XII International Ballet Festival MARIINSKY Closes

The XII International Ballet Festival Mariinsky runs through 1 April, with artistic direction by Valery Gergiev.

The international ballet festival is one of the most significant events in the ballet season, drawing ballet-lovers from all over the world to St Petersburg. The main strategy of the festival is to attract stars of world ballet to Russia’s cultural capital.

Regular participants in the festival include Mariinsky Theatre stars Diana Vishneva, Ulyana Lopatkina, Alina Somova, Viktoria Teryoshkina, Yekaterina Kondaurova, Igor Zelensky, Leonid Sarafanov, Andrian Fadeyev and Vladimir Shklyarov. Since it was established, the Mariinsky international ballet festival has seen performances by such internationally acclaimed stars as Vladimir Malakhov, Agnès Letestu, Aurélie Dupont, Mathieu Ganio, Roberto Bolle, Maria Kowroski, Manuel Legris, Alina Cojocaru, Johan Kobborg, Paloma Herrera, Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Svetlana Zakharova at the theatre. In line with tradition, each festival opens with a ballet premiere and it concludes with a gala concert featuring stars of international ballet.

The International Ballet Festival Mariinsky was launched in 2001. The Festival‘s main aim is to draw the stars of world ballet to Russia‘s cultural capital. The Mariinsky Ballet Company is known well beyond St Petersburg, though guest appearances by renowned illustrious foreign dancers and companies were very rare prior to the Mariinsky Ballet Festival.

Each year the Mariinsky Ballet Festival brings together the world‘s best dancers and the playbill lists a programme of works performed by various ballet companies. Since the founding of the Festival, the theatre's stage has witnessed performances by such internationally acclaimed ballet dancers as Vladimir Malakhov, Agnes Letestu, Aurelie Dupont, Matthieu Ganio, Roberto Bolle, Maria Kowroski, Manuel Legris, Alina Cojocaru, Johan Kobborg, Paloma Herrera, Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Svetlana Zakharova. In line with tradition, the Mariinsky Theatre will present a premiere at the opening of the Festival, which will conclude with a grand gala concert by stars of world ballet.