At one of Great Britain's major opera houses, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, gala concerts of the Marinskii (Kirov) Theatre will be performing on the 28 and 29 May as part of celebrations of St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary . Prince Charles is expected to attend, in the royal box.

The Friends of the Marinskii Theatre fund are acting as organisers. As the director of the fund, Caroline Smith, told a Rosbalt correspondent, the task of the organisation is to gather together people who love Russian culture and want to support it. 'Over the last ten years we've managed to organise a significant number of events, among them the Queen's Golden Jubilee gala concert', says Smith. 'In 2000 we organised five weeks of the Marinskii Theatre's performances in Covent Garden. Critics called these tours the most significant Russian project since the time of Dyagilev. So we decided this year to carry out a new programme, devoted to the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg. We understand how important this date is. We've managed to invite the Marinskii Theatre for just two days, 28 and 29 May. So, immediately after the 299th birthday of St Petersburg the countdown to its 300th anniversary begins abroad'.

During these evenings, the Marinskii Theatre will present the whole gamut of Russian musical art in Covent Garden including excerpts for Glinka's opera 'Life for the Tsar', Cimarosa's 'Cleopatra', Tchaikovskii's 'Eugine Onegin', Rubenstein's 'The Demon', Murskovskii's 'Boris Gondunov', the Polovetskii act from Borodin's 'Prince Igor', the ballet masterpieces 'Don Qixote', 'Sleeping Beauty' and Balanchin's 'Serenade'. Much of the material to be performed will be seen for the first time by British audiences.

News source: Rosbalt
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