(credit)
St. Petersburg's midway through the weekend inauguration of its brand new, 700$ million opera
house, funded by the Russian government, christened with a name like a luxury cruise ship
or a Hollywood blockbuster sequel -- 2 Fast 2 Furious, Mariinsky II, Electric
Boogaloo.
In 2011, OC straddled the spongy shores of the Baltic Sea and the broad River
Neva in Paul Smith kitten heels for Gergiev's 19th Stars of
the White Nights Festival during the disorienting, perpetual twilight of the
midnight sun. St. Petersburg, with its vast embankments and canals that rival
the waterways of Venice and Amsterdam (that's what our affable driver told us, anyway) has nurtured classical music's greatest artists and performers -- Balanchine, Rachmaninoff, Chaliapin, Mussorgsky, Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky -- and its original white and turquoise theater
(Mariinsky I?) raised Nureyev, Baryshnikov and Ulanova. And when you tire of Mariinsky II's cruise-ship hall, St. Petersburg's got fifty additional musical
theaters better equipped at handling intimate rep.
At the helm of this weekend's festivities is Mariinsky's artistic
director/general manager of 25 years, Valery Gergiev, on the theatre's timecard since 1998 (as principal conductor) to relive former intendant, our
beloved Yuri Temirkanov. With a spin of his influential rolodex, Gergiev fortified the VIP velvet ropers with bff President Vladimir Putin, Anna Netrebko (looking fine in a dress that screamed Eastern bloc dramz and hair that screamed Sunday spin with dad in the Porsche 911 convertible), Rene Pape
and Plácido Domingo.
Thursday's gala concert officialy opened the theater with ballet, symphony and opera teasers and included Trebs ambling into Verdi thorns with Vieni, t'affretta.
Thanks to Arte, you can watch the two-and-a-half-hour gala here:
Moscow-born maestro Gergiev has sweated buckets over the past decade (or two) trying to put St. Petersburg and the Mariinsky Theatre on the opera map with vastly-expanded repertoire and an ambitious summer festival to compete with Europe's established destinations -- Salzburg, Bayreuth, Bregenz, Lucerne, Zurich, Aix-en-Provence, etc. Will his Mariinsky II crown jewel complete the trifecta, adding the new, state-of-the-art house to longstanding international rep + an enticing summer festival?
Ummm...why you peepin us for the answer? (DMX voice) Better to close your eyes, point and thank the Magic 8 Ball:
● It is certain
● It is decidedly so
● Without a doubt
● Yes definitely
● You may rely on it
● As I see it yes
● Most likely
● Outlook good
● Yes
● Signs point to yes
● Reply hazy try again
● Ask again later
● Better not tell you now
● Cannot predict now
● Concentrate and ask again
● Don't count on it
● My reply is no
● My sources say no
● Outlook not so good
● Very doubtful