2023-11-16 19:07:23
Valery Gergiev can head the joint directorate of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters. This rumor spread on the eve of the start of the International Cultural Forum in St. Petersburg. It is expected that they will soon confirm or deny the information. Some people were stunned by the news, but not those who are immersed in the musical and theatrical environment. The possibility of reviving the imperial format, according to which a dozen theaters were managed by a single directorate for centuries, and was personally supervised by the head of state, was mentioned 10 years ago. Just on the eve of Anatoly Iksanov’s resignation from the post of director of the Bolshoi Theater, who was replaced by Vladimir Urin. And in March 2022, Vladimir Putin discussed this idea live with Valery Gergiev, and he supported it. The President will speak at the forum on Friday. Perhaps that conversation with Gergiev will come up again?
So far there is no official confirmation of rumors about the merger of the directorates of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters. Valery Gergiev’s phone is silent. The Bolshoi Theater refuses to comment. The Mariinsky is also waiting. But here, perhaps, is the case about which they usually say: there is no smoke without fire. It’s enough to remember how long the idea has been in the air.
“You probably know that at one time (from 1766 to 1917. — Auth.) we had a directorate of imperial theaters, which made it possible, firstly, to take care of the best teams in an appropriate way, but also to develop them – if not in the same way, then by providing them with support in such a way that they complemented each other in the best possible way,” — the president said on March 25 at a meeting with cultural figures. And after such a summary, he turned directly to Gergiev: “Valery Abisalovich, you and I have already talked about this before: how do you feel about this idea – to recreate the general directorate?” In response, the conductor, artistic director and general director of the Mariinsky Theater burst into a long speech, where he recalled Fyodor Chaliapin, who sang in St. Petersburg on Monday and in Moscow on Wednesday. In general, I agreed with the proposal to take on a leadership role. However, then Vladimir Putin emphasized that this was not a decision yet, but “an idea in itself.”
By the way, Gergiev himself gave it to the president. This happened in 2013. Then he wrote a letter to Putin with a proposal to create a “National Center for Academic Theater and Choreographic Art under the President of the Russian Federation,” uniting the Mariinsky Theater, the Academy of Russian Ballet, the St. Petersburg Conservatory and the Russian Institute of Art History. Then the proposal seemed undeveloped and untimely, but time passed, and perhaps the concept, as they say, “cooked.”
The idea was heatedly discussed 10 years ago and last year, asking questions that still arise today. How can the United Directorate work in today’s realities, since the pace of life is no longer the same as before the revolution? Is there supposed to be some kind of management superstructure over two independent theaters? Or will the repertoire be developed by the general management? How will Gergiev manage such a colossus (the Mariinsky Theater is not only the main building on Theater Square, but also the Concert Hall, Mariinsky-2 on the Kryukov Canal, branches in Vladivostok and Vladikavkaz, and the Bolshoi Theater includes four Moscow stages and one more, while not put into operation, in Kaliningrad), when he has several thousand concerts a year? And most importantly, will the management of the two theaters limit themselves to merging or will they go further, reviving the imperial format, when a dozen theaters, including the Alexandrinsky and Mikhailovsky, were subordinate to a single principle?
Vladimir Urin. Photo: kremlin.ru
The likelihood of Vladimir Urin’s resignation has also been discussed for several days. A recent story – a scandal with tickets for The Nutcracker, which caused a stampede at the Bolshoi Theater box office – raises serious questions for the management of the Bolshoi Theater. Moreover, dissatisfied citizens, who stood in lines for hours, wrote complaints to all authorities – from the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor’s Office and Rospotrebnadzor to the Ministry of Culture and the Presidential Administration. And these questions are by no means creative. By the way, tickets for “The Nutcracker” cannot be bought online on the Bolshoi Theater website, but they are available on suspicious resources, but they cost from 90 thousand to 320 thousand rubles. In short, there is a reason for personnel decisions before Urin’s contract expires.
Queue for tickets to The Nutcracker. Photo: AGN “Moscow”
Let’s say Valery Gergiev really heads two theaters: what will he do first? It will probably pursue the same policy as in the Mariinsky Theatre. By the way, about tickets: the Mariinsky Theater, unlike the Bolshoi Theater, opens ticket sales from the first day of the month for which the performances are scheduled. Therefore, there is no situation where everything for December and January is sold out in November. What about the rest, global?
Valery Gergiev.
The Bolshoi is an opera and ballet theater, but the whole world knows it primarily as the Bolshoi Ballet. Valery Gergiev did not have time to work with the ballet troupe of the Mariinsky Theater due to his busy schedule, so he entrusted its management to specialists. It is important that for almost 13 years (from 1995 to 2008) the Mariinsky Ballet was directed by Mahar Vaziev, until he moved to work as the director of the ballet of the La Scala Theater in Milan (2009–2016). There may have been disagreements between the leaders back then, but now they have long been resolved. There were even vague rumors that Valery Gergiev would like the “prodigal son” to return to his alma mater, especially since Vaziev was “his own” for many years – back in the late 1970s – he worked at the Mariinsky (then Kirov) Theater as a ballet soloist. But since 2016, he has been directing the Bolshoi Theater ballet troupe. So it is unlikely that if Gergiev is appointed, Mahar Vaziev will leave the walls of the Bolshoi Theater. By the way, for example, Valery Borisov, the chief choirmaster of the Bolshoi since 2003, also started at the Mariinsky and held the same position there from 1988 to 2000. It’s too early to talk about the rest.
Mahar Vaziev. Photo: AGN “Moscow”
For now, the idea of a unified directorate remains an idea. Vladimir Urin’s contract will end only in 2027. On the first day of the Cultural Forum in St. Petersburg, none of the speakers were in a hurry to discuss this topic…
Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29159 dated November 17, 2023
Newspaper headline: Big changes for Bolshoi?
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