Così fan tutte

Mariinsky Theatre, Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg, Russia

All photos (12)

Select date and time

5 PM

Request for Tickets

Important Info

Festival: Stars of the White Nights Festival 2022

Type: Opera

City: Saint Petersburg, Russia

Starts at: 17:00

Acts: 2

Intervals: 1

Duration: 3h 20min

Sung in: Italian

Titles in: English,Russian

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Festival

Stars of the White Nights Festival 2022

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.

Overview

Così fan tutte is the third and final opera in the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart-Lorenzo Da Ponte opera trilogy. The trilogy, which also includes Le nozze di Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787), was not planned as such. Apparently, the play Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti (Thus Do They All, or The School for Lovers) got to Mozart after Antonio Salieri rejected it. Salieri had already composed five operas based on Da Ponte’s librettos by that time.

The title was taken from Le nozze di Figaro. Count Almaviva’s discovery of Cherubino hiding in the room causes Don Basilio, Susanna and the Count to comment in a terzetto: ‘Così fan tutte le belle’ (‘All the beauties do it’). However, Don Basilio is wrong: neither Susanna, nor the Countess ‘do it.’ Basilio, an old chatterbox, is far from being the nicest character in Le nozze di Figaro. His aria about how a dead donkey’s hide can substitute all the riches in the world is not usually deemed worthy to be performed on stage by opera houses.

The plotline of Così fan tutte was invented by Da Ponte. However, there are plenty of literary works which could serve as a source of inspiration for the poet. The most ancient of such literary sources is Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso, which tells the stories of the faithful Fiordelisa and the unfaithful Doralice, as well as the paladin Rinaldo, who is offered a magic drink. Whoever takes a sip of the drink finds out wherever his beloved is faithful to him. Nevertheless, Da Ponte’s work is mostly original. No libretto used by Mozart before had been criticised so harshly as was this one. The critics have always said that the libretto is too slow-paced, non-dramatic and does not compare favourably with Beaumarchais’ comedy about Figaro.

Even if the libretto had its weak spots, Mozart’s contemporaries chose to ignore them. The premiere held on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna was a great success for Mozart. This time around the Viennese public was quick to appreciate the new opera. The highlight of the first performances was that the roles of two schemers – Despina and Don Alfonso – were sung by husband and wife Dorotea and Francesco Bussani.

No one ever doubted the strengths of Mozart’s score. The least original of all the opera’s music themes seems to reiterate its main idea: thus they all do…The theme can be twice heard loud and triumphant in the overture (at the end of the opening part and Presto) and returns in the second act, when Guglielmo and Ferrando agree with Don Alfonso and repeat his conclusion. Mozart also reiterated the main idea of Don Giovanni in the music theme which can be heard in the opera’s overture and is repeated in the finale. That is the theme of Commendatore’s vengeance and the adulterer’s path to hell. Così fan tutte has its own hell – the experience of unfaithfulness, which the young characters gained under the guidance of cynical Alfonso, as well as unavoidable doubts accompanying such an experience.

Mozart used not-so-original music themes several more times in the opera. It can be linked to a device so common for an opera buffa – use of disguise. Despina pretends to be a doctor at the end of act I. She is so convincing that nobody recognises her. Despina also changes the timbre of her voice and melodic style so that she would sound differently from her two previous arias. Despina also manages to successfully pose as a notary at the end of the second act.

Fiordiligi’s plan to change into a man’s dress and to follow her beloved is not reflected in the music (the character explains it in a recitativo). Nothing resembling an oriental theme can be heard in the sextet music of act I, when Guglielmo and Ferrando enter wearing their Albanian costumes. It is not surprising that Despina is at a loss and cannot decide whether those two are Turks or Wallachs. Lorenzo Da Ponte seemed to think that Albanian costumes would make the young men irresistible. Not only Da Ponte thought of the costumes as being a lady magnet. Many years later, Mavrogheni, a Greek from Konstantin Leontiev’s A Husband’s Confession, appears wearing an Albanian costume to the same effect. However, Mozart decided against using some Janissaries-like motives (Albania was a part of the Ottoman Empire at the time), although it would have been easy for the composer of Die Entführung aus dem Serail.

Since the opera houses have introduced supertitles and it has become easier to follow the story for the audiences, Così fan tutte has been much less criticised for slow-paced story development. Evidently, Mozart did not consider Da Ponte’s libretto boring. The overture sets the tone for an action-packed story, so much so that it can be called restless. There are 17 (!) ensembles for 12 arias, from the most monumental to the smallest. While it is difficult to choose the best scenes, worth mentioning are such masterpieces of bel canto as Ferrando’s sweetest aria in act I and Fiordiligi’s heroic rondo in act II, where the singer’s voice is challenged by two French horns. The plethora of ensembles in the first act includes a ‘farewell’ quintet, which the lovers sing while seemingly swallowing their tears, as well as the terzettino of Fiordiligi, Dorabella, and Don Alfonso (which is performed after Guglielmo and Ferrando seemingly go to war), when the orchestra creates a music impression of the surge of the sea. In act II, as the characters get more entangled in the plot, the music becomes even more beautiful, from Guglielmo and Ferrando’s duet with chorus to the opera finale, where the four lovers are balancing on the verge of a catastrophe with their hearts aflutter.

… Paladin Rinaldo in Orlando furioso refuses to take part in the fidelity test after some deliberation. Mozart and Da Ponte’s opera once again confirms that he was right to do so.
Anna Bulycheva

History

Premiere of this production: 26 January 1790, Burgtheater, Vienna

Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti (All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers), is an Italian-language opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte who also wrote Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni.

Synopsis

Act I
A coffee-house. Ferrando and Guglielmo proclaim the virtues of the sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi, to whom they are betrothed; Alfonso is sceptical (trio, "La mia Dorabella"). The young men prepare to defend the ladies´ honour with swords, but the diatonic brilliance of music shared by all three argues no great discord. Alfonso declines to fight, but calls them simpletons to trust female constancy: a faithful woman is like a phoenix; all believe in it but none has seen it (his mocking pianissimo unison cadence resembles the motto). The other insist that the phoenix is Dorabella/Fiordiligi (trio, "E la fede delle femmine"). Alfonso wagers 100 zecchini that fidelity will not endure a day of the lovers´ absence; he will prove it if they promise to obey him while wooing each other´s betrothed in disguise. Ferrando plans to spend his winnings on a serenade, Guglielmo (the first division between them) on a meal; Alfonso listens politely (trio, "Una bella serenata"). An extended orchestral coda closes a scene of purely buffo electricity.

A garden by the sea (morning). The girls sing rapturously of their lovers (duet, "Ah guarda sorella"); Dorabella (surprisingly, in view of the sequel) touches a note of melancholy before they launch into voluptuous coloratura in 3rds, united in loving the idea of loving. Alfonso appears, the prolonged F minor cadences of his tiny aria ("Vorrei dir") choking back the awful news: their lovers are to leave for active service. The men take solemn leave with only hints at lyricism (quintet, "Sento, o Dio"). The girls´ agitation is coloured by the dominant minor; Alfonso quells any premature delight at this evidence of love. Ferrando´s lyricism (to a motif from the trio, "Una bella serenata") now matches the girls´; Guglielmo sings with Alfonso (this inevitable consequence of differences in tessitura continually invites differentiation of character). The girls declare they will die. A march is heard (chorus, "Bella vita militar"). They embrace, promising a daily letter, their rapturous indulgence in misery (particularly intense in the melodic line, taken by Fiordiligi) counter-pointed by Alfonso´s efforts not to laugh (quintet, "Di scrivermi ogni giorno"). The men embark (reprise of the chorus); Alfonso joins a moving prayer for their safety (trio, "Soave sia il vento"), the orchestra evocative yet sensuous. Alfonso prepares for action (arioso); "He ploughs the waves, sows in sand, traps the wind in a net, who trusts the heart of a woman".

A furnished room. Despina has prepared the ladies´ chocolate and is sampling it when they burst in. Dorabella explains their despair, but her extravagant grief leaves her barely coherent (obbligato recitative and the first real aria,"Smanie implacabili"). Despina cannot take them seriously; surely they can find other lovers. In the teeth of their protests she inverts Alfonso´s creed (aria, "In uomini"): men, especially soldiers, are not expected to be faithful; women should also use love to enjoy themselves. Alfonso bribes Despina to assist him, without revealing the plot. The men enter as "Albanians", their bizarre disguise impenetrable even to the sharp-witted Despina (sextet, "Alla bella Despinetta"). Recovering from laughter, she helps them to plead with the ladies (Alfonso being concealed); they are rejected in a furious Allegro. Alfonso claims them as his friends, but after the men´s voices unite, turning recitative towards arioso, Fiordiligi articulates her constancy in a powerful recitative and aria ("Come scoglio"); she stands firm as a rock in tempestuous seas. Guglielmo´s patter-song in praise of his own appearance (especially the moustaches) find no favour ("Non siate ritrosi"). As the outraged girls depart, the men bubble with delight (trio, "E voi ridete?"), a brilliant hocket covering Alfonso´s insistence that the more the girls protest, the more sure is their fall. Guglielmo wonders when they can get lunch; Ferrando enjoys the atmosphere of love ("Un´ aura amorosa"), muted violins and clarinets supporting his ardently extended line.

The garden (afternoon). At the beginning of the finale, the girls unwittingly share Ferrando´s mood of longing, spinning a tender D major melody to a gently ironic rococo decoration of flutes and bassoons. How their fate has changed! Their sighs are displaced by fear when the men rush in drinking poison, to music (in G minor) suddenly suggestive of tragic violence. Alfonso and Despina go for help, instructing the ladies to nurse the men, who are thoroughly enjoying themselves; yet minor modes prevail as never before in Mozart´s finales. Despina, to a pompous G major minuet, appears disguised as the doctor, invoking Mesmer as she magnetizes out the poison. The key abruptly changes to B: the men profess to believe they are in paradise. In the final Allegro (in D) the men request a kiss and are again rebuffed.

Act II
A room. Despina tries to persuade her shocked employers that there is no harm in a little flirtation. In Mozart´s slyest buffo soprano aria ("Una donna a quindici anni"), she explains that a young girl who knows the arts of attracting men can have them at her mercy. The girls agree that there can be no harm in a little light flirtation, and they select partners (duet, "Prendero quel brunettino"). Dorabella will take the brownhaired one (Guglielmo), Fiordiligi the blond (Ferrando; thus they fall in with the men´s plan); and they prepare to amuse themselves.

Furnished garden by the sea (early evening). The serenade on wind instruments, repeated by the lovers and chorus ("Secondate, aurette amiche"), is a prayer for success in love. The four meet but are tongue-tied; Alfonso and Despina give a lesson in etiquette (quartet, the ladies silent, "La mano a me date"), and join their hands. The couples prepare to walk round the garden. Guglielmo is all too successful in winning Dorabella´s heart and a mark of her favour, replacing Ferrando´s portrait by his own gift, a pendant heart (duet, "Il core vi dono"). The gently bantering 3/8, in F major, matches Dorabella´s innocent flirtatiousness; Guglielmo can hardly believe his success, but falls comfortably in with her mood. Fiordiligi rushes in, pursued by Ferrando: she has seen in him temptation, a serpent, a basilisk; he is stealing her peace. He protests that he wants only her happiness and asks for a kindly glance, noting that she looks at him and sighs. Her lovely soul will not long resist his pleading; otherwise her cruelty will not long resist his pleading; otherwise her cruelty will kill him ("Ah lo veggio quell´anima bella"). Fiordiligi wrestles with her consience, her obbligato recitative ("Ei parte"). In her deeply expressive rondo ("Per pieta, ben mio") she asks her absent lover´s forgiveness. Dorabella´s fickleness rouses Ferrando to fury (obbligato recitative, "Il mio ritratto! Ah perfida!"). Guglielmo tries to console him by adopting Alfonso´s philosophy (aria, "Donne mie la fate a tanti"); he is fond of women and defends their honour, but their little habit of deceiving men is reprehensible. The restless perpetual motion conveys Guglielmo´s confidence that the tragedy will not befall him. Ferrando´s feelings are in turmoil (obbligato recitative, "In qual fiero contrasto"). An obsessive orchestral figure projects shame ("Alfonso! How you will laugh!") and anger ("I will cut the wretch out of my heart") beyond the decorum of comedy. His pride piqued, he agree to a further attack on Fiordiligi.

A room, with several doors, a mirror, and a table. Despina praises Dorabella´s good sense; Dorabella answers Fiordiligi´s protests in a graceful 6/8 aria ("E amore un ladroncello") which, despite its sophisticated instrumentation, shows her conversion to Despina´s easy virtue; love is a thief, a serpent, but if you let him have his way, he brings delight. Alone, Fiordiligi resolves to repel her new suitor; sadistically observed by the men, she prepares to join her lover at the front. She launches an aria ("Fra gli amplessi"), but as she quickens the tempo from Adagio Ferrando joins in Ferrando´s lyricism outdoes hers. The note of true ardour is intensified when the acceleration of tempo is halted by a Larhetto, it is hard not to believe that Ferrando is genue. Fiordiligi´s responses are tremulous; she admits defeat ("hai vinto"). The latter is enraged; Ferrando is ironic; Alfonso tells them their only revenge is to marry their "plucked crows". Women are always accused of fickleness, but he forgives them, they are not responsible for their own nature ("Tutti accusan le donne"). All three sing the motto from the overture: "Cosi fan tutte".

A reception room prepared for a wedding. An Allegro, resembling the opera´s opening number, begins the finale, as Despina orders the servants to a prepare a feast (brief choral response) and Alfonso applauds their work. The chorus greets the couples. Fiordiligi, Ferrando with Dorabella sing the toast, a ravishing canon, Guglielmo, whose range prevents him from following on, mutters curses. Alfonso enters, with Despina disguised as a notary. Coughing formally, she reads the marriage contract; the ladies sign it. But then the Act 1 march in D, associated with the officers´ departure, is heard. Consernation: their lovers are returning. The Albanians are hidden, and the men reappear jauntily as their old selves, pretend puzzlement at their reception, drag out the notary, revealed as Despina, and find the marriage contract: indignation, confession, blame (on Alfonso), threats of revenge. Returning half-changed into Albanians, Ferrando greets Fiordiligi (apparently quoting earlier music subsequently abandoned), Guglielmo greets Dorabella (quoting their love duet), and both address the flabbergasted Despina as the doctor (quoting the first finale). Alfonso calms them down; the ladies beg pardon; the men condescend to forgive, and all agree to follow Alfonso´s idea of reason: to laugh when there is cause to weep, and so find equilibrium.

Mozart and Da Ponte use the theme of "fiancée swapping", which dates back to the 13th century; notable earlier versions are found in Boccaccio's Decameron and Shakespeare's play Cymbeline. Elements from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew are also present. Furthermore, it incorporates elements of the myth of Procris as found in Ovid's Metamorphoses, vii.

Place: Naples
Time: the 18th century

Act 1
Scene 1: A coffeehouse

In a cafe, Ferrando and Guglielmo (two officers) express certainty that their fiancées (Dorabella and Fiordiligi, respectively) will be eternally faithful. Don Alfonso expresses skepticism and claims that there is no such thing as a faithful woman. He lays a wager with the two officers, claiming he can prove in a day's time that those two, like all women, are fickle. The wager is accepted: the two officers will pretend to have been called off to war; soon thereafter they will return in disguise and each attempt to seduce the other's lover. The scene shifts to the two women, who are praising their men (duet: "Ah guarda sorella"—"Ah look sister"). Alfonso arrives to announce the bad news: the officers have been called off to war. Ferrando and Guglielmo arrive, brokenhearted, and bid farewell (quintet: "Sento, o Dio, che questo piede è restio"—"I feel, oh God, that my foot is reluctant"). As the boat with the men sails off to sea, Alfonso and the sisters wish them safe travel (trio: "Soave sia il vento"—"May the wind be gentle"). Alfonso, left alone, gloatingly predicts that the women (like all women) will prove unfaithful (arioso: "Oh, poverini, per femmina giocare cento zecchini?"—"Oh, poor little ones, to wager 100 sequins on a woman").

Scene 2: A room in the sisters' home

Despina, the maid, arrives and asks what is wrong. Dorabella bemoans the torment of having been left alone (aria: "Smanie implacabili"—"Torments implacable"). Despina mocks the sisters, advising them to take new lovers while their betrotheds are away (aria: "In uomini, in soldati, sperare fedeltà?"—"In men, in soldiers, you hope for faithfulness?"). After they leave, Alfonso arrives. He fears Despina will recognize the men through their disguises, so he bribes her into helping him to win the bet. The two men then arrive, dressed as mustachioed Albanians (sextet: "Alla bella Despinetta"—"Meet the pretty Despinetta"). The sisters enter and are alarmed by the presence of strange men in their home. The "Albanians" tell the sisters that they were led by love to them (the sisters). However, the sisters refuse to give in. Fiordiligi asks the "Albanians" to leave and pledges to remain faithful (aria: "Come scoglio"—"Like a rock"). The "Albanians" continue the attempt to win over the sisters' hearts, Guglielmo going so far as to point out all of his manly attributes (aria: "Non siate ritrosi"—"Don't be shy"), but to no avail. Ferrando, left alone and sensing victory, praises his love (aria: "Un'aura amorosa"—"A loving breath").

Scene 3: A garden

The sisters are still pining. Despina has asked Don Alfonso to let her take over the seduction plan. Suddenly, the "Albanians" burst in the scene and threaten to poison themselves if they are not allowed the chance to woo the sisters. As Alfonso tries to calm them, they drink the "poison" and pretend to pass out. Soon thereafter, a "doctor" (Despina in disguise) arrives on the scene and, using magnet therapy, is able to revive the "Albanians". The men, pretending to hallucinate, demand a kiss from Dorabella and Fiordiligi (whom the "Albanians" call goddesses) who stand before them. The sisters refuse, even as Alfonso and the doctor (Despina) urge them to acquiesce.

Act 2
Scene 1: The sisters' bedroom

Despina urges them to succumb to the "Albanians"' overtures (aria: "Una donna a quindici anni"—"A fifteen year old woman"). After she leaves, Dorabella confesses to Fiordiligi that she is tempted, and the two agree that a mere flirtation will do no harm and will help them pass the time while they wait for their lovers to return (duet: "Prenderò quel brunettino"—"I will take the brunette one").

Scene 2: The garden

Dorabella and the disguised Guglielmo pair off, as do the other two. The conversation is haltingly uncomfortable, and Ferrando departs with Fiordiligi. Now alone, Guglielmo attempts to woo Dorabella. She does not resist strongly, and soon she has given him a medallion (with Ferrando's portrait inside) in exchange for a heart-shaped locket (duet: "Il core vi dono"—"I give you my heart"). Ferrando is less successful with Fiordiligi (Ferrando's aria: "Ah, lo veggio"—"Ah, I see it" and Fiordiligi's aria: "Per pietà, ben mio, perdona"—"Please, my beloved, forgive"), so he is enraged when he later finds out from Guglielmo that the medallion with his portrait has been so quickly given away to a new lover. Guglielmo at first sympathises with Ferrando (aria: "Donne mie, la fate a tanti"—"My ladies, you do it to so many"), but then gloats, because his betrothed is faithful.

Scene 3: The sisters' room

Dorabella admits her indiscretion to Fiordiligi ("È amore un ladroncello"—"Love is a little thief"). Fiordiligi, upset by this development, decides to go to the army and find her betrothed. Before she can leave, though, Ferrando arrives and continues his attempted seduction. Fiordiligi finally succumbs and falls into his arms (duet: "Fra gli amplessi"—"In the embraces"). Guglielmo is distraught while Ferrando turns Guglielmo's earlier gloating back on him. Alfonso, winner of the wager, tells the men to forgive their fiancées. After all: "Così fan tutte"—"All women are like that".

Scene 4:

The scene begins as a double wedding for the sisters and their "Albanian" grooms. Despina, in disguise as a notary, presents the marriage contract, which all sign. Directly thereafter, military music is heard in the distance, indicating the return of the officers. Alfonso confirms the sisters' fears: Ferrando and Guglielmo are on their way to the house. The "Albanians" hurry off to hide (actually, to change out of their disguises). They return as the officers, professing their love. Alfonso drops the marriage contract in front of the officers, and, when they read it, they become enraged. They then depart and return moments later, half in Albanian disguise, half as officers. Despina has been revealed to be the notary, and the sisters realize they have been duped. All is ultimately forgiven, as the entire group praises the ability to accept life's unavoidable good times and bad times.

Venue Info

Mariinsky Theatre - Saint Petersburg
1 Theatre Square

The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. Through most of the Soviet era, it was known as the Kirov Theatre. Today, the Mariinsky Theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. Since Yuri Temirkanov's retirement in 1988, the conductor Valery Gergiev has served as the theatre's general director.

The theatre is named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II. There is a bust of the Empress in the main entrance foyer. The theatre's name has changed throughout its history, reflecting the political climate of the time.

The theatre building is commonly called the Mariinsky Theatre. The companies that operate within it have for brand recognition purposes retained the Kirov name, acquired during the Soviet era to commemorate the assassinated Leningrad Communist Party leader Sergey Kirov (1886–1934).

The Imperial drama, opera and ballet troupe in Saint Petersburg was established in 1783, at the behest of Catherine the Great, although an Italian ballet troupe had performed at the Russian court since the early 18th century. Originally, the ballet and opera performances were given in the wooden Karl Knipper Theatre on Tsaritsa Meadow, near the present-day Tripartite Bridge (also known as the Little Theatre or the Maly Theatre). The Hermitage Theatre, next door to the Winter Palace, was used to host performances for an elite audience of aristocratic guests invited by the Empress.

A permanent theatre building for the new company of opera and ballet artists was designed by Antonio Rinaldi and opened in 1783. Known as the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre the structure was situated on Carousel Square, which was renamed Theatre Square in honour of the building. Both names – "Kamenny" (Russian word for "stone") and "Bolshoi" (Russian word for "big") – were coined to distinguish it from the wooden Little Theatre. In 1836, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was renovated to a design by Albert Cavos (son of Catterino Cavos, an opera composer), and served as the principal theatre of the Imperial Ballet and opera.

On 29 January 1849, the Equestrian circus (Конный цирк) opened on Theatre Square. This was also the work of the architect Cavos. The building was designed to double as a theatre. It was a wooden structure in the then-fashionable neo-Byzantine style. Ten years later, when this circus burnt down, Albert Cavos rebuilt it as an opera and ballet house with the largest stage in the world. With a seating capacity of 1,625 and a U-shaped Italian-style auditorium, the theatre opened on 2 October 1860, with a performance of A Life for the Tsar. The new theatre was named Mariinsky after its imperial patroness, Empress Maria Alexandrovna.

Under Yuri Temirkanov, Principal Conductor from 1976 to 1988, the Opera Company continued to stage innovative productions of both modern and classic Russian operas. Although functioning separately from the Theatre’s Ballet Company, since 1988 both companies have been under the artistic leadership of Valery Gergiev as Artistic Director of the entire Theatre.

The Opera Company has entered a new era of artistic excellence and creativity. Since 1993, Gergiev’s impact on opera there has been enormous. Firstly, he reorganized the company’s operations and established links with many of the world's great opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra Bastille, La Scala, La Fenice, the Israeli Opera, the Washington National Opera and the San Francisco Opera. Today, the Opera Company regularly tours to most of these cities.

Gergiev has also been innovative as far as Russian opera is concerned: in 1989, there was an all-Mussorgsky festival featuring the composer’s entire operatic output. Similarly, many of Prokofiev’s operas were presented from the late 1990s. Operas by non-Russian composers began to be performed in their original languages, which helped the Opera Company to incorporate world trends. The annual international "Stars of the White Nights Festival" in Saint Petersburg, started by Gergiev in 1993, has also put the Mariinsky on the world’s cultural map. That year, as a salute to the imperial origins of the Mariinsky, Verdi's La forza del destino, which received its premiere in Saint Petersburg in 1862, was produced with its original sets, costumes and scenery. Since then, it has become a characteristic of the "White Nights Festival" to present the premieres from the company’s upcoming season during this magical period, when the hours of darkness practically disappear as the summer solstice approaches.

Presently, the Company lists on its roster 22 sopranos (of whom Anna Netrebko may be the best known); 13 mezzo-sopranos (with Olga Borodina familiar to US and European audiences); 23 tenors; eight baritones; and 14 basses. With Gergiev in charge overall, there is a Head of Stage Administration, a Stage Director, Stage Managers and Assistants, along with 14 accompanists.