On June 2, 2024, the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre completed the 2023/24 theatre season with the performance of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s famous opera The Queen of Spades. More than 200,000 spectators attended the Theatre’s events during the season.
Opera
In the 2023/24 season, the Opera Company of the Primorsky Stage presented some exuberant premieres. In October, audiences enjoyed a new production of Sergei Prokofiev’s cheerful opera The Love for Three Oranges (directed by Alexander Petrov). Valery Gergiev himself stood at the console on the first night, conducting the Mariinsky Orchestra.
In April, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s light lyrical opera Iolanta received its stage incarnation on the Primorsky Stage. Anna Shishkina’s production was complemented by set design by Pyotr Okunev and colorful picturesque costumes, all of which had been sewn by craftsmen from Vladivostok under his original sketches.
Several memorable premieres have taken place in the Chamber Hall of the Theatre. The audiences have been presented with the opera for the whole family Town Musicians of Bremen to the music by Gennady Gladkov. Also, the Theatre’s chamber repertoire has been replenished with a unique program with sand animation, the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila by Mikhail Glinka.
In November, soloists of the Primorsky Stage Opera Company presented Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci on the Historical Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre as part of the program of the IX Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum.
Symphony Programs
From September 21 to October 7, 2023, the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre traditionally became the main venue for the Pacific International Theatre Festival. The Mariinsky Orchestra and Chorus of the Primorsky Stage, together with soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre and the Primorsky Stage Opera Company, took part in the gala opening of the forum, performing the famous Carmina Burana, symphonic work by Carl Orff staged by the Contemporary Dance of Cuba.
In September, the Orchestra musicians, the Chorus and the opera soloists performed together, giving for the first time a large public concert on the Central Square of Vladivostok in honor of the consecration of the main temple of the city, the Transfiguration Cathedral building. Besides, during the year, the Mariinsky Chorus of the Primorsky Stage twice performed a great spiritual work, All Night Vigil by Sergei Rachmaninoff, in the new temple.
This season’s symphony programs were marked by three ambitious cycles. In December 2023, the Mariinsky Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage completed the Rachmaninoff – 150 Cycle. The project had presented not only famous symphonic works by Rachmaninoff, but also his multifaceted vocal heritage, including one-act operas and romances, as well as the symphonic poem All-Night Vigil. Concerts to commemorate the composer’s anniversary had taken place in Vladivostok, Ussuriysk and Spassk-Dalny. In Vladivostok, the works by Sergei Rachmaninoff had been performed in the halls of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, the Officers’ House of the Pacific Fleet and the Far Eastern Federal University.
In the following month, a new cycle, Pushkin – 225, was launched. The Theatre company presented a record number of performances from its Pushkin repertoire, and also presented new ones, namely the stage versions of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s operas Aleko and The Miserly Knight. In addition, in early spring, the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre hosted a series of events dedicated to the 180th anniversary of the main “storyteller” of the Russian classical music, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
The Eastern Economic Forum
From September 7 to 11, 2023, the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre traditionally became one of the main cultural venues of the Eastern Economic Forum. As part of the Forum, the public was presented with the Festival of Indian Culture in Russia, the ballet premiere of the 2022/23 season, Raymonda by Alexander Glazunov, several vocal pieces and the opera Francesca da Rimini by Sergei Rachmaninoff performed by opera diva Albina Shagimuratova. Pianist Denis Matsuev and the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Jurowski also participated in the event. A highlight of the program was the world’s first concert with the participation of artificial intelligence. Together with the neural network, the symphony Cosmos by Pyotr Dranga was performed by the Mariinsky Orchestra and Chorus of the Primorsky Stage.
The Far East Easter Festival
In May, the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre presented a new project, the Far East Easter Festival, which became part of the large-scale Moscow Easter Festival, held under the direction of Valery Gergiev.
From May 9 to 14, 2024, a series of vocal symphony concerts took place in the largest cities of the Far East: Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Not only the opera soloists, the Mariinsky Chorus and Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage took part in the gala opening, but also the Combined Chorus of the Vladivostok Eparchy and the Russian Pacific Fleet Orchestra. The Festival program featured pieces of the Russian and foreign classics. Khabarovsk saw the premiere of the season, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta in full stage design.
Ballet
The touring season has turned out to be especially busy for the Primorsky Stage Ballet Company.
The Ballet Company has taken part in the VIII International Mariinsky Far East Festival, featuring the ballets Giselle by Adolphe Adam, Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus and the premiere of the 2022/23 season, Raymonda by Alexander Glazunov.
In August, the Primorsky Stage dancers presented their ballets – Le Corsaire by Adolphe Adam, The Nutcracker by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and A Thousand and One Nights by Fikret Amirov – on the stages of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg as part of the traditional summer tour.
In September, the Ballet Company performed on the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, for the first time and with great success. Accompanied by the Mariinsky Orchestra and Chorus of the Primorsky Stage, and by a soloist of the Opera Company of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, the Ballet Company presented Fikret Amirov’s ballet A Thousand and One Nights.
Immediately after completing its series of performances in Moscow, the Ballet Company went to Vladikavkaz, where on the stage of the Branch of the Mariinsky Theatre, they presented one-act ballets Phaedra by Philip Glass and The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky.
In October, the Ballet Company of the Primorsky Stage twice performed The Sleeping Beauty as part of the opening of the Days of Culture of Primorsky Region in Harbin, People’s Republic of China. In December, they performed for the first time in the capital of Qatar, Doha, where they presented Fikret Amirov’s ballet A Thousand and One Nights.
That tour was followed by a tour to Saint Petersburg again, and included the latest ballet premiere of the Theatre, Raymonda to the music by Alexander Glazunov.
In March, the Ballet Company further expanded its touring geography with a grandiose series of performances in the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Pyongyang. The audience was treated to The Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky, as well as a program of modern and ancient choreography.
Guest Artists and Ensembles
During the 2023/24 season, the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre welcomed guest performers: Albina Shagimuratova, Vladimir Moroz, Zinaida Tsarenko, Elena Gorlo, Inara Kozlovskaya, Alexander Mikhailov, Oleg Dolgov, Ivan Gyngazov, Ayuna Bazargurueva, Nikolay Didenko, Alexander Pokidchenko, Stanislav Korchagin, Denis Matsuev, Lev Klychkov, Oxana Skorik, Andrei Yermakov, Alexander Sergeev, Yevgeny Konovalov, Elena Yevseyeva, Alexandra Khiteyeva, Timur Askerov, Ruslan Stenyushkin, Anastasia Lukina, Maria Bulanova.
During the recent season, the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre hosted such ensembles as the National Symphonic Orchestra of the Republic of Bashkortostan conducted by Dmitry Kryukov, the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Jurowski, the Liaoning Ballet of China, the Borodin Quartet, the Leonid Yakobson Ballet Theatre, the Jilin National Orchestra of Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments. This season, the Mariinsky Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage continued the tradition of holding joint concerts with students of the Primorsky Branch of the Central Music College – Academy of Performing Arts.
Educational Projects
This season, the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre has resumed its educational project – Scenic Introduction, intended to help the audiences gain a better perception of the theatrical performances and concerts, give them an idea of how composers work, and draw their attention to the most important components of the future performance.
During the 2023/24 season, Scenic Introductions greeted the public before the “Rachmaninoff – 180” concert and before the opera performances Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, Iolanta and The Queen of Spades by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Boris Godunov by Modest Musorgsky, Aleko and The Miserly Knight by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
