A grand prize-giving ceremony of the Baltika

The winners of the Baltika prizes for stars of world theatre and young performers have been announced:
Hope prize (2 categories):
Ballet: Daria Pavlenko
Opera: Mikhail Petrenko
For outstanding achievements in opera: Gennady Bezzubenkov
For outstanding achievements in ballet: Zhanna Ayupova

This year, the Baltika company also established special prizes:
For services of chivalry to the arts and the Mariinsky Theatre: Gennady Selyutsky
For the best original work at the Mariinsky Theatre: Mihail Chemiakin
For contributing to the success of all ten Stars of the White Nights festivals: Alexander Toradze

"These people´s unique capacity for work and their supreme professionalism deserve the greatest respect. Their talents are to be admired," said Taymuraz Bolloyev just before the gala concert, "The Baltika company is one of the Mariinsky´s oldest fans, and we will be delighted to reward the global cultural activities of the theatre´s stars over and over again."

The winners were announced and the annual Baltika prizes for stars of world music and young performers were presented for the sixth year on 23rd June at the Mariinsky Theatre as part of the tenth international Stars of the White Nightsfestival.
World class musicians including Alexander Toradze, who has taken part in every festival, pianist Sara Wolfensohn and opera stars Olga Borodina and Vasily Gerello performed that night.

This year the international jury, chaired by Valery Gergiev, was made up of the following well-known science and arts experts, journalists and specialists:
Lyudmila Verbitskaya - Principal of the St Petersburg State University
Vadim Gaevsky - ballet historian, ballet critic, Professor at the Russian State University of Humanities
Edward Boyakov - Director of the festival and the Russian national Golden Mask prize
Viktor Vysotsky - composer and art historian, has created many television programmes on music
Yulia Kantor - Izvestia correspondent
Leonid Gakkel - Doctor of art history, Professor at the St Petersburg State Conservatoire
Mikhail Byalik - Secretary of the Union of Russian Composers, Professor at the St Petersburg State Conservatoire and the St Petersburg State Academy of Theatre Arts
Yulia Yakovleva - ballet critic, columnist for Kommersant
Olga Gerdt - columnist for Gazeta
Andrei Khripin - columnist for Argumenty i Fakti
Marina Bagdasarian - theatre columnist for the Ekho Moskvy radio station
Clement Crisp, ballet critic, columnist for the Financial Times
George Loomis - music critic, columnist for the Financial Times
Monique Barichella - opera critic, columnist for Opera International
Rene Sirvin - music critic, columnist for Le Figaro
The Baltika prize fund for performers this year amounted to 45,000 USD.

The Baltika prize was first awarded in 1997. In 1998, the prize went international. In just six years, over twenty artists have been awarded the Baltika prize, including Valery Gergiev, Placido Domingo, Olga Borodina, Ulyana Lopatkina, Anna Netrebko, Nikolay Putilin, Altynai Asylmuratova, Svetlana Zakharova, Andrian Fadeyev.