The Mikhailovsky Theatre’s Hermitage Evenings

Director of the Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky and Artistic Director of the Mikhailovsky Theatre Vladimir Kekhman have put their signatures to a cooperation agreement. One of the world’s largest museums and one of the country’s leading musical theatres are joining forces to promote their cultural and historical legacy and musical art.

The agreement signing ceremony took place on the stage of the Hermitage Theatre, and culminated in a concert by the symphony orchestra and opera soloists of the Mikhailovsky Theatre.

“This programme of cooperation with the Hermitage is a project of strategic importance for us,” said Kekhman. “It will provide exceptional opportunities to demonstrate the incredible extent of the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s creative potential — the orchestra, soloists, and the opera and ballet companies. The productions and concerts we stage in Russia’s largest museum will be a priceless gift not only for the public, but also for the performers, who have no second stage at their own theatre. I am sincerely grateful to Mikhail Piotrovsky for the confidence he has shown in the Mikhailovsky Theatre.”

A whole range of joint creative projects is planned as part of the agreement, known collectively as The Mikhailovsky Theatre’s Hermitage Evenings. Ballets and concerts will be held regularly at the Hermitage Theatre, many of them adapted especially for this stage. The series will open with an evening of ballets by the outstanding choreographer Nacho Duato. Other performances to come include ballets by contemporary choreographers and new interpretations of classical operas. An important part of the collaboration will be concert programmes and a music festival in the rooms of the Hermitage. The role of artistic director of the music festival will be taken up by maestro Dmitri Jurowski, a member of Russia’s eminent dynasty of conductors.