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One of
Russia’s oldest and largest musical theaters, which staged Russia’s
first operas. The company was formed in St. Petersburg in 1783 but
did not assume its present name of Mariinsky until 1860. In 1935 it
was renamed “Kirov Theater” after the head of the CPSU city
committee in Leningrad. The pre-revolutionary name was restored in
1992. |
The theater
has played a major role in the development of Russian opera and
ballet competing with Moscow’s Bolshoi
Theater. It owes its reputation to many outstanding
personalities including the conductor Eduard Napravnik, the ballet
masters Marius Petipa and Michel Fokine, the singers Fyodor
Shalyapin and Ivan Yershov, the dancers Anna Pavlova, Tamara
Karsavina and Vaslav Nijinsky, and the artist Alexander Benois, who
created sets and costumes for the company. Currently (2008),
the world-renowned conductor
Valery Gergiyev acts as the theater’s art
director. See also
BALLET.
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