Mariinsky Theatre Second Stage

The Mariinsky Theater Second Stage is the second part of a theatre complex which is made up of the original 1860 Mariinsky Theatre and the 2007 Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall. The Second Stage has been completed and a gala concert celebrating the opening, and featuring such luminaries as Plácido Domingo, Rene Pape, Anna Netrebko, and many others, was presented on 2 May 2013. The concert also celebrated the sixtieth birthday of musical director Valery Gergiev.

The post-modernist French architect Dominique Perrault won a much-publicised contest for his design for a new home for the theatre, which is to be located adjacent to the current building. At the same time, the historic original structure had been due to undergo a complete renovation and this was planned to begin in the Autumn 2006.

After seeing projected costs rise to $244 million (U.S.) from $100 million, the Russian government announced in November 2008 that it was killing the Perrault plan. The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin overruled both Valery Gergiev (the artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre) and the Minister for Culture, announcing in early June 2009 that there would be a new competition to solicit proposals. A total of 15 proposals were received, a list which was then shortened to five. "We wanted to give the impression that although we were in a tense situation and we didn't want to delay forever ... no one felt like it was the best way to simply sit down quietly and say, 'You are a great architect; just come and do it,'" Mr. Gergiev explained.

With a budget of €295-million (about US $452-million), all of which will be paid by the Russian government with a completion date of no later than December 2011, the Canadian firm, Diamond and Schmitt Architects, prevailed over four other finalists, one of which came from Germany and three from Russia. The building has been hyped as "Russia's most important building project in 70 years". As noted by Mr. Diamond, (it is) "the first major opera house to be built in Russia since the Czars."

...
Wikipedia