mardi 22 juin 2010

St. Petersbourg, Russia

A rainy cool day in this northern city. It's hard to get spectacular pictures from a light that is very flat and grey, but we try this morning to get a feeling for the atmosphere of St. Petersbourg. The big event today is to film the repitition and concert of Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Theatre. The concert hall was rebuilt 3 years ago after a fire destroyed the old building. The Mariinsky theatre will be celebrating its 150th birthday this year.

But the unexpected highlight of the day is a 9-year old Korean girl who is playing piano in the ballet room where we were to set up an interview with the Maestro. Ju-Hee Lim is extraordinary! (www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/without/links_to_banners/ju_hi_lim/) Ju Hee looked like she really enjoyed playing piano and was not the least bit nervous with all the attention and the fact that she would soon play for hundreds of people in one of the best concert halls in the world. As we were setting up in another corner of the room, she even came up and handed each of us a candy.

As it is raining, we decide to film film the White Nights tomorrow. In this cold and rain, there isn't much atmosphere to speak of, let alone to film! After the interview with Gergiev a bit after midnight, we go looking for a restaurant. The only one we find open is the suchi bar from yesterday, so we go back there. It does get dark here though. At about one in the morning, it is pitch black, maybe darker than usual because of the overcast and dark clouds. Hopefully tomorrow we will have better weather and get to see what the White Nights are all about!

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