Melodramatic Gestures
One of the most remarkable trends of the outgoing year has been business addressing the arts. This means not only traditional patronage and the attendance of trendy performances. After a long break, firms are underwriting the building of stages and concert halls in St. Petersburg. Some developers are even including theatres in their commercial projects.
Memory of the Place
The situation is somewhat reminiscent of centuries past, when, apart from the imperial stages, spectators were urged to visit the performances of numerous private troupes often performing within the walls of business complexes. Contemporary equivalents would include a theatre in the Passage building or a modern comedy theatre at Yeliseev’s. Affluent families once kept their own troupes. Thus a theatre staged performances at Yusupov’s Palace on the Moika quayside, as well as in the mansion owned by von Derviz (where St. Petersburg Opera is nestled at present.) All manner of performances were staged in public gardens and municipal parks — for example, Buff theatre in Izmailovsky, Vera Komissarzhevskaya’s theatre at Demidov’s (renamed Luna-park some time later) on Officers Street. The memory of this tradition is still alive: reconstruction of a historical building for the Youth theatre is underway, with financing from the city treasury. Meanwhile, on Officers Street, not far from the former public garden, a concert hall in Mariinsky Theatre (often dubbed Mariinka-Sh by locals) opened its doors in spring.
As distinct from the second stage for Mariinsky Theatre constructed on the funds of the national treasury (about 200 million euros have been allocated), the third stage designed by French architect Xavier Fabre and Petersburg-based Liteinaya chast 91 Architects was mainly financed from private funds. The total outlay exceeds $40 million.
The concert hall is accommodated in the building of former drama workshops, refurbished after the fire. As noted by Rafael Dayanov, principal of Liteinaya chast 91, the main achievement of the studio is its creation of a world-class philharmonic hall. Both the orchestral music and vocal sound is perfect there, since the hall’s acoustics were attended to by world-renowned master, Yasuhiza Toyota. Like the best philharmonic stages, the hall is shaped like a cradle which seems to be suspended. The orchestra is accommodated in a centrally positioned niche surrounded by a sort of forum seating 1,110 spectators. As they explain, the hall space is transformable to meet the needs of opera, ballet performances, concerts, and conferences.
On Government Terms
While nobody will hamper the realization of the ambitious investment plans of ST New Holland to transform the islet preserve into a multifunctional center with a dominating cultural function, Mariinsky Theatre will get the 2,000-seat Festival Palace (pursuant to the investment contract; the government will cover the $29.3 million construction costs with rental payments from the occupants). However, well-known Moscow-based businessman Shalva Chigirinsky, helming ST New Holland, says that he decided to go even farther when he presented his concept at the tender: “Culture must be a key and optimal function on the territory of a unique complex in such a glamorous city as Saint Petersburg. I mean concerts of symphony music, staged theatre shows, rock concerts, light-music shows, exhibitions, biennales and the entire range of cultural events — from academic to ultramodern.”
The planned stages have not yet been built in New Holland, but in the future they also intend to construct a 400-seat chamber concert hall and an outdoor lakeside amphitheatre in addition to the Festival Palace. Shalva Chigirinsky realizes the singularity of this complex and is uncertain about the period of return on the stated $300 million investment. New Holland’s commercial functions include hotels, apartment hotels, offices, and shops. Acclaimed British architect Norman Foster clothed this conceptual design in architectural forms. In particular, he proposed a star shape for the Festival Palace. As was illumined by Yuri Mitiurev, principal of the Petersburg-based architectural workshop adapting the project to Russian standards, they haven’t yet finalized the concept and details of the complex. At present, the project is still in the exploratory phase.
This project was granted the first Retail & Leisure award at the 2007 Mipim exhibition. Yet market experts do not expect great interest in such projects on the part of developers. Maria Korobeinikova, who spearheads the strategic consulting department at Jones Lang LaSalle, believes it is too early to talk of theatre-concert halls as a commercial function.
“This function generally manifests itself wherever the projects are backed up by the government, or their creation is stipulated in the investment agreement,” she says. “Unlike the cinema halls quartered in many retail and leisure complexes, theatre halls will not be able to provide such an intense human traffic and therefore their yield is lower.”
A similar scheme will be used to develop Naberezhnaya Evropy project, which envisages the construction of the Dance Palace for the modern theatre ballet of Boris Eifman. Formally Naberezhnaya Evropy started back in 2003 when the first investment contract was concluded between FGUP Prikladnaya khimia and UFSB in Petersburg and Leningrad region, and Petersburg City Co. But since then the development titles have been repeatedly resold. Now the company VTB Petersburg City acts as investor.
Incidentally, the delivery of mixed-uses with a large-scale cultural function by private-public concerns is a common practice in the West. For example, during the days of Hamburg in St. Petersburg, a representative of Hansa city described the project of his native city’s philharmonic society, which is being constructeddel on the docklands. The project was designed by the Swiss studio Herzog & de Meuron: a glass volume, resembling an iceberg or a sea-wave is raised above an old red-brick storehouse. The project is positioned as a philharmonic society, although the glass quarters will house 45 residential units and a five-star 250-room hotel in addition to two concert halls (seating 2,150 and 550, respectively).
Another multifunctional hall and a multi-tier parking garage for 510 cars will be accommodated at the brick basement level. The project is financed from three sources: the Hamburg city treasury, private donations of the city-dwellers and private investment. The budgetary and charity funds to the tune of 138 million euros will be invested in the creation of philharmonic halls and public areas. All commercial functions worth 103.3 million euros will be taken care of by the investor. It’s interesting that budgetary injections account for the greater part of the construction costs, which has so far been absolutely uncharacteristic of the Russian reality.
That nobody in Hamburg is embarrassed by this combination is absolutely unthinkable in Russia’s present-day market.
Business and Theatrical Performance
The integration of the Litsedei theatre into Tolstoy Square ushers a somewhat different dimension into the mixed-use partnership of government and business. In 2002, the St. Petersburg government allotted a 0.38-ha plot on Tolstoy Street for theatre construction to the specially founded company Litsedei Building Corporation. It was obvious, however, that theatrical performances alone will not be sufficient to raise the requisite amount of money for implementation of the ambitious plan. Gradually, a team was formed including representatives of the theatre, the investor (a group of private persons), the architect (Studio 17) and the manager, IB Group.
Comments Elena Andreeva, retail manager at IB Group: “The conceptual idea was suggested by Litsedei theatre: the actors came up with a show where they brought together all most outstanding pieces. Using this same best out of the best system, a synergy concept was developed for the complex. All project stakeholders help each other. Private investors aiming at profit-making and return on investments put together a class A office center, a shopping area, Litsedei theatre, restaurants and an art gallery under one roof.” The 23,000-sqm complex houses three functional areas: retail, office space and theatre. Owing to this selection of functions, the estimated period to recoup costs is slightly more than five years.
Another theatre project to be developed is in the place of the former Okhta cinema. There are plans, still in the bud, to develop a building for the Buff theatre with both a traditional hall and a chamber hall with tables arranged in a cabaret pattern.
By Personal Example
Some situations defy pigeon-holing in any particular trend unless we turn to history and remember affluent patrons of art who kept private troupes. Even though it is not a newly developed project, we cannot but mention the refurbishment of Mikhailovsky theatre in this overview. Prominent Petersburg-based businessman, Vladimir Kekhman, appointed to the position of general director for this theatre, invested around $20 million of his private capital in its restoration and refurbishment. The repairs were completed in record time for such an amount of works: it took only four months to replace all engineering lines, bring the entrance lobby in order, and transform a theatre hall. Having invited opera prima Elena Obraztsova to fill the position of opera art director, and famous Farukh Ruzimatov to act as ballet art director, Mr. Kekhman promised: “Mikhailovsky theatre will feature a mix of names, ideas, cultural events, serious premieres and staged shows along with remarkable performances of world-renowned celebrities. We’ll always be open to any experiments as at the time of the theatre’s heyday when Meyerhold, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Temirkanov worked here.”
One such experiments is the concerts of internationally avowed stars, such as the legend of Spanish guitar Paco de Lucia who packed the house. VIP services include the luxury seats, boxes and dress-circle chairs where tickets are priced at 3,500 rubles. A fashionable restaurant held by Ginza Project operates in the dress circle lobby.
Political Scene
Another argument which works well to attract investment in the creation of theatres and culture halls is politics. For example, Gazprom has put its solid political weight behind the idea of building a 394-meter-high skyscraper (designed by the British studio RMJM) on the swampy Petersburg soil. In the course of heated debate, the skyscraper (around 100,000 sqm) became the dominant feature in the large-scale 1-million-sqm Okhta-Tsentr project, while the office of the gas monopoly quartered in this building became just a part of the peculiar City where a museum of modern art and a 14,000-sqm theatre and concert hall are planned in addition to office space, apartment hotels, shops, restaurants and sports facilities. The scheme of financing fits with the basic concept: while initially the matter concerned only budgetary injections, now a private-public partnership (51% to 49%) is proposed. True, the Okhta-Tsentr project has not been approved so far, and UNESCO entreats not to infringe upon the Petersburg’s skyline even in the name of art.
The large-scale theatre construction has even expanded to regions such as Kaliningrad, where Governor Georgy Boos decided to build a music theatre for $2 billion on a par with the national budget. But even though this project will supposedly be realized completely at the expense of the regional and national budgets, it has an underlying economic logic as well. Mr. Boos wants the theatre to become a point of attraction for European neighbors and to improve the image of the region as a place of international standing and cultural dialogue.
“The theatre will mark a breakthrough in urban development. This building must be staggering indeed; it must be the talk of the day in Europe. Many European guests will be motivated to come here with the express purpose of examining this remarkable landmark,” is how the governor articulated the challenge. Indeed, a world-class theatre is a fitting compliment to a status business project such as the one planned for the city.