Artistic Director of the
Festival – Valery Gergiev
From 15 to 25 April the Mariinsky
Theatre will be running its anniversary tenth International Ballet Festival –
one of the highlights of the world’s ballet season which draws balletomanes from
across the globe to St Petersburg.
The festival will see
performances by Alina Cojocaru ( Royal Opera House, Covent Garden ), David
Hallberg and Daniil Simkin ( American Ballet Theatre ), Polina Semionova (
Staatsballett Berlin ), Mathieu Ganio ( Opera de Paris ), leading Bolshoi
Theatre soloists Natalia Osipova, Svetlana Zakharova, Maria Alexandrova and Andrei Uvarov and
lead Mariinsky Theatre Diana
Vishneva, Ulyana Lopatkina, Alina
Somova, Viktoria Teryoshkina, Yekaterina Kondaurova, Igor
Zelensky, Leonid Sarafanov, Andrian Fadeyev and Vladimir Shklyarov.
In line with tradition, the
festival opens with a premiere. This year it will be Rodion Shchedrin’s ballet
Anna Karenina with choreography by Alexei Ratmansky, making it the ballet master’s latest work
for the Mariinsky Theatre. In the premiere performances the lead roles will be
performed by Diana Vishneva ( 15 April ) and Ulyana
Lopatkina ( 16 April ), two outstanding Mariinsky Theatre
ballerinas with different artistic temperaments and performing styles. They will
be partnered by Andrian Fadeyev ( 15 April ) and Yuri
Smekalov ( 16 April ).