The Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, opened in 1860, is one of the most important opera houses worldwide and home to the famous Mariinsky Ballet. The magnificent hall with five tiers of boxes, blue-and-gold decoration, and around 1,620 seats was named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The house was the world premiere venue of numerous masterworks: Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker had their premieres here, as did Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. Under conductor Valery Gergiev since 1988, the house developed into an empire with three venues in Saint Petersburg as well as branches in Vladivostok and Crimea. Mariinsky stands for the highest Russian operatic tradition.
The Mariinski dancers still train in a rehearsal hall whose slightly raked floor exactly replicates the slope of the historic stage.
At a glance
- Type
- Opera house
- Location
- Sankt Petersburg, Russia
More venues in Sankt Petersburg
- Michailowski-Theater · Opera house, Sankt Petersburg
More venues in Russia
- Bolschoi-Theater · Opera house, Moscow
- Nowaja Opera · Opera house, Moscow
- Opernhaus Jekaterinburg · Opera house, Jekaterinburg
- Opernhaus Kasan · Opera house, Kasan
- Opernhaus Nowosibirsk · Opera house, Nowosibirsk
- Opernhaus Perm · Opera house, Perm
- Opernhaus Samara · Opera house, Samara