The world-famous Mariinsky Theatre from St. Petersburg beg its new season at the Kennedy Centre in Washington on February 9
th with the presentation of Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Sleeping Beauty".
The performances of the famous ballet troupe are actually the part continuation of a wide-scale musical festival "Russia in Focus". The festival, which began in September last year, will last for two years. Thus, the American audience will be able to see the performances of the best Russian groups and the most talented soloists. The author of the festival programme Vice-President of the Kennedy Centre Alisha Adams said that though the Russian-American relations are now on the rise, following the summer visit of the U.S. President Barack to Moscow, political considerations played no role at all in the decision of the Kennedy Centre to call attention to the Russian musical culture. We compiled the programme, taking into account specific works only," Mrs. Adams stressed. Not only Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Sleeping Beauty", which is on the Mariinsky Theatre repertoire, but also his opera "Eugene Onegin" and two more operas - "Boris Godunov" by Mussorgsky and "War and Peace" by Prokofiev - were chosen for the festival in Washington. Besides, the Mariinsky troupe soloists were asked to give concerts, which would include the Russian classical prices. The Mariinsky Theatre ballet troupe will perform at the Kennedy Centre for nearly one month.
The Mariinsky Theatre artistic director Maestro Valery Gergiyev says that it is absolutely natural that foreign audiences continue to show great interest in the Russian music:
"Russia is a great musical power and it is open to the world, Valery Gergiyev says. The world praises highly the great Russian composers - such as Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and many others because they organically integrated into the world culture. It seems to me that this should never be forgotten".
The performances of the Mariinsky troupe at the Kennedy Centre in Washington will coincide in time with the guest performances of the Bolshoi theatre troupe. The Bolshoi ballet dancers will present there the legendary, without any exaggeration, ballet "Spartacus" by Aram Khachaturyan, which was staged by the prominent choreographer Yuri Grigorovich. Grigorovich's blockbuster production shows the scale and physical strength of the Bolshoi ballet dancers, as the festival play bill says. The concert the well-known pianist Denis Matsuyev plans to give at the Kennedy Centre later this month is expected to be equally successful. The audiences in both Russia and abroad adore him.
The festival "Russia in Focus" is a unique American cultural initiative for the implementation of which the Kennedy Centre is even ready to change somewhat its own traditions. And a good example is the September concert of the festival opening. This was the first concert of the new season - therefore, the U.S. Symphony Orchestra should have performed the American National Anthem first. But the musicians played Russian music - an overture to the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Mikhail Glinka.
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