The 4th International Ballet Festival of the Mariinsky will take place in St Petersburg between 5-14 March, 2004. The programme will include:

La Bayadere
Sleeping Beauty
Don Quixote
Swan Lake
Etudes
Sounds of Empty Pages (Neumeier)
The Rite of Spring
Les Noces
Mariinsky premiere of 3 Forsythe ballets
Final Gala with international stars

<small>[ 02 December 2003, 05:06 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Emma - Have you or anyone else here ever been to this? Whats the scoop ticket wise, etc?

Any indication what the three Forsythe ballets are Emma?

My guesses:

In the Middle...
Vertigenous...
Steptext

But I do hope that Forsythe has been able to steer the programming into more original areas. Perhaps the pieces he has made more recently for paris Opera Ballet. Hope they give him enough time, but I'm not betting on it.

I was informed that one of the three Forsythe ballets in the programme is a creation for the Kirov Ballet.

Here we go - the programmes (although nothing precise on Forsythe) plus ticket reservations. I have been before, Matthew. It is a wonderful event and I have not had problems getting tickets!

MARIINSKY INTERNATIONAL BALLET
FESTIVAL

St Petersburg
March 5-14, 2004

Friday, March 5
BALLETS BY WILLIAM FORSYTHE (Mariinsky première)

Saturday, March 6
SWAN LAKE

Sunday, March 7
BALLETS BY WILLIAM FORSYTHE (Mariinsky première)

Monday, March 8
CHOPINIANA
SOUNDS OF EMPTY PAGES
THE RITE OF SPRING

Tuesday, March 9
CHOPINIANA
LES NOCES
ETUDES

Wednesday, March 10
MANON

Thursday, March 11
SLEEPING BEAUTY

Friday, March 12
DON QUIXOTE

Saturday, March 13
LA BAYADÈRE

Sunday, March 14
INTERNATIONAL STARS’ GALA

The Festival will feature the Mariinsky Ballet Company Stars (Zhanna Ayupova, Diana Vishneva, Uliana Lopatkina, Daria Pavlenko, Leonid Sarafanov, Andrian Fedeyev), Bolshoy Theatre Stars (Maria Alexandrova, Sergei Filin), ABT (Paloma Herrera), Opera de Paris (Agnès Letestu, Jean-Guillaume Bart, Manuel Legris, Nicolas Le Riche, José Martinez) and Royal Ballet Covent Garden (Alina Cojocaru, Roberto Bolle, Johan Kobborg).
Preliminary information, correct at time of printing 24/11/03

For further information and ticket reservations please contact the Mariinsky Theatre Trust:
Tel: +44 [0] 20 7836 7033 Fax: +44 [0] 20 7836 7066 email: zivile@mariinskyfriends.co.uk

Thanks Kevin for the information about Forsythe's Kirov commission. From memory, since joining Ballett Frankfurt as Artistic Director, apart from his own company, only Paris Opera Ballet have had work created on them by Forsythe. One for the Royal Ballet was scheduled, but time ran out due to the dancers' unfamiliarity with Forsythe's methods and the RB took "Step Text" instead.

I still hope that the Kirov administrators have learned the lessons from the recent experiences with "Rite of Spring", "Les Noces" and "Etudes" and make sufficient time available and ensure continuity of the dancers.

<small>[ 02 December 2003, 05:05 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

I think I would overdose on seeing all of those ballets - wow. I will put it on my 2005 calender! Thanks.