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LIVE CINEMA BROADCAST OF MARIINSKY THEATRE’S NEW PRODUCTION OF PROKOFIEV’S WAR AND PEACE DIRECTOR: GRAHAM VICK FROM MARIINSKY II, ST. PETERSBURG: JULY 16, 2014

Issued London, Tuesday 17 June 2014

On Wednesday 16 th July the Mariinsky Theatre’s new production of Prokofiev’s War and Peace will be broadcast live* to cinemas across the UK and Ireland from the Mariinsky’s new theatre, Mariinsky II, which opened in 2013. The production is directed by Graham Vick , and is being broadcast live from the annual Stars of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, conducted by Artistic Director, Valery Gergiev . This will be the first opera to be broadcast live to cinemas from Mariinsky II, and the first ever live opera cinema screening to the UK from either of the Mariinsky stages.

Sponsored by BP and Rosneft , the production stars the exciting young Ukrainian baritone Andrei Bondarenko (winner of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World - Song Prize 2011) as Prince Andrei, and the young Russian soprano Aida Garifullina (winner of Operalia 2013) as Natasha.

Based on Tolstoy’s epic novel, War and Peace is Prokofiev’s most ambitious work, and is a huge challenge for opera companies with its lengthy series of dramatic scenes, plus the large-scale cast and chorus. Graham Vick first staged War and Peace for the Mariinsky Theatre (or Kirov Theatre as it was then) in 1991 to mark the centenary of Prokofiev’s birth. Twenty-three years later, after the world has seen extraordinary political and social change, he is returning to the work with a fresh take on this modern opera – a 20 th century work re-interpreted with a 21 st century viewpoint. The opera explores the preoccupations and concerns of the individual in a universal context. Conceived as theatrically fast-moving and on a grand scale, it is fitting that it will be performed on the equally spectacular and state-of-the-art Mariinsky II stage.

The live broadcast of War and Peace is part of the Mariinsky On Screen cinema season distributed by London-based event cinema distributor More2Screen in partnership with the French production company Telmondis. There will be a live broadcast of the Mariinsky Ballet’s La Bayadère from the Mariinsky Theatre on 14 July 2014.

* With a short time delay from St. Petersburg

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Press Resources:

Information and images available to download from the Mariinsky On Screen Dropbox folder https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g45dtze01njt6qb/AADiS5BXjTbiIe2gfDCPzBhga

Cast Andrei: Andrei Bondarenko Natasha: Aida Garifullina

Production Conductor: Valery Gergiev Music: Sergei Prokofiev Director: Graham Vick Set design: Paul Brown Lighting design: Giuseppe di Iorio

Full cinema listings at www.mariinskyonscreen.com

MARIINSKY THEATRE The Mariinsky Theatre is a symbol both of St. Petersburg and of Russia. The oldest musical theatre in Russia, it has been the academy of Russian opera and ballet for over two hundred years. Since it was founded, the Mariinsky Theatre’s glory and international fame have been firmly grounded in three things – its Opera, Ballet and Orchestra. The story of the Mariinsky Opera and Ballet Companies, however, goes as far back as 1783, when Empress Catherine II issued a Decree on the establishment of a theatre committee “to manage spectacles and music”. The theatre, named the Mariinsky after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II, opened amid great pomp on 2 October 1860 with a production of Mikhail Glinka’s opera A Life for the Tsar . The Mariinsky Theatre has produced myriad outstanding artists including singers Ivan Yershov, Medea and Nikolai Figner, Fyodor Chaliapin and dancers Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Galina Ulanova, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Present-day opera stars include Anna Netrebko, Olga Borodina, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Evgeny Nikitin and Mikhail Petrenko. A hugely important role in the development of ballet was played by Mariinsky Theatre ballet-masters Marius Petipa, Michel Fokine and George Balanchine. Leading ballet dancers of present times include Diana Vishneva, Ekaterina Kondaurova, Ulyana Lopatkina and Vladimir Sklyarov. The theatre has witnessed the talents of such great theatre designers as Konstantin Korovin, Alexander Golovin, Alexander Benois and Léon Bakst to name but a few. Legendary artists who conducted the Mariinsky Orchestra and praised its outstanding musicianship included Berlioz, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Rachmaninov. The Mariinsky Theatre’s repertoire is based on opera and ballet works by Tchaikovsky, on opera works by Rimsky- Korsakov, Glinka, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. The fate of Richard Wagner’s operas in Russia is linked first and foremost with the Mariinsky Theatre. And today it may be bravely said that over the last twenty five years, thanks to Valery Gergiev, the theatre has become one of the finest ensembles in the world. On May 2, 2013 the new Mariinsky Theatre (Mariinsky II) opened alongside the historical Mariinsky Theatre. Mariinsky II joined the historic stage of the Mariinsky Theatre (Mariinsky I), which opened in 1860, as the centrepiece of the Mariinsky cultural precinct, which also includes the Mariinsky Concert Hall, inaugurated in 2006. The cultural complex reaffirms the Mariinsky’s status as one of the world’s most important cultural organisations. www.mariinsky.ru/en

MORE2SCREEN More2Screen is the leading distributor of event cinema in the UK* with more than 7 years of experience acquiring and distributing world-class opera, ballet, music concerts, theatre and special event films to 5,000 cinemas in 60+ international territories – including 40 live broadcasts and over 100 different recorded productions, plus 3D live/recorded content. We’re passionate about bringing the finest entertainment content closer to local audiences across the globe, from distributing magnificent opera and ballet productions in partnership with Europe’s leading companies including the Royal Opera House, the Mariinsky Theatre and the Dutch National Ballet, to first-class classical music concerts from the Berliner Philharmoniker. In the expanding area of museum events we are the international distributor for the British Museum’s ground-breaking Pompeii from the British Museum and the forthcoming Vikings from the British Museum . Our ever-expanding repertoire also features live and recorded pop music events from best-selling artists like The Rolling Stones, Adele, Queen, Peter Gabriel, Def Leppard and Morrissey, plus theatre must-sees Jeff Wayne’s The War of The Worlds , Stephen Sondheim's Company and Broadway’s Romeo and Juliet starring Orlando Bloom. *(Source: IHS Screen Digest Report 2012) www.more2screen.com

TELMONDIS Created in 1972 and run by Antoine Perset, Telmondis is one of France’s largest audiovisual producers of upscale live performances: opera, ballet, theatre and world-renowned circus performances, musical shows, classical and contemporary dancing, jazz, world music and documentaries. www.telmondis.fr

MARIINSKY OPERA UK TOUR SUPPORTED BY BP Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Opera will be performing in the UK as follows: Berlioz: Les Troyens (staged) 28-30 August, Edinburgh International Festival Prokofiev: Betrothal in a Monastery (concert performance) 2 November, Wales Millennium Centre Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (concert performance) 3 November, Barbican Hall Shchedrin : Levsha (The Lefthander) – UK premiere (concert performance) 4 November, Barbican Hall Wagner: Ring Cycle (staged) 5-9 November, Birmingham Hippodrome Mariinsky Chorus concerts 5 th November (Milton Court Concert Hall, London), 6 th November (Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff), 8 th November (Town Hall, Birmingham) Mariinsky Stradivarius Ensemble – 7 th November (Town Hall, Birmingham)