White Nights Foundation of America

Established in 1999, the White Nights Foundation of America fosters binational support for the Mariinsky Theatre and its institutions: the Kirov Opera, Ballet, and Orchestra, the Academy for Young Singers, and the Young Musicians' Orchestra. The Mariinsky Theatre was founded in 1783 in St. Petersburg as the Bolshoi Stone Theatre, and it was once the prominent music theater of late 19th-century Russia. Many of the stage masterpieces from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov received premieres at the Mariinsky Theater. In the 250-plus years since its founding, the theater has undergone drastic changes in both name and appearance while remaining a vital cultural institution, hosting classical and innovative operas, ballets, and concerts that attract audiences from across the globe.