Mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina at the opening gala of the Mariinsky II Theatre, May 2013. Borodina’s career, like those of other prominent singers from the Mariinsky Opera, was nurtured by Gergiev.
Natasha Razina
The brand-new Mariinsky II Theatre sits across the Kryukov Canal from the original 1860 opera house built under Tsar Alexander II, the back of which can be seen reflected in the windows.
Valery Gergiev
House of
Gergi
Alberto Venzago
by Jennifer Melick
Valentin Baranovsky
Yekaterina Kondaurova and Yevgeny Ivanchenko of the Mariinsky Ballet, May 2013
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It
is the morning of May 2, 2013, the day the spanking-new 2,000-seat Mariinsky II Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia is set to officially open. Valery Gergiev is at a press conference in the upstairs lobby, where he has been speaking to a squadron of invited journalists for a half-hour, without showing any sign of stopping. “The Mariinsky II ushers us into a new era of expanded artistic possibilities and service for wider audiences,” says the maestro in his trademark gravelly voice. “Twenty or 25 years from now, I hope this theater will be seen as a cultural giant amongst those famous opera houses in the world. It will be always seen as
a younger brother or sister of the original Mariinsky,” the back of which is visible through the windows of Mariinsky II. “The Russian emperor Alexander II decided to give his wife, Maria, a gift. Word is that it took eleven months to build this opera house. Russian tsars were quick! And they were very smart. Like the Medicis, they invested in culture like those people who did Rome, or Florence.” Name-checking Russian tsars and the Medicis might seem a bit over the top, but there’s no denying that Gergiev and his company have had a big year. Unlike the speedy one-year time frame for the original theater made for Empress Maria in 1860, however, getting the new Mariinsky built symphony
fall 2013