Live from the Mariinsky Theatre at the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Valery Gergiev conducts the Kirov Opera in a splendid production of Wagner's opera 'Der Fliegende Holländer', ('The Flying Dutchman').

Richard Wagner's Flying Dutchman was premièred in Dresden in 1843. By calling it a dramatic ballad, Wagner dreamed of staging it as a one-act opera. In his own words, 'This opera marked the beginning of my career as a poet and the end of my career as a purveyor of opera texts', and it was the first step along the road to his great reforms in the realm of opera.

The cast...

Nikolai Putilin - (Baritone) - The Dutchman Larisa Gogolevskaya - (Soprano) - Senta, daughter of Daland Alexander Morozov - (Bass) - Daland, A Norwegian sea captain Leonid Zakhoshaev - (Tenor) - Erik, a hunter Olga Markova-Mikhailenko - (Mezzo-soprano) - Maria, Senta's Nurse Yevgeny Akimov - (Tenor) - Steersman Chorus of the Kirov Opera