A useful season round-up article by Kevin Ng:

mariinsky tour points to future
By Kevin Ng for THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

LONDON - The Mariinsky Theater's ballet company on Saturday wrapped up its London season at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with two performances of its spectacular production of "La Corsaire," with which it opened up on July 21. The troupe's three-week season provided plenty of highlights and talking points, including two Stravinsky ballets, some promising debuts, and the imminent move to Moscow of a top star.

The company, making a welcome return to the British capital after its last appearance in 2001, presented five programs, the most significant of which was Sergei Vikharev's reconstruction of "La Bayadere."

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<small>[ 15 August 2003, 03:43 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

I saw this end of last week when it posted... I was curious then and am still wondering what Mr. Ng meant by the closing comment? I would offer that the young talent at the Mariinsky right now both in the corps and in the soloist ranks has plenty to offer.

<small>[ 22 August 2003, 06:25 PM: Message edited by: Catherine Pawlick ]</small>

Catherine, in brief, what I meant is that the Kirov's corps de ballet have been consistently great since I first watched them in 1987, and they didn't disappoint this time round in London. However their new young female talents who were cast in the big roles this season are less outstanding than their predecessors, as I explained in paragraph 7 of my review.

<small>[ 23 August 2003, 08:19 PM: Message edited by: Kevin Ng ]</small>

oh okay. Thanks for the clarification Kevin. I wasn't sure which ranks you meant by the young talent. I think it would be hard for any dancer to compete with the likes of Zakharova and Ayupova, (each with different gifts, mind you) but luckily they have such a large company, there is plenty of room for grooming the next generation.

I would be curious to have seen some of the current principals when they first began their careers. I think that would make an interesting comparison to the current up-and-comers.

Some bad news from St Petersburg:

Fire destroys Kirov costumes
From BBCi


The Kirov is an icon of the Russian arts world
A fire destroyed the costumes and sets for the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg on Thursday, including those for the world-famous Kirov Ballet.

The blaze, in one of the theatre's warehouses, destroyed costumes for a forthcoming Kirov tour of Japan.

"Many scenery sets were destroyed, in particular, the set for the opera Evgeny Onegin," said a theatre worker.

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Interesting: Thats the second fire of that kind in a matter of months, as a serious fire has closed the Stanislavsky-Nemirovitch-Danchenko theatre in Moscow.

Coincidence? Or did someone get a bit behind with the protection money?

The BBC reported: "The Mariinsky Theatre, named after Tsar Nicholas II's wife Maria Fyodorovna..."
In fact, the Mariinsky Theatre was named after Tsar Nicholas II's GRANDMOTHER Maria ALEXANDROVNA who was Alexander II's wife.
Reporting on the fire in St.Petersburg the Russian language RTVi channel made a suggestion that the fire was started deliberately and told the viewers that it became a popular way to clear desirable plots in the centre of big cities, like Moscow and St.Petersburg, for the people with money. Most of the cultural institutions are underfunded although remain housed in listed buildings in central locations. After the fire, they don't have resources for rebuilding - and here comes a wealthy entrepreneur with an offer to build a house on this plot. Among those who talked on the programme about this practice was even a member of the Culture Committee of the Duma (Russian Parliament).

<small>[ 06 September 2003, 05:54 AM: Message edited by: coda ]</small>

Kirov sets lost in storage fire
By Kevin O'Flynn for The Guardian

Sets worth tens of thousands of pounds belonging to the Mariinsky Theatre's in St Petersburg, the home of the Kirov ballet, were lost in a fire yesterday that was blamed on arson.
The backdrops and props from the theatre's legendary productions through the decades stood little chance as the four-storey building housing them, a few hundred metres from the theatre, went up in flames.

Despite the swift arrival of 28 firetrucks and more than 130 firefighters the blaze remained out of control for much of the night. By morning the roof had collapsed, as had most of the 200-year-old building's inner walls. Five firefighters were injured.

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Kirov sets lost in storage fire
By Kevin O'Flynn, Moscow for The Guardian

Sets worth tens of thousands of pounds belonging to the Mariinsky Theatre's in St Petersburg, the home of the Kirov ballet, were lost in a fire yesterday that was blamed on arson.
The backdrops and props from the theatre's legendary productions through the decades stood little chance as the four-storey building housing them, a few hundred metres from the theatre, went up in flames.

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<img src="http://www.dancing-times.co.uk/Pics/dancingtimes/200309/cover.jpg" alt="" />

The Kirov in London
A review of the Petersburg company’s London season by Mary Clarke for Dancing Times.


Vladimir Shishov as Conrad and Diana Vishneva as Mendora in Le Corsaire. Photograph by Angela Taylor.

This summer’s season by the Kirov Ballet at Covent Garden was a real mix of splendours and miseries, the splendours coming mostly from their own, safeguarded, traditional repertory, the miseries from works imported to widen the company’s range. That the Kirov should want to acquire seminal ballets from the Diaghilev era, an era virtually unknown in Russia, is a decision altogether admirable. The pity is that the versions they have acquired — and this is tragically true, above all, of Les Noces — are suspect. The problem, I fear, is that they place too much credence on the wishes of the Nijinska and Fokine families, and refer too little to the companies in Paris and London who have inherited Diaghilev- inspired productions through direct links with his dancers or colleagues.

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