Mikhailovsky Ballet (Ballet company)
The theatre was established in 1833 by decree of Tsar Nicholas I.
Before the 1917 Revolution, the Mikhailovsky did not have its own resident company. Performances were given either by a French company, hired by the Russian Imperial Theatres or at the end of the century by the Mariinsky Theatre and Alexandrinsky Theatre companies. Most of the great French actors of the period performed at the theatre: Those appearing included Jeanne Sylvanie Arnould-Plessy, Rachel Felix, Lucien Guitry and Sarah Bernhardt, as well as singers such as Hortense Schneider. Both classical and contemporary authors and composers had their works produced to great acclaim in French. Plays by Moliere, Victor Hugo, Victorien Sardou, and Alexandre Dumas, fils and operettas by Jacques Offenbach were praised by the intelligentsia and the Russian aristocracy, such as Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky.
When the Bolsheviks took power, the French company was forced to leave Russia. In 1917 the Mikhailovsky Theatre was closed. On March 6, 1918 the theatre was reopened as an opera theatre. Shortly afterwards the Mikhailovsky started changing its names. In 1918-1920, it was called the Ex-Mikhailovsky Theatre. In 1920 it was renamed to the State Academic Comic Opera Theatre, in 1921 the theatre changed its name to the Maly Operny (Maly Opera Theatre). In 1926 it got the name of the Leningrad State Academic Maly Opera Theatre, MALEGOT for short. New management and artists followed. In 1920-1930 the Maly Operny established itself as one of the leading experimental stages in Russian new musical theatre.
In 1930s Russian choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov founded the ballet company of the theatre. The first ballet premiere, Harlequinade, choreographed by Lopukhov, took place on June 6, 1933.
From 1989 to 2007 the theatre bore the name of Modest Mussorgsky, subsequently returning to its original name the Mikhailovsky Theatre.
In what was seen as a sensational move, in 2007 the Russian businessman Vladimir Kekhman was appointed as General Director of the Theatre. Russian theatre does not make a clear distinction between artistic and administrative management: Thus Kekhman’s efforts to build business-based organizational structures at the Mikhailovsky received critical reviews. However, when Mr. Kekhman donated 1 billion roubles ($40m US) for renovation of the building and invited Elena Obraztsova and Farouk Ruzimatov to coordinate the artistic revival of the Mikhailovsky, (he) “succeeded in making the ballet world sit up and take notice”.
In 2007, Obraztsova was appointed artistic director of the Mikhailovsky Opera and Ruzimatov became artistic director of the Mikhailovsky Ballet. As of 2009 both Obraztsova and Ruzimatov hold a seat on the Artistic Committee of the Theatre, while Peter Feranec is music director of the Theatre and Michael Messerer is ballet master in chief. As of 2012, Mikhail Tatarnikov is the company’s music director and Nacho Duato is the Mikhailovsky Ballet artistic director. Several ballets by Nacho Duato received their world premieres at the theatre, including Nunc Dimittis, Prelude, The Sleeping Beauty, Invisible.
The Mikhailovsky Ballet made its London debut in July 2008 on the London Coliseum stage. The short season led to a nomination for the Best Foreign Dance Company Award at the National Dance Awards in 2008, though the Company lost out to the New York City Ballet. The Mikhailovsky Ballet returned to London in 2010 and 2013. In April 2013 the Mikhailovsky Ballet took Nacho Duato's The Sleeping Beauty to the Bayerisches Staatsballett.
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US office
3422 Old Capitol Trail Suite 1252,
Wilmington DE, 19808 USA.
US toll-free: 1-888-845-8877
Russian office
Ligovsky pr. 57, Office 19,
191040, St. Petersburg, Russia
tel: +7-812-309-5339
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