Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers

The Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers was founded in 1998 at the initiative of Valery Gergiev, general and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre. Over a short period of time, it quickly won recognition both in Russia and abroad.

The Academy trains talented young singers from all over the world and winners of international competitions. Active participation in the operas, concerts and festivals of the Mariinsky Theatre offers students an excellent platform to develop and show off their talents.

The Academy pedagogues, conductors, stage directors and accompanists teach acting skills, stage movement and foreign languages. Vocal classes and consultations are taken by staff teachers Grair Khanedanian, Alexander Maskalin and Alexander Vikulov. Regular masterclasses have been given by such renowned singers and masters of world opera as Renata Scotto, Elena Obraztsova, Fedora Barbieri, Matti Palm and Gianandrea Noseda in St Petersburg (Mariinsky Theatre), London (Covent Garden) and New York (Metropolitan Opera).

Besides its active contributions to the main repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre – La sonnambula, Lohengrin, Le nozze di Figaro, Semyon Kotko, Carmen, Eugene Onegin, Ruslan and Lyudmila, The Snow Maiden – the Academy has also mounted its own productions of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s La serva padrona, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri, Sergei Prokofiev’s Maddalena (premiered in Mikkeli in 1999) and Alexander Tchaikovsky’s Motya and Savely (premiered at the Pushkin Festival in London in 1999).

The Academy has given a number of acclaimed concerts in Great Britain, Italy, France, Finland, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Belgium, Canada, Japan and the United States. The soloists have won the grand prix at many international competitions, while the names of other laureates are already well known to lovers of classical and opera music.