For City Day

St. Petersburg celebrates its 321st birthday on 27 May. The Rostral columns on the spit of Vasilievsky Island will be lit, there will be a festive firework display in the sky above the Neva, and according to tradition the Mikhailovsky Theatre will mark City Day with a special musical programme.

The annual gala concert of opera and ballet stars at the Mikhailovsky Theatre is firmly established as an essential part of City Day celebrations. It is not just a spectacular show, but also features a truly unique line-up of artists. This year, this major event in the world of classical music will give opera and ballet fans alike the chance to see artists from several leading theatres of the country performing on the same stage: soloists of the Mikhailovsky Theatre, NOVAT, Helikon Opera, and St. Petersburg Opera.

The concert programme will be kept a secret right up until the last moment, but there is no doubt that it will feature world-class stars — Ivan Vasiliev, Anzhelina Vorontsova, Viktor Lebedev, Prisca Zeisel, Nikita Ksenofont, Boris Pinkhasovich, Alexei Tikhomirov, and Margarita Shapovalova: this evening at the Mikhailovsky Theatre will be a fitting culmination for the day’s festivities.

The concert will feature famous arias and duets from the classical opera repertoire, and scenes and excerpts from productions that constitute the glory of the Russian ballet theatre. For our audience, this is not just a true celebration of magnificent voices and virtuoso ballet pas, but also a unique chance to enjoy masterpieces of world classics performed by the most outstanding stars of the contemporary academic scene.

Mikhailovsky Theatre musical director and chief conductor Alexander Soloviev will be conducting.