UK Charity Supporting Mariinsky Theatre Gets Shut Down

By Francisco Salazar

A UK charity that was set up to support the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg has closed.

The charity known as the Anglo-Russian Opera and Ballet Trust was founded in 1992 and raised millions for Russian arts organizations. Prince Charles was also one of its patrons.

The charity raised money for artists like Xander Parish, an East Yorkshire-born ballet star who joined the Mariinsky in 2010 and later became one of its principal dancers. Next month the charity would have celebrated its 30th anniversary and references to it have been removed from the list of Prince Charles’s affiliations on official royal websites. The charity’s website now states, “The Mariinsky Theatre Trust [its working name] has closed down.”

The charity was set up by conductor Valery Gergiev with the main goal of supporting St Petersburg’s Mariinsky theatre and promoting its work in the UK.

The news comes after Gergiev was dropped from all his commitment in the West for failing to denounce Putin for the War in Ukraine. The conductor has been linked to Putin for years and has appeared on the Dictators campaigns as well as performed in propaganda concerts. According to the Guardian, Gergiev meets five or six times a year with Putin.

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