News in Press-centre

The Mariinsky Theater Primorsky Stage artists performed the best classical works at Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) in the run-up to New Year Celebration. The acoustic performance by the soloists of the Mariinsky Opera and Symphony Orchestra became a gift for the FEFU students, faculty and staff from the university administration and the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theater.

For one evening, the main building of the campus was transformed into an opera house with unique acoustics. The audience enjoyed the works of Russian and international composers staying in the stalls, on cascading staircases and multi-level balconies. The New Year's Kaleidoscope Party absorbed the popular classics of different genres from the treasury of the world musical repertoire: brilliant overtures and arias from Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Der Erlkönig (The Elf King) by Franz Schubert & Goethe, Die Fledermaus (The Bat) by Johann Strauss, and others. A special surprise was Grand Concert Paraphrase for Clarinet and Orchestra on the theme of Mikhail Glinka's opera Ruslan and Lyudmila.

In the second part of the concert, the artists performed the famous Neapolitan songs Return to Sorrento, Mama, Santa Lucia, Russian folk song Travushka-Muravushka, romances by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Anton Rubinstein to the words of Alexey Tolstoy and Alexander Pushkin, especially appreciated by international students. A bright spot for the New Year's performance was put by the enchanting orchestration by conductor Pavel Smelkov, who brought together the most famous and beloved melodies from symphonies, operas, romances, and movies.

“Probably no other university in the country has the chance to host Mariinsky Theater performances, and the guys from different parts of Russia do envy the FEFU students,” said Sergey Shishmakov, postgraduate student, the Chairman of the United Student Council. “Students from Saratov, Orenburg, St. Petersburg, Chuvashia and other regions commented on my video in social networks from the concert that they would enter FEFU only for the sake of the opportunity to hear the Mariinsky Theater artists live.”

This is the second New Year's acoustic concert of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theater for the university students, faculty, and staff. For the first time symphonic music sounded on the FEFU campus at the end of 2016.