For some years now the ballet dancers of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre has brought their new shows or versions of classic ballets to Saint Petersburg at the end of Christmastime. This year their tour started with the St. Petersburg premiere of A Thousand and One Nights on January 15. The premiere of the ballet created after Arab tales was a tremendous success.
This is a project of Eldar Aliev, a Ballet Master in Chief of the Primorsky Stage. Once Eldar Aliev staged A Thousand and One Night in America and Europe, and in 2020 he newly choreographed the ballet in Vladivostok to put almost all the dancers on because his staging demanded performance of some large-scale scenes and 13 soloes.
All sets and costumes were designed by Pyotr Okunev, an Artistic Director of the Primorsky Stage. The ballet is based on the music by Fikret Amirov, a well-known Azerbaijan composer, and the libretto by Rustam Ibragimbekov and Magsud Ibragimbekov.
At the premieres in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok the baton was held by Ayyub Guliev, a Principal Conductor and a Music Director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, bearing the title of an Honored Artist of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In St. Petersburg the key parts were performed by soloists and leading dancers of the Primorsky Stage including Anna Samostrelova as Scheherazade, Lilia Berezhnova as Nurida, Sergei Umanets as Shahryar, and Denis Golov as the Slave.
The ballet company of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre tours regularly in St. Petersburg and other Russian and foreign cities. The ballet company will again perform A Thousand and One Nights on January 16 and January 17, Le Corsaire on January 19 and January 20 and The Sleeping Beauty on January 21 and January 22.
