The gala concert was a highlight of the White Nights Stars international arts festival involving leading orchestras and performers from around the world.
Among the performers in the gala concert was Rene Fleming, one of the world’s best sopranos, who performed Tatyana’s Letter aria from the opera Eugene Onegin. Mariinsky’s star ballet dancer Ulyana Lopatkina, in her first stage appearance after giving birth to her daughter, performed the Dying Swan by Saint-Saens. Dmitry Khvorostovsky appeared in the scene at a ball in the Queen of Spades opera, ballerina Diana Vishneva performed a fragment from La Bayadere ballet, and Svetlana Zakharova and Igor Zelensky performed a pas-de-deux from The Corsair. Olga Borodina and Vladimir Galuzin performed the famous scene At the Fountain from the opera Boris Godunov. The concert also featured singers Nikolai Putilin and Anna Netrebko.
Placido Domingo, a long-time friend of the Mariinsky Theatre, could not attend for health reasons.
The sets specially designed for the programme featured the best of St Petersburg architecture and art and other city landmarks.
The distinguished guests who attended the concert were presented with gifts and a CD of classical works performed by the Mariinsky Orchestra.