General Info

• The Mariinsky Company was founded in 1783.
• The current Mariinsky Theatre building in St. Petersburg was opened in 1860.
• A new concert hall for Mariinsky concerts was built in 2006.
• The Mariinsky Theatre has both an old and new stage.
• It has a division in Vladivostok called the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, which is also famous worldwide for its excellence.
• The Mariinsky Theatre is celebrated for its influence in the arts, and is a symbol of Russian art and brilliance all around the world. 

​History

• On June 12, 1783, Empress Catherine II said that “Russian Theatre should be not merely for comedies and tragedies, but also for operas.” This date is said to be the start of the Mariinsky Opera Company.
• The Mariinsky Theatre building that is still being used today was opened in 1860. 
• Many premieres of operas took place in the Theatre such as the famous operas, Queen of Spades and the Snow Maiden. The Theatre’s ballet company was directed by the famous choreographer Marius Petipa and premiered Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty.
• At the beginning of the twentieth century, artists such as Anna Pavlova and Vladislav Nijinsky danced on the Mariinsky stage, which became the place where ballets such as Romeo and Juliet premiered.
• The Mariinsky Theatre was renamed the Kirov during Soviet time.
• During the post-revolutionary years, many Mariinsky dancers left the company but the classical playbill was preserved,
• Between the 1920s and 1960s the Mariinsky saw many extraordinary dancers in its company which changed the history of ballet such as Anna Pavlova, Galina Ulanova, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova.
• In the 1970s and 1980s contacts with international artists and choreographers were finally revived after a long time that the dancers in Russia danced solely in their own country and didn't have communication with anyone from abroad. 
• In 1988, Valery Gergiev became the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Kirov Opera.
• Under his leadership, the Company made significant progress and in 1989, the Ballet Company danced works by Balanchine for the very first time.
• In 1996, Gergiev became the Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre. 
• After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Theatre went back to being called the Mariinsky Theatre.
• In 2006 the new Mariinsky Concert Hall was opened in the same place where old Mariinsky workshops had been. These workshops were destroyed in a fire in 2003.
• The Mariinsky Theatre and its influences in the world of art is unparalleled. It is a temple in Russia, and for all ballet lovers around the globe, inspiring those who hope to become like its members, and giving memory and respect to the legends that preceded it. 

​People of the Theatre

To view all the ballet artists of the company, visit:
https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/soloists

​Video Tour of the Theatre