Theatres in St.Petersburg

Mikhailovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre

1, Iskusstv sq.

On 8 November 1833 the first performance took place on the stage of the Imperial Mikhailovsky Theatre just built by the architect A. Briullov.

The brilliantly suitable to the architectural ensemble of Michailovskaya square building became the third Emperor stage in Saint Petersburg. But differently from its neighbors the Mariinsky and Alexandrovsky theatres this stage did not have its own troupe and definite repertoire and genre tendency. Firstly the theatre building was mainly used as a concert hall. But, to tell the truth, there were opera performances among drama performances and musical comedies performed by the troupe of the Alexandrinsky theatre or coming French and German actors. There were they who noted the necessity of enlarging the sizes of stage and hall. Followed in 1859 rebuilding made the inner shapes of the theatre similar to the requirements for scale opera and ballet performances. But until that moment when musical performances were constant at Mikhailovsky stage, it was long time. The French drama troupe and the German competitor. Seldom opera performances at Mikhailovsky stage were organized mainly with the help of the Emperor Russian opera (the Mariinsky theatre). In connection with the repairing of Mariinky theatre in 1894 opera performances became often, the tradition of every Sunday opera performances was set up, but later it disappeared.