Balley performances and folk-show in Saint-Petersburg

Near the main street of St. Petersburg, Nevsky Prospect, is one of the most harmonic architectural ensembles of the city – the ensemble of Alexandrinsky Theater and Ostrovsky Square. It was designed by Carlo Rossi and constructed for twenty years. Before the formation of this architectural ensemble, there was Anichkov Palace in the eastern part of this area. From 1828 to 1832, the building of the theater was constructed under the supervision of Carlo Rossi. This is one of the masterpieces of the architecture of Classicism. It looks modest, but, at the same time, luxurious, and the integrity of the composition of the building is really wonderful. This is one of the most beautiful theater buildings in the world. The official opening ceremony of the theater took place on August 31, 1832. The performance was Kryuchkovsky's patriotic tragedy Pozharsky . The theater was named Alexandrinsky after Alexandra Fyodorovna, the wife of Nicholas I. Drama, opera and ballet performances were staged in this theater. Later, however, they began to stage only dramas. The company of this theater was one of the best theater companies in Russia. Several plays by Ostrovsky and by Tchekhov were staged here for he first time. Among the actors who worked here were Yekaterina Semyonova, Varvara Asenkova, Vera Komissarzhevskaya, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Nikolai Simonov and Nikolai Cherkasov. At present, the old traditions of this theater are being revived: not only drama performances, but also ballets are staged here. National and international ballet festivals are also held in this theater. 

The theatre has been the home of Russian ballet and opera since the 1860s and has become a mecca for both Russian and international artists. The theatre was reconstructed by A. Kavos, and in 1860 was opened as the Mariinsky Theatre.
It was named after the wife of the reigning Tsar Alexander II, Marina. Throughout the years, the theatre has held several names. In 1919, it was renamed the Kirov Theatre. In 1992 the name changed officially once again, back to the original name of Mariinsky Theatre.
The theatre s splendid and elegant auditorium is richly decorated and in fact is one of the most beautiful in the world. Through its history, the stage of this theatre has seen such famous ballet-masters and ballet-dancers as A. Pavlova, M. Petipa, G.Ulanova, M.Baryshnicov, A.Nyriev. The performances here are of worldclass quality.
The current Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer, Oleg Vinogradov, has received international recognition for his outstanding work. The repertoire of Mariinsky Theater includes the best works of opera and ballet classics. It also follows the best traditions of Russian theaters. Soloists of Mariinsky Theater participate in major international competitions and festivals. Recently, the theater company has prepared several joint performances together with the world famous Covent Garden, Opera de Bastille, La Scale and La Fenice.

The Hermitage Theatre is the oldest theatre building in St.Petersburg. In November 1985, it has celebrated the 200th anniversary.In 1711 the erection of the stone building for the Second Winter Palace have been started on the embankment and in 1725 after several reconstructions the decoration of the Fourth Winter Palace was completed. Two years later on January 28, 1725 Peter the Great died there. In 1766, the buildings were transferred to the possession of the Imperial Theatres Administration. Construction of the new theatre was committed to Qiacomo Quarenghi and lasted since 1785 up to 1785. After the official opening, the construction works continued up to 1802.

The Hermitage Theatre was projected by Quarenghi on an antique model - with semicircu­lar amphitheatre of rising tiers of seats, and it is really one of the best theatre halls in the city. The hall is decorated with Corinthian semi-columns and between them Quarenghi have placed sculptural images of Apollo and nine Muses as well as bas-reliefs of famous musicians and poets.The first season in the Hermitage Theatre was opened on November 16,      1785. Thoroughly chosen guests entered the theatre through roofed passage built   by G.Veldten across Zymnyaya Kanavka (Winter Channel).All the European and Russian repertoire of the XVIII century was performed on this stage.

After the death of Catherine II in 1796 performances have ceased. All the attempts to revive the theatre in the XIX century have failed. Up to the early 1980s the Hermitage Theatre housed the Hermitage Lecture-hall, other premises were occupied by museum's departments, laboratories and depositories. In 1989 after reconstruction and restoration the Hermitage Theatre was opened again.

The Theatre was founded in 1994 by Konstantin Tachkine and represents a classical ballet theatre which develops the traditions of Russian classical ballet. It is an unique private theatre in Saint-Petersburg and is able to compete with the most famous state companies.
The repertoire of the theatre includes such masterpieces of the world famous choreography as: "Giselle", "Don Quixote", "Swan lake", "The Nutcracker", "Classical Ballet Gala", "Diamond", "Sleeping Beauty". All mentioned performances are based on classical choreography and on original music versions. Usually the theatre performs with orchestra accompaniment.

The theatre was built by the architect Alexander Bryullov during 1830 - 1833. It was named after the brother of the Tsar Nicolas I, Michael. It was opened on 8 November in 1833. Before the revolution, touring French court-performers gave private performances to small groups of aristocrats at the theatre. Since 1918the Maly Opera House (dedicated to Mussorgsky), as it was called up until 1992, was one of the centers of Soviet musical art. Such famous ballet-masters as Yakobson and O.Vinogradov worked there. The current Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer, N.Boyarchicov calls the theatre as the laboratory of the modern choreography, although they have rather classical repertoire. Today in St. Petersburg, this Theatre is the second only to the Mariinsky Theatre.

The concert hall of the Philharmonic Society was designed by the architect Paul Jacquot (the facade was designed by Carlo Rossi) and constructed in 1839 to house the Noblemen's Club of St. Petersburg. The concert hall with excellent acoustic properties and with more than 1,500 seats has been the center of St. Petersburg's musical events since the late 1840s. The performances of such outstanding musicians of the 19-th century as Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Anton Rubinstein, Robert Schumann, Paulona Viardo and Pablo Sarasate took place here. Many famous works of Russian composers, such as Borodin, Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov, were performed here for the first time. On June 12, 1921, the official opening ceremony of the Petrograd Philharmonic Society took place. Very soon, the Philharmonic Society became famous for its concerts, lectures and publishing activities (with the help of its library). Music was performed here mainly by the Symphonic Orchestra of the Philharmonic Society.
For fifty years (1938-1988), the orchestra was headed by the outstanding Russian conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky. Since 1988, the head of the orchestra and its principal conductor has been Yuri Temirkanov. The repertoire of the Philharmonic concerts includes a wide range of works of Russian and international classics, as well as the works of the outstanding composers of the 20-th century, such as Schonberg, Stravinsky, Bartok, Hindemith (performances of all these composers, as musicians or conductors, took place in this concert hall). The performances of the most famous musicians of our epoch, such as Klemperer, Walter, Anserme, Kleiber, Stokowsky, Corto, Schnabel, Ar. Rubinstein, Gorowitz, Benjamin Britten, Fischer-Diskau, Svyatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Michaelangeli, Guld, Yehuda Menuchin, Mstislav Rostromovich, took place here.
Among the guest orchestras performing in this concert hall were the orchestras of Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago, the Philharmonic orchestras of Berlin, Vienna and New York, as well as the Amsterdam Koncertgebau orchestra. On May 12, 1926, the first performance of the First Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich took place here. For many years, audience used to applaud to this famous composer in this concert hall. In the 1930s, he came here from Moscow to listen to the first performances of his works, and later the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society was named after him. Now, the Greater Concert Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society is one of the best concert halls of Europe. It is a great honor for a musician to perform here. 

The Chamber Music Theater was founded in Leningrad in 1987 by one of the leading Russian musical performance stage managers, Yuri Alexandrov. The St. Petersburg Opera company was gradually transformed into a State theater well-known and admired by opera connoisseurs not only in Russia, but in many other countries. In spite of its short history, this opera company has great achievements. The repertoire of St. Petersburg Opera includes all types of operas, from comic opera and opera-buff to musical dramas, including operas by modern composers. Many of these operas were staged in Russia for the first time. The theater is located now in the former mansion of Baron von Derives . Under the Soviets, the mansion housed several clubs, but, fortunately, the original old interiors have been preserved here. The White Auditorium of the mansion has had old musical and theater traditions. It was here that Fyodor Chaliapine and Leonid Sobinov used to sing. It was here that Isedora Duncan used to dance. Vsevolod Meyerhold used to work here, and among the visitors of the auditorium were Constantine Stanislavsky, Vasily Kachalov and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. Now, after many decades, the mansion is a theater center again.

The Conservatoire was founded by the conductor Anton Rubinstein in 1862. Originally, it was in a wing of Demidov's mansion in the Moika Embankment, then it moved to other places several times. On November 12, 1896, the opening ceremony of the building specially reconstructed for the Conservatoire took place. This building is in Theater Square. The first graduate of the Conservatoire to become a composer was the great Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky. His name is the first in the list of names on the Memorial Board at the entrance to the Smaller Hall (the Quartet Hall), and there is his statue by the sculptor Vladimir Beklemishev in the Opera House foyer. In 1988, the theater was named the Musical Theater of Opera and ballet at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire of St. Petersburg.
At present, the Chief Conductor of the theater is Alexander Sladkovsky and the Chief Ballet-Master is Professor Nikita Dolgushin, People's Dancer of Russia. A real gem of the Conservatoire is its auditorium (the Glazunov Concert Hall). Since the day of the first concert held here (on December 12, 1896), the original interior and the acoustics of the auditorium have been preserved. From August 2000 to May 2001, there was thorough restoration of this auditorium. The repertoire of the theater includes the best works of Russian and international classics. The company of the theater continues the traditions of the Russian opera and the Russian ballet.

This oldest Russian drama theater is located in the Fontanka Embankment. In 1874, Count Apraxin was allowed to construct a brick theater building on the territory of the market which belonged to him. The theater was surrounded by the stores of the Apraxin Market and was constructed using private capital and with merely commercial purpose. The theater was designed by Luigi Fontana and constructed in 1876-1878. The theater was named the Emperor's Smaller Theater. According to the architect's design, the facade of the theater was luxuriously decorated. The decorations of the interiors contained certain traces of the Renaissance architecture, as well as Rococo techniques. The auditorium was designed in a traditional way: the stalls, three rows of boxes and the gallery. In 1920, the theater was given to the company of the Greater Drama Theater founded in 1919. The organizers of this theater were Maxim Gorky, Alexander Blok and Anatoly Lunacharsky. The scenery artists were Alexander Benois, Mikhail Dobuzhinsky and Constantine Korovin. Music for the performances was written by the composers Boris Asafyev and Yuri Shaporin. A very important epoch in the history of the theater were the years when the Chief Stage Manager of the theater was Georgy Tovstonogov. During the period of time from 1956 to 1989, real masterpieces of Russian theater were staged here. At present, this is one of the leading Russian drama theaters. In summer, ballet performances and concerts of St. Petersburg's singers and musicians take place here.

Russian folk shows in Saint-Petersburg are really worth of being attended. Here on the scenes of former Saint-Petersburg palaces guests can see the real Russian soul life and feel themselves Russian.