdam), Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Symphony Orchestra of the Salzburg Festival, Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks and many others. Currently, Nikolaj Znaider is an invited conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre. His repertoire includes both diverse symphony programmes and Mozart’s operatic masterpieces
— Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte.
