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1, Teatralnaya Square St Petersburg, 190000
Phone: +7 812 326 4141 Fax: +7 812 314 1744
e-mail: post@mariinsky.ru
Tickets are available in the Theatre box-offices.
The theatre has been the home of Russian ballet and opera
since the 1860s. 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. Through its history, the stage of this theatre has
seen such great dancers as Anna Pavlova, Mathilde Kschessinska,
Vaslav Nijinsky, Alla Osipenko, Irina Gensler, Rydolph Nureyev,
Mikhail Baryshnikov.
The present-day repertoire of the Mariinsky Ballet Company
includes, along with Petipa's legacy - Swan Lake, Le Corsaire,
La Bayadere, The Sleeping Beauty (reconstruction of the
1890 production) - ballets staged by George Balanchine
and John Neumeier.
The Mariinsky Theatre was also the birthplace of numerous
operas and ballets which are meanwhile regarded as masterpieces
of the 19th and 20th century. World premiere performances
include Glinka's Life of a Tsar and Ruslan
and Liudmila, Borodin's Prince Igor, Musorgsky's
Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina, Rimsky-Korsakov's
Maid of Pskov, The Snow Maiden and Legend of the
Invisible City of Kitezh, Tchaikovsky's The
Queen of Spades, Iolanta, Swan Lake, Nutcracker and Sleeping
Beauty, Prokofiev's The Duenna, as well
as operas by Shostakovich and ballets by A.Khachaturian,
A.Pavlova, M.Petipa, G.Ulanova, M.Baryshnicov, A.Nyriev.
At the turn of the century, the Russian operatic stage was
illuminated by the talent of the great Fyodor Chaliapin.
The theatre's magnificent decor has survived almost unchanged
to the present day. Dazzling white sculptures, lustrous gilt
and light blue drapings and upholstery all combine to create
the beautiful and unusual colour scheme of the Mariinsky's
auditorium. Above is the Italianate ceiling, designed by Professor
Dusi and painted by Fracioli, and a magnificent three-tiered
bronze chandelier, shaped like Monomakh's cap and burning
with the fire of a thousand crystal pendants. The unique curtain,
an emblem of the Mariinsky Theatre, was created in 1914 by
the famous designer Alexander Golovin.
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Mariinsky Theatre 
