The Mariinsky Theatre has announced a new production of “Benvenuto Cellini” as part of its 2021-22 season.

The production, which will be the first new one of the season, will be directed by Alexei Frandetti and features a production team that includes set designer Vyacheslav Okunev, costume designer Viktoria Sevryukova, lighting designer Gleb Filshtinsky and choreographer Irina Koshuba.

The production will make references to the work of Fellini, particularly his “8 1/2″ and the search for creativity.

“The thought came from the idea Berlioz instilled in the opera, and before that in the memoirs of Cellini. It is an idea for an artistic search, a creative crisis and the painful birth of the right idea and a work of art,” Frandetti said in a press release.

Valery Gergiev will conduct a cast that stars tenors Alexander Mikhailov, Sergei Semishkur, Ivan Gyngazov, and Mikhail Vekua in the title role. Other cast members include Yulia Matochkina as Ascanio, Aigul Khismatullina as Teresa, Mikhail Petrenko as Clement VII.

The opera is set to open on Nov. 10 with additional performance scheduled for Nov. 11 and 14, 2021.