Students Enjoy the Acclaimed Mariinsky Ballet Performing Paquita at the Kennedy Center

The Carmel Institute provided 150 tickets to students from the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area to see the Mariinsky Ballet’s performance of Paquita October 11, 2019. The creation of French composer Édouard Deldevez and Paris Opéra Ballet Master Joseph Mazilier, Paquita was first presented at the Salle Le Peletier by the Paris Opera Ballet on 1 April 1846 and was retained in the repertory of the Opéra until 1851. In 1847, Marius Petipa and Pierre-Frédéric Malavergne staged Paquita for the first time in Russia for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg. It also became the first work ever staged by Petipa in Russia. In 1881, Petipa produced a revival of the ballet for which he added new pieces specially composed by Ludwig Minkus.

See a video clip of the Mariinsky Ballet's Paquita.

See the Kennedy Center's feature on Paquita.

Students Discover "Pushkin's Russia"

The Carmel Institute sponsored 10 students from AU, Georgetown and George Washington University to spend 10 days in Russia in Summer 2019 for the AU history course "Pushkin's Russia: Literature and the Birth of National Identity." To better understand the post-Napoleonic era, they read Pushkin, of course, but also other authors, while they explored Russian museums and art galleries, took in ballet and concert performances, and visited Pushkin's own estate in the Pskov region.

Read the full article on the trip

Sergei Bodrov’s Prisoner of the Mountains Film Screening

On Wednesday, April 17, 2019, the Carmel Institute held a screening of Sergei Bodrov’s Prisoner of the Mountains (1996) for university students, faculty and community members. The audience gathered at the Russian Embassy to enjoy a fabulous evening of delicious Russian food and cinema. Based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy, the film poses penetrating questions about conflict and power, humanity and cruelty, and the sometimes-thin line between a friend and an enemy. While on patrol in the Caucasus mountains, two Russian soldiers become the prisoners of a Chechen village. The tribal leader of the colony is willing to release the pair unharmed in exchange for his son, who is a prisoner in the custody of the Russians. After writing to their mothers to announce the terms of their imprisonment, the duo are powerless to do anything but wait for an answer while adjusting to life in the remote enclave of their captors. 

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Prisoner of the Mountains received rave critical and audience reviews worldwide.

Students See the Acclaimed Mariinsky Ballet's Le Corsaire at the Kennedy Center

The Carmel Institute provided 80 tickets to American University students to see the Mariinsky Ballet’s performance of Le Corsaire on April 13, 2019.  While the ballet was first performed in Paris in 1856, all of today’s productions are based on Franco-Russian ballet master Marius Petipa’s staging of the three-act ballet in the mid-19^th century. Petipa himself danced the lead male role of Conrad for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg in the production’s 1858 Russian premier, where he first began to reshape the choreography of the role. Petipa later went on to stage four major productions of the ballet, adding dances each time to enhance the appeal for audiences. The final Petipa revival was at the Imperial Mariinsky Theater in January 1899, but it has been performed in Russia throughout the 20^th century and as recently as 2007 by the Bolshoi Ballet.

In its review of the performance the American University students saw, Broadwayworld.com lauded: “Mariinsky Ballet’s reputation for elaborate productions and incredible dances is well-deserved, and there are some standout performances throughout the current production that certainly live up to the company’s renowned reputation.” 

See the Mariinsky Ballet’s trailer for Le Corsaire at the Kennedy Center  

See the full Broadwayworld Review

DC Consortium Students See Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Kennedy Center

On March 23, 2019, the Carmel Institute provided 80 tickets to students from the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area to see the Washington National Opera’s performance of Eugene Onegin. Broadwayworld.com described the WNO’s production as “exquisite… with pitch-perfect performances led by the immaculate Anna Nechaeva as Tatiana.” 

The opera brought the talents of two of Russia’s great artists together: the towering Russian poet Alexander Pushkin and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The resulting lyric opera, with Tchaikovsky writing the music and adapting Pushkin’s fabled verse with a little help from his friend Konstantin Shilovsky, tells Onegin’s and Tatiana’s stories episodically from the novel’s story. 

Due to its non-linear storyline, Tchaikovsky worried about its reception and therefore gave it to Moscow Conservatory students to stage in 1879. His worries were obviously unfoundedm and the Bolshoi Theater premiered it in 1881. It has been more than 30 years since the WNO has performed it. 

See the full Broadwayworld.com review of the WNO production. 

Get a glimpse of Anna Nechaeva’s brilliant performance as Tatiana. 

Watch a clip of Igor Golovatenko’s take on the title character.  

Carmel Institute and RASA co-host "Armistice and Revolution: Russia and the World 1918" Symposium Marking 100th Anniversary

The Carmel Institute and the Russian-American Scientists’ Association (RASA) co-sponsored a symposium marking the centenary of the end of World War I with a symposium called “Armistice and Revolution: Russia and the World in 1918.” We were proud to host Borislav Chernev, Elizabeth Wood of MIT, David Engerman of Yale University, and Alexei Miller of the European University of St. Petersburg at Constitution Hall at AU.

Read more about the symposium.

Watch the full Armistice and Revolution symposium video.