The Mariinsky`s Stars of the White Nights International Music Festival directed by Valery Gergiev was held from May 24 to July 17, in St Petersburg for the thirtieth time.
The anniversary festival was opened with Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake and Sergei Prokofiev's epic opera War and Peace staged by Andrei Konchalovsky. Traditionally, the playbill was featured a lot of works by Wagner. The tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen, the operas Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser and Parsifal was performed.
Valery Gergiev was also payd tribute to the music of the French romantic Hector Berlioz whose operas Les Troyens and Benvenuto Cellini was presented at the festival. They were dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the composer's historical tour in Russia. During the festival, it was possible to see all that season’s new titles in the repertoire including Rossini's La Cenerentola and Mozart's Idomeneo, re di Creta. World opera stars and leading Russian singers was taking part in the performances.
The playbill of the festival was as always full of surprises. As for premieres, Mariinsky has announced a new production of Boris Tishchenko's ballet The Twelve (July 14, Mariinsky-2). The production was directed and choreographed by Alexander Sergeev together with the designer Leonid Alekseev (costumes and scenography), Konstantin Binkin (lighting), Ekaterina Kondaurova (assistant choreographer and one of the leading dancers). This was Mariinsky's second approach to this score, the first production of the ballet The Twelve being staged in 1964 by Leonid Yakobson.
The playbill was also featured an evening in honor of ballet teacher Lyubov Kunakova and a joint benefit performance by principal dancers Victoria Tereshkina and Vladimir Shklyarov. In June, there was a graduation performances of the Vaganova ballet academy at the Historical Stage.
There was a usual abundance of concert programs. In the first week of the festival Nikolai Lugansky was performed a solo recital. Also, there was another festival within the festival - a series of concerts entitled Brass of the White Nights, dedicated to brass instruments. Numerous concerts and semi-staged opera performances was take place in the Rachmaninoff Chamber Hall.
On July 8 and 14 in the Concert Hall, the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the legendary conductor Alexander Rakhbari performed Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 and Rimsky-Korsakov's much-loved Scheherazade.
The 30th Stars of the White Nights International Music Festival was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. The artistic director of the festival is Valery Gergiev.
Mariinsky Theatre, New Theatre and Concert Hall
Mariinsky Theatre: 
Mariinsky-2 (New Theatre): 
Mariinsky Concert Hall: 
