Stars of the White Nights Festival
Stars of the White Nights Festival
"Stars of the White Nights": bright events of the big summer festival in the Mariinsky.
The main event and climax of the entire theatrical season is approaching — on May 22, the XXXIII Stars of the White Nights Music Festival opens in St. Petersburg, an annual highlight for all lovers of musical and theatrical art.
This year, the festival will open on the New Stage with a grand premiere long awaited by St. Petersburg audiences — Bellini’s true masterpiece Norma, directed by the renowned Sergei Novikov. The set and costume designer is his namesake, Sergei Novikov; their creative tandem previously delivered a dazzling production of Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, which instantly captivated the public. Norma will also be performed on May 23 and 24 at 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM. On the Historic Stage on May 22, Minkus’s ballet La Bayadère will be presented, while the Mariinsky Theatre’s Stradivarius Ensemble, conducted by Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici, will perform in the Concert Hall.
The ballet repertoire will also include audience favorites such as La Bayadère (May 22, 23, and 24) by Minkus, Løvenskiold’s La Sylphide (May 29), as well as one-act ballets by Michel Fokine (May 25 at 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM) and works by Stravinsky (May 27 and 28).
On City Day, May 27, fragments from Andrei Petrov’s opera Peter I will be presented at the Mariinsky Theatre. Other Russian operas scheduled for the end of spring include Semyon Kotko (May 26) and The Tsar’s Bride (June 14), Shchedrin’s Not Love Alone (May 28), Mussorgsky’s Salammbô (May 30 and 31), and Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol (May 31).
The program also features a rich lineup of Italian opera: Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (May 25 at 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM), and Guillaume Tell (May 29), Donizetti’s Don Pasquale (May 24 at 12:00 PM and 7:00 PM) and L’elisir d’amore (May 26), Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (May 29).
The festival program is subject to updates.
About the Stars of the White Nights Festival
The Stars of the White Nights is one of the brightest stars of the music and theatre universe and has emerged to be one of the most popular and grandiose music forums in its context and scale.
The Stars of the White Nights Festival was created in 1993 by Valery Gergiev, Mariinsky Theatre Artistic and General Director. Maestro Gergiev says that he conceived the first Festival as a "musical gift" to the city from the Mariinsky and its star-artists. From the very beginning the Festival has been focused on the masterpieces of the world's music discovering for its audience some rarely performed or undeservedly forgotten pieces.
The Stars of the White Nights Festival has gained in strength, popularity and international acclaim. The duration for the Festival it has expanded from ten days to three months during the last sixteen year. Renowned conductors and star-artists take as great honour the invitation to perform at the Stars of the White Nights. Each year the Festival programme includes the Theater's finest opera and ballet productions, great symphonic works, masterpieces of chamber music and new premieres.
During the last years the Festival programme has included the works created by the great classical composers – Beethoven symphonies, Prokofiev's and Tchaikovsky's operas, ballets and symphony music. Major events at the Stars have included the production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, in addition to the Shostakovich and Mahler Symphonies series.
This festival is a must for ballet, opera and classical music amateurs. The annual Stars of the White Nights Festival takes an inspiration for its name from the short summer season when the sun never sets, and the beauty of St-Petersburg White Nights contributes to the festival's special atmosphere and its world-class programme of concerts, as audience comes out of the historic theatre at midnight into daylight to stroll along the streets of the theatrical setting of St Petersburg.
