Output details

A Chronology of Opera Performances at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, 1860-1917 (2 volumes) - Author of “Introduction”, Editor of full text and Research Director.

This four-year research project maps the performance history of one of the world’s leading opera houses, and has resulted in a chronology that collects together full production information, cast and creative/production team, on every opera performance staged at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, between the opening of the current building in 1860, and the outbreak of the Revolution of 1917. As such it provides a unique research tool for those whose interests lie in Russian opera and theatre studies, music, historical and cultural studies, bibliographers and biographers.

This material had never previously been collated or published in any format or language, and results from a highly complex research process involving archive materials drawn from the National Library in St Petersburg, The State Museum of Theatre and Music, St Petersburg and the archive of the Mariinsky Theatre itself. The author led a research team of five, based in the UK, the USA, Russia and Australia, which undertook the identification, compilation, verification and translation of data that contributed to the final publication.

Uniquely, this chronology enables researchers to trace extensive career details of highly significant and influential artists, including the Russian conductor and composer Eduard Napravnik, and the British conductor Albert Coates, both of whom served the company as musical director. Previously, no such published survey existed.

The project, supported by grants totalling £11,000 from The Historic Singers Trust (UK) and The John Stratton Trust (Canada), develops previous research carried out by the author, in collaboration with the State Museum of Theatre and Music and The Chaliapin Museum, in St Petersburg, which had already resulted in the publication of two previous books and the restoration of a rare early film (Tsar Ivan Grozny/The Maid of Pskov – Sharez, 1915) the only silent film made by the Russian bass singer, Feodor Chaliapin.

The chronology contains material that has never previously been collected or published, or made available from a single source in any language. Research involved access to rare Russian-language material situated in three separate collections in St Petersburg, none of which contained a complete record (including original production books at the Mariinski and contemporary journalistic accounts). The process of research, identification, data collection and recording, verification and translation, carried out by a five-person team located in the UK, Russia and Australia, and a subsequent process of proofing by several UK-based opera experts and Russian cultural scholars, extended over a four-year period.