In case anyone's interested, most of the foreign guest artist castings have now been confirmed (along with most Kirov castings) for the Mariinsky International Ballet Festival next month in St Petersburg 9-18 March: <P>Saturday, March 9<BR>CINDERELLA <BR>(new production, premiere 26 February) <BR>Prokofiev<BR>Choreographer: Alexei Ratmansky<BR>Design: Ilya Utkin<P>Sunday, March 10<BR>Evening of FOKINE Ballets<BR>Chopiniana, Petrushka, Schéhérazade<BR>Chopin, Stravinsky, Rimsky Korsakov<BR>Jean-Guillaume Bart, Aurelie Dupont (Opera de Paris),<BR> Vladimir Malakhov (American Ballet Theater),<BR> Zhanna Ayupova, Yulia Makhalina, <BR>Farukh Ruzimatov, Islom Baimuradov, <P>Monday, March 11<BR>THE NUTCRACKER <BR>Tchaikovsky<BR>Choreographer: Kirill Simonov<BR>Designer: Mikhail Chemiakin<BR>Natalia Sologub, Andrian Fadeev, Daria Pavlenko<P>Tuesday, March 12<BR>LE CORSAIRE<BR>Adam<BR>Choreographer: Petipa<BR>Svetlana Zakharova, Elvira Tarassova,<BR>Nicolas Le Riche (Opera de Paris),<P>Wednesday, March 13<BR>MANON<BR>Massenet<BR>Choreographer: Kenneth MacMillan<BR>Designer: Peter Farmer<BR>Diana Vishneva, Vladimir Malakhov (American Ballet Theater)<P>Thursday, March 14<BR>SWAN LAKE<BR>Tchaikovsky<BR>Agnes Letestu, Jose Martinez (Opera de Paris)<P>Friday, March 15<BR>An Evening of BALANCHINE Ballets<BR>Serenade, Prodigal Son, Theme and Variations<BR>Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky<BR>Svetlana Zakharova, Natalia Sologub, Maya Dumchenko, Veronika Part, Daria Pavlenko<BR>Ethan Stiefel (American Ballet Theater), <BR> Jean-Guillaume Bart (Opera de Paris)<P>Saturday, March 16<BR>ROMEO AND JULIET<BR>Prokofiev<BR>Choreographer: Leonid Lavrovsky<BR>Zhanna Aypova, Manuel Legris (Opera de Paris)<P>Sunday, March 17<BR>An Evening of NEUMEIER Ballets<BR>Spring and Fall, Now and Then, Sounds of Empty Pages<BR>Zhanna Ayupova, Maxim Khrebtov, Svetlana Zakharova, Danila Korsuntsev, Andrian Fadeev, Veronika Part, Diana Vishneva, <P>Monday, March 18<BR>INTERNATIONAL STARS’ GALA<P>With Stars of the Mariinsky Ballet,<BR>Ballet Opera de Paris and<BR>American Ballet Theater<P>

...and again, thanks, Nino.

<B>Wintry St. Pete Offers Cozy Culture</B><BR>By Galina Stolyarova for The Moscow Times <P> <BR>High society traditionally abandoned pre-Revolutionary Russia's northern capital in the summer for greener pastures, but winter in St. Petersburg was a time of countless social events, masquerade balls, receptions and concerts.<P>A century later, the seasons have turned full swing. In the summer, the city is teeming with activity while it battles to clear up its social and cultural calendar for the winter.<P>June's white nights draw tourists by the thousands and the Stars of the White Nights Festival has become the city's premier cultural event. But Yury Temirkanov's Arts Square Festival, which ended in early January, and Valery Gergiev's Mariinsky International Ballet Festival, which runs from March 9-18, are trying to lure visitors in the colder months and restore the glories of long-lost winter seasons.<P><A HREF="http://www.tmtmetropolis.ru/metropolis/stories/2002/02/15/109.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

I don't know yet who will dance the Festival opening night's Cinderella on 9 March. But I do know that on 5 March the premiere of Cinderella will be danced by Diana Vishneva and Andrian Fadeyev.<P><p>[This message has been edited by Kevin Ng (edited February 20, 2002).]

<BR><small>The Kirov - uncredited, but my guess is that it is one of the three Neumeier works to be performed; photo by Natasha Razina</small><P><B>a festival 'to agitate souls'</B> <BR>by Galina Stolyarova for The St. Petersburg Times<P><BR>St. Petersburg's balletophiles are eagerly anticipating a 10-day visual spectacular, as the Mariinsky Theater's Second International Ballet Festival opens next week, determing to build upon the impressive success enjoyed by last year's debut. The festival runs from March 9 through March 18.<P>The festival - which came into being thanks to the efforts of indefatigable maestro and Mariinsky Artistic Director Valery Gergiev - strives, as Gergiev puts it, "to agitate souls." Primarily it is designed as a means to enable Russian audiences to see Western ballet stars, but it also showcases the best of the theater's own considerable talent. <P><A HREF="http://www.sptimesrussia.com/archive/times/749/features/a_5846.htm" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><BR>

Only one dancer from the Bolshoi is expected to participate at the Mariinsky Festival - Nikolai Tsiskaridze will dance the Golden Slave in "Shaherezade" on the 10th of March.

At a post-performance talk at Sadler's Wells on Friday, Wayne McGregor talked about the initial phase of working on the Kirov commission. Understandably, he was deeply impressed by the dancers and told us that they were hungry to do new work in a different style.

Hmmm I can't wait to see the outcome of that collaboration. Please, someone tell me that the Kirov (I mean all of them) plan to come back to London in 2003. Or if they can't do that, how about Paris?

Nino, you won't have to wait that long as the Kirov is dancing in Paris in Oct/Nov (don't have the exact dates yet) this year, at the Theatre du Chatelet.

Cast are changing especially for the french people Aurélie Dupont dance now Romeo and Juliette, and Manuel Legris dance now Manon with Vishneva. Nicolas le Riche replaces Jean-Guillaume Bart in the Balanchine evening. I présume he must dance Prodigal son. José Martinez doesn't dance Swan Lake with Agnès Letestu, because he must dance first representation of Coppelia in France. Against Agnès will dance with a russian whose I don't recall the name.<BR>They add also an other evening of Manon, with Malakhov and Aioupova.

I heard the latest, I believe, news about some changes in the Mariinsky Festival. Malakhov will dance four ballets now: Petrushka, Les Sylphides, Manon, and 'Diamonds' in the "Jewels", replacing Korsuntsev to partner Zakharova - it can look quite unusual.

<B>Sergei Prokoviev's 1945 classic "Cinderella."</B><P>A link to a nice image in The St. Petersburg Times of the <A HREF="http://www.sptimes.ru/archive/times/751/features/a_0_1781.htm" TARGET=_blank><B>Kirov in rehearsal.</B></A>

<B>A Ballet Festival to Agitate Souls</B><BR>By Galina Stolyarova for The Moscow Times <P> <BR>St. Petersburg's ballet lovers are eagerly anticipating a 10-day visual spectacular as the Mariinsky Theater's Second International Ballet Festival opens next week, determined to build upon the impressive success enjoyed by last year's debut. The festival runs from Saturday to March 18.<P>The festival -- which came into being thanks to the efforts of indefatigable maestro and Mariinsky artistic director Valery Gergiev -- strives, as Gergiev puts it, "to agitate souls." Primarily it is designed as a means to enable Russian audiences to see Western ballet stars, but it also showcases the best of the theater's own considerable talent. It also provides a counterweight to Gergiev's other brainchild, the "Stars of the White Nights" festival, which runs every June and is almost entirely devoted to opera and symphonic and chamber music.<P><A HREF="http://www.tmtmetropolis.ru/metropolis/stories/2002/03/08/101.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

The programme of the Gala on 18 March is as follows, according to the Festival programme which I bought in the Maryinsky Theatre.<P>Le Jeune Homme et la Mort - Agnes Letestu, Nicolas Le Riche<P>Le Spectre de la Rose - Zhanna Ayupova, and Vladimir Malakhov<P>Grand Pas Classique - Agnes Letestu, Jose Martinez<P>Bakhti - Diana Vishneva, Faroukh Ruzimatov<P>Tchaikovsky pas de deux - Aurelie Dupont, Manue Legris<P>Artifact II - Ballett Frankfurt<P>Diamonds - Svetlana Zakharova, Vladimir Malakhov<p>[This message has been edited by Kevin Ng (edited March 13, 2002).]

<B>East and west, Fokine is best</B><BR>An almost perfect 'Chopiniana' is the high point of the Mariinsky festival, but the new 'Cinderella' is a let-down, says Clement Crisp in The Financial Times<P><BR>Winter still has its grip on St Petersburg. There is ice on the Neva, the canals are frozen, and brilliant sun alternates with driving snow and frozen pavements. The gold spire of the Admiralty building catches the wintry light, and so it does in Alexandre Benois' design for the fair in Petrushka, one of the works in the second Mariinsky Ballet Festival which began last weekend. Ten evenings, foreign stars - several from the Paris Opera - and programming which shows how the Kirov troupe is bridging the two worlds implicit in its own miraculous history and in the need for fresh creative ideas, especially from the west. <P>As in the city itself, the new is making its mark in the ballet. Under Makhar Vaziyev's direction, regeneration is careful and - so its seems to me - alert to possibilities as well as to dangers. The task lies in the quest for creative talent from within the ensemble, heirs to Fokine, Balanchine, Nijinsky, and to such vital choreographers of the Soviet era as Lavrovsky, Zakharov, Grigorovich.<P><A HREF="http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3VH5W1QYC&live=true&tagid=ZZZFXM1ZXZB" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>