It is not a daily occurrence to attend ballet or opera performances staged by the artists of the St. Petersburg's famed Mariinsky Theatre. It is even more rare to have an opportunity to attend them inside Mariinsky's renowned halls.

Coming from the home of many world premieres of stage masterpieces composed by Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov, the over one-and-a-half century worth of historical wealth and often unparalleled artistry are among the pillars of Mariinsky's popularity. 

Since the beginning of the general shutdown of all cultural venues, Mariinsky Theatre closed to the public (until 31 May 2020) and moved its activities online, sharing a large number of the prerecorded performances with the viewers around the world.

Most of the ballets, opera and orchestral shows are released for a limited number of days or even hours, so it is advised that the audience keeps checking the Mariinsky Theatre's YouTube channel for new releases.

Finding our way around the channel might be a bit tricky due to the video's titles, which are mostly in Russian. However, in some of them the English information is posted in the description of the video. It is definitely worth the search, while Google Translate always comes in handy.

The performances, which are no longer available for viewing in their full length, have only short teasers. So, checking the videos’ duration can also help in choosing what to watch.

On the other hand, some information in English is provided on the Marinsky Theatre's TV channel, a website created for video screenings of the theatre's past programming. The selection, however, is not as big as on YouTube.

Among the repertoire released and available on YouTube at the time of writing this article are the ballets Sleeping Beauty, 19th International Ballet Festival, 19th International Mariinsky Ballet Festival: Creative Workshop of Young Choreographers, while the opera's section features Sergei Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery. 

The orchestra repertoire includes works such as Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, and his Concerti and Symphony No. 7, as well as 4th International Harp Festival , several gala concerts such as Closing of the 4th  International Festival “Flute Virtuosos” and “Together in difficult times,” a concert featuring virtuoso artists in a German-Russian repertoire topped with works by other international composers. The latter concert presents musicians performing in Mariinsky Theatre, Moscow Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic.

From the workshops posted online, the videos include Mariinsky Ballet Class, a useful material for ballet dancers and students.

Check the Mariinsky Theatre's YouTube channel here and the Mariinsky TV channel here.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture