The Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre welcomes spring with a lavish palette of genres, from classic operas to productions for children. The March programme will come as a true gift for connoisseurs of high art; the audiences will be treated to immortal works by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky, as well as to universally popular fairy tales.
A Symphony of Spring: Opera and Ballet on the Great Stage
The month kicks off grandly: on March 1, 2026, the Great Hall will host a classical music night under the title “Le Sacre du printemps. Mozart. Stravinsky”. The programme will combine iconic works by two legendary composers.
The first ten days of March will be dedicated to vocal art. On March 5, 2026, Tchaikovsky’s lyrical opera Iolanta will be performed, the composer’s final opera, a heartfelt story about the King’s blind daughter who regains her eyesight. On March 7, 2026, audiences will be treated to Prokofiev’s effervescent opera The Love for Three Oranges, a vibrant carnival-like performance. On March 8, 2026, the festive mood will be enhanced by an Opera Gala dedicated to the International Women’s Day. All these events will be conducted by maestro Pavel Smelkov.
On March 9, 2026, the Great Hall will host the comic opera Le nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, an operatic masterpiece that has been performed on world stages for over two centuries.
In the second half of the month, the theatre-goers will enjoy opera and ballet hits.
On March 19, 2026, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, “an encyclopedia of Russian life”, will be presented in lyrical scenes. On March 20, 2026, there comes a story of fatal love in Minkus’s epic La Bayadère. On March 21, 2026, Die Fledermaus, Johann Strauss II’s sparkling operetta, full of intrigue, masquerades, and romantic misunderstandings, will be performed twice. The night on March 22, 2026 will be dedicated to Igor Stravinsky’s one-act ballets Les Noces and Petrouchka. Conducted by Dušan Vilić, these performances will immerse the audiences in the world of Russian ritual and fairground theatre.
On March 25 and 26, 2026, Rimsky-Korsakov’s spring fairytale opera The Snow Maiden, based on the play by Ostrovsky, a hymn to pagan Rus and the elemental forces, will be performed. The main programme will culminate on March 27, 2026 with the ballet Swan Lake. On March 28, 2026, the premiere of the season, Sergei Banevich’s opera The Story of Kai and Gerda will be presented. It is a touching rendition of The Snow Queen, Andersen’s universally popular fairy tale. On March 29, 2026, the audiences will be treated to the ballet Konyok-Gorbunok (The Little Humpbacked Horse) by Shchedrin, a fantasy based on folk tales.
Chamber Hall: A Treasure Trove for Family Viewing
In March, the Chamber Hall of the Primorsky Stage will turn into a fairytale space. On March 8, 2026, it will host Leonid Klinichev’s opera The Little Prince, based on the novella by de Saint-Exupéry, a philosophical parable about friendship and responsibility, suitable for both children and adults. On March 22, 2026, young audiences will see the return of a beloved production, Rustam Sagdiev’s opera The Turnip. The month will close on March 29, 2026 with Gennady Gladkov’s musical production Town Musicians of Bremen, a timeless classic about the adventures of the Troubadour and his friends.
The Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre invites audiences of all ages to celebrate March in the company of magnificent music and their favorite characters.
Visit of the Khabarovsk Musical Theatre
From March 12 to 15, 2026, the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will transform into a space unlike any other, as the Khabarovsk Regional Academic Musical Theatre will be touring in Vladivostok. The company will present not just performances, but a true musical theatre experience, encompassing classic operetta, chamber revelations, and musicals for the whole family.
The programme of the tour will start on March 12, 2026 with the Gala concert “Operetta – the Magical Moment”. On this night, the stage will become home for such gems of the world repertoire as arias from Die Zirkusprinzessin, Die Fledermaus, Gräfin Mariza, and other masterpieces by Kálmán, Lehár, and Strauss. Each piece comes as a small story of great passions.
The performances of Imre Kálmán’s The Gypsy Princess, taking place on March 13 and 14, 2026, will be the highlight of the tour. The Khabarovsk Theatre will present a new version of the production, timed to coincide with the Theatre’s anniversary.
For chamber music connoisseurs, the solo performance “Vertinsky: At Myself I am Laughing Today” will be presented in the Chamber Hall of the Theatre on March 14, 2026. This is the confession of an artist, poet, and cabaret singer whose life has become a legend among the Russians emigrants abroad.
The final day of the tour, March 15, 2026, will be dedicated to family entertainment and will come as the final chord of the festival. During the day, the Chamber Hall will host the children’s musical The Princess and the Pea, a dainty musical story based on Andersen’s fairy tale. In the evening, the final Gala concert will take place, “Theatre Stars Shine for You”, featuring all the soloists of the touring company.
Ballet Company’s Tour to Saint Petersburg
Meanwhile, the Ballet Company of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will start their major tour to Saint Petersburg.
From March 3 to 12, 2026, dancers from Vladivostok will present four diverse productions on the Historical and New Stages of the Mariinsky Theatre. Those will range from an oriental fairy tale to classical masterpieces.
The tour will open on the New Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre with the ballet A Thousand and One Nights, set to music by Azerbaijani composer Fikret Amirov. The Historical Stage will host three ballets that are inextricably linked with the Saint Petersburg ballet tradition: The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, and La fille mal gardée.
