One of the Mariinsky Theater's most ambitious projects in recent
years -- Verdi's opera "Aida" -- will go ahead this week despite Italian film
director Franco Zeffirelli's decision to quit the production.
Maestro director Zeffirelli, famous for his film productions of "Romeo and
Juliet" and "La Traviata," was due to direct "Aida" but suddenly pulled out
last week, nearly scuttling the entire project.
But Yuri Alexandrov, one of the Mariinsky's most experienced directors, told
the St Petersburg Press that he is "confident" about his production.
Petersburg festival showcases famous exile
What single composer wrote musical settings for texts by T S
Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Shakespeare, W H Auden and Edward Lear? You're thinking a
Briton. Wrong. Add to the list Jean Cocteau, Andre Gide and Paul Verlaine. Now
you're racking your brain for a French composer who would voluntarily set
English poetry to music. Hopeless. Round the list out with Konstantin Balmont
and Pushkin, and the answer is (as it had to be from the first) Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971).
Musical white nights wax radiant
In this country there are two truisms you absorb as easily and
naturally as the air you breathe. One, Russian culture is rich and deep. Two,
the Russian people have borne more than their share of the world's scourges.
The candid and impartial conclusion to be drawn from these two truisms is that
Russian culture is a miracle. And the Stars of the White Nights International
Music Festival celebrates that miracle.
Tsar Peter's Cascade and fountains dance again
The uncontested centerpiece of Peter the Great's palace at Peterhof -- the Grand Cascade and Water Avenue -- are to be switched on for the summer. Many of the fountains were switched on at the end of May but the Grand Cascade has been out of order for six years.
Silver screen for white nights
St Petersburg will play host to its third annual
International Film Festival on June 23-29, featuring more than 80 films from
all over the world.
MUSEUMS & GALLERIES
Cerebrus relents
One of St Petersburg's forgotten palaces is now being restored to
its former splendor thanks to the Russian Museum.
The Stroganov Palace, on the corner of Nevsky Prospect and the Moika
Embankment, has suffered 50 years of neglect since Stalin had it closed in the
1930s.
MUSIC
White Nights in full swing
The second international White Nights Swing jazz festival, this year featuring
open-air concert at a floating hotel and a boat jazz tour, will be held under
the motto "Saxophone Is the King of Jazz."
