Edward
January 14th, 2003, 11:52 PM
ABC Online
Russia opens competition for new Mariinsky theatre. 15/1/2003. ABC News Online
[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s763493.htm]
Wednesday, January *15, 2003. Posted: 11:58:18 (AEDT)
Russia opens competition for new Mariinsky theatre
Authorities in St Petersburg have launched a competition to modernise the 19th century Mariinsky Theatre, home of the Kirov ballet and opera company.
Five competitors from Russia and others from Austria, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States were given until May to submit proposals to be combined with the theatre erected in 1860 - the chief rival to Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre. The project is expected to cost $100 million.
"This theatre's creative potential has outgrown the technical capabilities available to it," its director, Valery Gergiyev, told a news conference.
"When we prepare presentations of a complicated nature, we find we sometimes have to close the theatre for anywhere from 10 to 15 days in order to prepare the show."
Such interruptions, he said, seriously affected the theatre's troupe, originally named for Maria Fyodorovna, the wife of tsar Alexander II and known in Soviet times as the Kirov in honour of a Bolshevik leader.
Its artists have included dancers Anna Pavlova, Rudolof Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
He said any winning project would include a plan to span the adjacent Kryukov canal - one of dozens of canals in the city built on marshland by Peter the Great.
The competition's conditions call for a structure of about 39,000 square metres, with a capacity of 2,000 seats in its main hall.
If construction proceeds according to plan, it should be completed by 2007.
The competition is part of events marking St Petersburg's 300th anniversary, intended to highlight its opulent palaces and due to culminate in May with a gathering of world leaders and its most famous native son, President Vladimir Putin.
The project to overhaul the elegant green stone structure is the first aimed at combining the city's 19th century heritage with modern design.
But it has generated deep skepticism among prominent residents who fear that it could shatter architectural harmony even though many buildings in the city of 5 million are already in poor condition.
"On the one hand, it is true that we should not touch our city," Gergiyev said.
"On the other hand, we cannot be proud of saying that we are doing nothing. It is clear we cannot go on like this. So let us take a risk and perhaps we can create a surprise for the 21st century."
Russia opens competition for new Mariinsky theatre. 15/1/2003. ABC News Online
[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s763493.htm]
Wednesday, January *15, 2003. Posted: 11:58:18 (AEDT)
Russia opens competition for new Mariinsky theatre
Authorities in St Petersburg have launched a competition to modernise the 19th century Mariinsky Theatre, home of the Kirov ballet and opera company.
Five competitors from Russia and others from Austria, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States were given until May to submit proposals to be combined with the theatre erected in 1860 - the chief rival to Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre. The project is expected to cost $100 million.
"This theatre's creative potential has outgrown the technical capabilities available to it," its director, Valery Gergiyev, told a news conference.
"When we prepare presentations of a complicated nature, we find we sometimes have to close the theatre for anywhere from 10 to 15 days in order to prepare the show."
Such interruptions, he said, seriously affected the theatre's troupe, originally named for Maria Fyodorovna, the wife of tsar Alexander II and known in Soviet times as the Kirov in honour of a Bolshevik leader.
Its artists have included dancers Anna Pavlova, Rudolof Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
He said any winning project would include a plan to span the adjacent Kryukov canal - one of dozens of canals in the city built on marshland by Peter the Great.
The competition's conditions call for a structure of about 39,000 square metres, with a capacity of 2,000 seats in its main hall.
If construction proceeds according to plan, it should be completed by 2007.
The competition is part of events marking St Petersburg's 300th anniversary, intended to highlight its opulent palaces and due to culminate in May with a gathering of world leaders and its most famous native son, President Vladimir Putin.
The project to overhaul the elegant green stone structure is the first aimed at combining the city's 19th century heritage with modern design.
But it has generated deep skepticism among prominent residents who fear that it could shatter architectural harmony even though many buildings in the city of 5 million are already in poor condition.
"On the one hand, it is true that we should not touch our city," Gergiyev said.
"On the other hand, we cannot be proud of saying that we are doing nothing. It is clear we cannot go on like this. So let us take a risk and perhaps we can create a surprise for the 21st century."