The Kirov Ballet

Artistic & General Director of The Mariinsky Theatre: Valery Gergiev

Orchestra of The Mariinsky Theatre

Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden

Monday, 18 July to Saturday, 30 July 2005

The inspired collaboration between Maestro Valery Gergiev, Artistic and General Director of The Mariinsky Theatre and Makhar Vaziev, Director of The Kirov Ballet, has produced an era of unsurpassed success for this internationally renowned company. As custodians of the great traditions of Russian classical ballet, they lead a company of exquisitely trained dancers who combine virtuosity with a perfection of technique and outstanding dramatic ability.

The Kirov Ballet Programme

The eagerly anticipated return of this illustrious company to the Royal Opera House after an absence of two years, will bring to London audiences an eclectic repertoire of five programmes demonstrating their phenomenal versatility.

The season opens with the Kirov’s glorious production of Swan Lake with Uliana Lopatkina, one of the world’s greatest ballerinas, as Odette-Odile, the role with which she has become most closely associated.

Another enduring favourite, the exotic 1941 production of La Bayadère returns to the Royal Opera House where it has won such great acclaim.

The stars of The Kirov Ballet

This season, the greatest stars of The Kirov Ballet will appear at the Royal Opera House including Andrian Fadeyev, Irina Golub, Evgeny Ivanchenko, Igor Kolb, Daniil Korsuntsev, Uliana Lopatkina, Irma Nioradze, Daria Pavlenko, Faroukh Ruzimatov, Leonid Sarafanov, Natalia Sologub, Diana Vishneva and Igor Zelensky.