Mikhailovsky Theatre

The Mikhailovsky Theatre occupies a historic building on the Square of the Arts and traces its history back to 1833, when an imperial stage opened by the will of Nicholas I. The name honors Grand Duke Mikhail, the youngest son of Paul I, whose residence was the palace standing next door — the square itself only received its present name in 1940. The building's design was prepared by Alexander Bryullov together with Alexei Gornostaev, who managed to fit the façade into the ensemble laid out by Carlo Rossi. In 1859 architect Alberto Cavos enlarged the stage, added a tier to the auditorium, and decorated the interiors with murals, stucco molding, and caryatid figures above the stage's proscenium arch — which can still be seen today. Before the Revolution, the theatre belonged to the joint directorate of imperial stages, together with the Mariinsky and the Alexandrinsky, and served as an auxiliary venue: the Alexandrinsky troupe performed here, foreign touring artists appeared, and French operettas were frequently staged, while opera appeared only rarely — except in the mid-1890s, when the Mariinsky Theatre was closed for renovation. On this stage sang and performed Johann Strauss, Matilda Kshesinskaya, Feodor Chaliapin, and Sarah Bernhardt, while the audience included Pushkin, Zhukovsky, and Tolstoy. From 1918 a new, musical chapter began in the stage's history. In 1920, like other former imperial theatres, it was granted academic status; the orchestra was headed by Samuil Samosud, under whom the world premieres of two operas by Dmitri Shostakovich took place here — "The Nose" in 1930 and "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" in 1934 — followed later, in 1946, by the premiere of the first part of Prokofiev's "War and Peace." During the Soviet decades the stage bore various names — the Maly Opera Theatre, the Leningrad Theatre, the Petersburg Theatre, and from 1989 the Mussorgsky Theatre — before its historic name was restored in 2001. The most recent chapter began in 2007 with the arrival of businessman Vladimir Kekhman as director. Under him, the ballet troupe was headed from 2011 by Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato, and conductor Peter Feranec became music director in 2009. In 2011 the theatre received Russia's national "Golden Mask" award for the first time, with tenor Neil Shicoff honored for his role in the opera "La Juive" (Halévy). In 2015 Kekhman took over as head of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, and leadership of the Saint Petersburg stage passed to Irina Deligach. Notable productions of recent years include Verdi's "Il Trovatore" and "Aida," and the ballets "Cinderella" by Prokofiev and "Swan Lake" by Tchaikovsky.