Michailowski-Theater

The Mikhailovsky Theatre on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg opened on 8 November 1833, the name day of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich, after whom it is named. The Neoclassical building was designed by Alexander Brullov. In the 19th century it was used mainly by French companies, and later also for operetta, including Offenbach. An opera house since 1918, it became an experimental stage as the Maly Opera Theatre: Samuil Samosud conducted the world premieres of Shostakovich's The Nose and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1934), Meyerhold staged The Queen of Spades, and in 1946 came the staged world premiere of Prokofiev's War and Peace. The theatre has had its own ballet company since 1933, founded by Fyodor Lopukhov. Since 2007 Vladimir Kekhman has run the restored theatre, which again bears its original name.