The world-renowned Russian conductor Valery Gergiev will lead
the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre in performing in the
newly-built national grand theatre for 11 consecutive days from
December 25, 2007 to January 6, 2008.
The Mariinsky Theatre, with a cast of over 510 including the
Mariinsky opera house and ballet group, is the first foreign
artistic group ever to perform in the national grand theater since
it was finished in April this year.
The artistic director of the theater said at a press conference
on Thursday that Gergiev had purposefully chosen the classic opera
prince Igor for the opening of the theater.
The semi-oval national grand theater, located on Chang'an street
in western Beijing, has a capacity of 5,473 people. The building
was designed to present Chinese audiences with world-class artistic
performances, from large-scale operas and plays to musicals and
concerts.
?
(CRI November 15, 2007)