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    New Hermitage and Mariinsky Event On 14 July, 2003, took place a new joint event organized by the Hermitage and the Mariinsky Theater to raise money for charitable projects. His Royal Highness Prince of Wales visited a charitable event in St. Petersburg organized by the Hermitage and the Mariinsky Theater on the occasion of the tercentenary of the city’s founding by Peter the Great. The event hosted by the Hermitage included a concert given by the Mariinsky stars conducted by Valery Gergiyev in the Hermitage Theater of Catherine II. Guests had a tour of the museum’s rooms and saw its masterpieces in the unusual light of the White Nights, including the jubilee exhibition “Founder of St. Petersburg” in the Nicholas Hall of the Winter Palace, while the Hermitage Orchestra was performing chamber music. The event was attended by some 120 Friends of the Hermitage and the Mariinsky Theater from Russia and many other countries. The Prince of Wales has well-established relations with St. Petersburg since his first visit here in 1994. He is the Patron of the Mariinsky Theater’s World Trustee Council which helps the theater raise funds for its projects. His Royal Highness also chairs the Royal Collection Foundation, which loaned the famous portrait of Peter the Great by Sir Godfrey Kneller to the Hermitage for the exhibition “Founder of St. Petersburg”. Funds raised by this event will be used to support two important projects — restoration of the hanging garden in the Small Hermitage and a new production of Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde in the Mariinsky Theater. Charitable projects: The Hermitage: Hanging Garden of Catherine II The famous hanging garden of Catherine II is situated in the first floor of the Small Hermitage, built in 1764-75 for the Empress by the architects Yury Felten and J.-B. Vallin de la Mothe. After its restoration, the rooms situated beneath the hanging garden will be used as an exhibition area. Mariinsky Theater: New Production of Tristan and Isolde During his sojourn in St. Petersburg in 1863, Wagner conducted 6 concerts of his music, including the not-yet-completed Siegfried and Valkyrie. These concerts laid the foundation of the great Wagnerian tradition in Russia. A century ago Wagner’s music was firmly established at the Mariinsky: during the 1909-10 season his operas’ share in the repertoire was 25%. The tradition neglected under the Soviets has been reintroduced by Valery Gergiyev in the last few years. The new production of Tristan and Isolde will be an important addition to the Mariinsky Theater’s collection of Wagner’s operas — Ring of the Nibelung, Parsifal, Lohengrin and Flying Dutchman. |
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