From April 12-22 the Mariinsky Ballet Festival will hold court for the seventh time. As location has not been announced, one hopes this is further proof that the theatre closure has been delayed until (at least) after the end of the 2006-07 season.

Just bumping this thread back up. As we all know now, the theatre is not closed, and the festival will be held as planned, beginning April 12. The international guest list hasn't yet been posted publicly, but the Dansomanie forum commented that Matthieu Ganio will be one participant.

http://www.forum-dansomanie.net/forum/v ... d90a440509

If this proves true, it won't be his first time participating in the Festival, as he danced in Don Q last year with Novikova and their chemistry was fantastic.

Tickets for April 12-15 went on sale today for the Festival at the Mariinsky Theater. Tickets can be purchased fairly easily on the internet directly from the theater at perhaps 30% less than from a hotel or ticket agent.

To see schedule....
http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill?pbmy=200704

To register (touch "english" first, upper right)....
http://www.tickets.mariinsky.ru/index.php

Tickets are now on sale for all the performances except Swan Lake (??). Another thing of interest is that the La Bayadere performance is priced higher than any of the other performances except the final Gala. The might imply a 'star' dancer is scheduled for that night. Still no casting information.

I just heard from the Box Office of the Mariinsky
concerning changes in the Festival program.

Instead of Swan Lake on the 29th will be Don Quixote.
Instead of Don Quixote on the 14th will be Romeo and Juliette.
On the 19th will be ballets of W. Forsythe, as originally scheduled.

She also suggested waiting for a week (before paying) in case of
further changes.

John C

Thanks JPC for the update. This is good to know.

Are you by chance coming to town?

I'm still waiting for casting and haven't heard a thing yet.

I do know that "The Ring" listed on April 13 is a new ballet that the Mariinsky has asked Alexei Miroshnichenko to create. I believe it is being done to modern music and will be more contemporary in nature. I'm glad Miroshnichenko will have another chance to showcase his choreographic talents!

Yes. If all goes well. Can't wait!

JPC, would love to meet you in person if you make it to the festival!

Here is *some* casting news, from Dansomanie.net. Novikova and Ganio in Giselle on the 15th:

Posté le: Ven Mar 02, 2007 7
:53 pm Sujet du message:

Un premier petit scoop à propos de ce VIème Festival du Mariinsky: Mathieu Ganio devrait danser le 15 avril le rôle d'Albrecht dans Giselle aux côtés d'Olesya Novikova, sa partenaire de l'an dernier dans Don Quichotte.

http://www.forum-dansomanie.net/forum/v ... &start=495

Me too ! I hope to be there also.

All tickets now are available at the Mariinsky site, but still no casting information. The 20th is now to be Don Quixote instead of Swan Lake. Swan Lake is out. The 14th which was Don Quixote is now Romeo and Juliet. The 19th has just been added as a Forsythe evening. This schedule from the ticket purchase site is consistant which what jpc posted above.

Thanks Buddy! I will hope to meet you here in person at long last as well!

Further news, is that the Romeo will be danced by Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobberg; and that Don Q, which is replacing Swan Lake on the 20th, will include the Bolshoi's Natalia Osipova with Leonid Sarafanov.

An update: Casting has now been posted on the Mariinsky web site for the Festival, and can be found here:

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill?pbmy=200704

I will add to that, that the individuals slated to dance Miroshnichenko's two new ballets are Tatiana Tkachenko with Alexander Sergeev; Daria Pavlenko with Anton Pimenov, and others.

Catherine,

Is there any information on the casting of Apollo, the first and second nights of the Festival?

It is so close in time to still find 'TBA' on the Mariinsky website.
Is this typical or just negligence from an overworked staff?

Hi JPC,

My best guess is that it isn't even negligence, it's indecision most likely. Meaning "they don't know yet". However it could just be tardiness -- I know these festivals come up on the staff on the heels of numerous other events, so it's possible they know but haven't posted yet. I will try to find out and let you (all) know.

Hi JPC -
I haven't checked the MT site yet, and this may be up there now, but Apollo will feature Gumerova, Tereshkina and Tkachenko. Igor Kolb will be their Apollo.

Other good news is Svetlana Ivanova has a leading role in "Flora". Evgenia Obratsova will partner Vladimir Shklyarov as the main couple on opening night; Valeria Martiniouk will dance Amore, and Maxim Chashegorov dances the other leading male role (I haven't seen a program or synopsis yet, so I don't know the characters' names).