A pirate's treasure

A dream that began a decade ago comes true today. Ten years ago, Valery Gergiev promised to perform in the National Grand Theater in Beijing. Today, he fulfills his pledge, bringing prestige to the newly opened performing arts center by gracing its stage.

It is the Mariinsky Theater's first time to leave St Petersburg over the holidays, as well as the first time for its ballet and opera groups to perform simultaneously in one theatre. Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theater are the first international troupe to appear in the theater's first international performance season.

Gergiev and more than 500 performers - comprising the largest group the National Grand Theater has yet received - flew into the capital on December 22 to celebrate the opening of the theater and give Sino-Russian relations a shot in the arm.

They would perform their best works, including Prince Igor, Swan Lake, Jewels and The Pirates during a two-week tour of China.

Under Gergiev's leadership as artistic director and chief conductor, Mariinsky has become one of the most celebrated and recorded opera companies in the world. Gergiev says the National Grand Theater could become symbolic of China.

Throughout his years of dedication to the Mariinsky Theatre, Gergiev has focused on making the Mariinsky Opera Company the best in the world. And he believes that in order to do this, the group should cultivate more Chinese cultural elements.

Pirates is based on a long poem by the famous British poet Byron. The story is set during the time Turkey invaded Greece in the 1820s.

When a storm ravaged the Aegean Sea, a young girl from a fisherman's family named Dollah saves the pirate leader Condrad. However, Dollah is captured by a human trafficker named Ahmet. She about to be sold to a Turkish viceroy when Conrad and his crew, disguised as Arabian merchants, save her and the other girls forced into servitude. It's little surprise then when Conrad and Dollah fall in love, but the pirate's partner is overcome with jealousy and begins plotting against him. But in the end, the heroes victor and sail off into the sunset.

Chen Nan

On January 5-6, at the National Grand Theatre. 280-1,280 yuan. 6417-0068.

(China Daily 01/05/2008 page6)