The world-renowned Russian conductor Valery Gergiev will lead the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre in performing in the newly-built national grand theatre for 11 consecutive days from December 25, 2007 to January 6, 2008.

The Mariinsky Theatre, with a cast of over 510 including the Mariinsky opera house and ballet group, is the first foreign artistic group ever to perform in the national grand theater since it was finished in April this year.

The artistic director of the theater said at a press conference on Thursday that Gergiev had purposefully chosen the classic opera prince Igor for the opening of the theater.

The semi-oval national grand theater, located on Chang'an street in western Beijing, has a capacity of 5,473 people. The building was designed to present Chinese audiences with world-class artistic performances, from large-scale operas and plays to musicals and concerts.
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(CRI November 15, 2007)