The Nutcracker is an 1892 Classical ballet in Two Acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination. The plot is an adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The ballet's first choreographer was Marius Petipa, with whom Tchaikovsky had worked three years earlier on The Sleeping Beauty, assisted by Lev Ivanov. Although the complete and staged The Nutcracker ballet was not as successful as had been the 20-minute Nutcracker Suite that Tchaikovsky had premiered nine months earlier, The Nutcracker soon became popular.

Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda (1891).

On Christmas Eve, a little girl has a dream… Awakening of feelings, first tender gestures, the world of childhood which gradually merges into that of adults… behind what seems to be a children's tale unfolds a true initiation novel danced. And, while the children exclaim at Drosselmeyer's magic tricks and take pleasure in frightening themselves with the rat dance, the adults perceive the delicacy of the story and the incredible virtuosity of the choreography.

Director: Valery Gergiev (Music Director)
Cast: Orchestra and Choir of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg