Opera and Ballet Gala

The Mariinsky Theatre Primorsky Stage starts its new season filling its playbill with a bright accord of interesting events. One of them is the Opera and Ballet Gala. The program of this concert includes favorite opera and ballet pieces of the world music theatre repertoire performed by the best soloists.

An excellent collection of opera hits with Mozart’s masterpiece — virtuosic aria of Queen of the Night — on the top of the list will be a great present for any music lover. The highest tessitura of aria’s incredible coloraturas creates an illusion of diamond placer of stars in the dark sky. Only true Prima Donnas can master it. Another dream role for sopranos is Verdi’s Violetta. The famous arias of this character are very demanding and require an immense and beautiful voice that can express the most subtle nuances of the mood and emotions of the heroine. The songs of the fatal gypsy woman Carmen are a hundred percent win for a mezzo-soprano to capture full attention of the audience. The male singers will delight the audience with the incredible four tenor arias of Canio, Herman, Cavaradossi, and Lensky, the fiery songs of the unparalled lady-killer Escamillo, the dramatic cavatina of Aleko, and the noble aria of prince Gremin.

Ballet fans will appreciate a colorul masquerade of the Carnival of Venice scene and a remarkable spectacle of Pas d’esclave from Le Corsaire.

The Swan Lake will be presented by the outstanding Spanish and Polish folk dances and the solemn polinaise from Eugene Onegine’s ball scene.

Lirycal pearls of the ballet program are Inspiration, music by Sergei Rakhmaninov, Waltz and Adagio from the Nutcracker by Piotr Tchaikovky.

The orchestra on stage is not only to accompany opera and ballet soloists, it has its special role in the Gala playing Mozart’s Magic Flute, the Prelude to the 4^th act of Carmen preparing the audience for the Seville corrida, and the ingenious symphonic scene from the Tale of Tsar Saltan.

In this piece the composer Rimsky-Korsakov using timbres of different instruments like a wizard created musical images of Puskin’s fairy-tale characters — the squirrel cracking emerald nuts, a squad of thirty three sea knights with their commander Chernomor and the beautiful Queen-Swan.

Internationally acclaimed opera and ballet artists and soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre Primorsky Stage participate in the Gala. Conductors — Pavel Smelkov and Anton Torbeev.