Khan Konchak (Sergei Aleksashkin), Konchakovna (Olga Borodina), Prince Vladimir Igorevich (Yevgeny Akimov) & Prince Igor (Alexander Morozov)

I love going to the opera at the Mariinsky but especially so in the winter. The evenings are -25, snowy,dark and ice-covered, yet the bright lights and warmth of the audiences at the opera provide a way out of the deep winters gloom. Russian composers knew this, and would create spectacular, long pieces to best illustrate their adapations of Russian stories. Many last for over three hours, with the intermissions being a chance to catch up with friends, drink vodka, champagne and enjoy caviar, which can still be done in the Mariinsky today.

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Eugene (Konstantin Zverev) looks down at the flooded Neva

Gliere’s ballet “The Bronze Horseman” was revived at the Mariinsky last night. A Pushkin tale of how Peter the Great built St.Petersburg, and of the real flood in 1824 that destroyed large parts of the city. It is centred around the statue built by Falconet and sited in Senate Square. The plinth incidentally, in the largest rock ever moved into position by humans. The ballet,for which Gliere wrote the music in 1948, is a three hour extravaganza with awesome dancing, effects, and stage sets. It really is a Petersburg ballet, with local legends stating that if the statue is removed, St.Petersburg will fall. Since the city underwent tremendous stresses over the centures, the legend has remained true.

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The Soviet era Opera “Kai & Gerda”, based on the story of the Snow Queen  by Hans Christian Andersen has been revived in Russia recently, with both the Bolshoi and Mariinsky featuring revivals. The opera was originally premiered at the Mariinsky (then known as the Kirov) on Christmas Eve 1980; the performance I saw is the third production, with significant improvements available in terms of costumes, sets and technologies that were not conceivable 40 years ago.

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As is my tradition, I spend New Years Eve and the Orthodox Christmas (January 7th) is Russia, usually at my St. Petersburg apartment. The Russians celebrate New Year with enthusiasm just as everyone else does, and unless I get my annual share of winter snow, icy temperatures and that feeling of Christmas spirit at this time, I don’t feel quite right for the next twelve months. A cold traditional Christmas has become rather more than an annual celebratory event, it has become a necessity.

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Ingredients:
1 x Goose
1 x Guinea Fowl (or large duck)
1 x Pheasant (wild is best)
1 x Partridge or Quail (wild preferred)

Christmas and the New Year period are always a time to be with family and friends – with those hosting the task of putting on enough food a daunting one. Cuisine needs to be wholesome, filling, delicious and in line with the occasion, something rather special and out of the ordinary.

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Next year is the 135th anniversary of Stravinsky’s birth, so it is entirely appropriate that a piece long thought lost during the Russian revolution has been found. There is a ‘missing link’ between Stravinsky’s earlier work, exemplified by “The Firebird“ with its quasi oriental exoticism influenced by Rimsky-Korsakov, to “Le Sacre du Printemps“ influenced by Nicholas Roerich. The difference in composition is startling, the earlier pieces from the romance of the Imperial Russian Court and elements of the East, to a far more rhythmic and tribal piece. The gap between the two proved too much for many concert goers at the time, the audience famously rioting when Sacre was first performed.

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I’m back to Sri Lanka for the Winter months, and what better way to re-acquaint myself with the local scenery than spend a few hours out fishing. I have nothing in the larder, the cupboard is bare after months spent in Europe, so I really do need to fish for my supper.

The best time is early morning or evening, and I’ve opted for dusk, leaving the shore at about 5pm. The Indian Ocean is still fairly rough, with the recent supermoon – the largest since 1948 – exerting a huge pull on the waves. It is a big swell out there today of about eight-nine feet, and even the dangerous underwater rocks that crowd out part of Unawatuna Bay are exposed as the waves surge back and forth and crash over them. It can be a deadly spot – there are wrecks just here, of small to medium fishing boats that ventured just a little too close. I know from diving just here the currents are strong too. Its an area deserving of some respect and I give the rocks and undersea breakers a wide berth as I motor around and out into open Ocean.

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I love living near the sea; Malta of course is a Southern European Island nation right in the centre of the Mediterranean, while I also have my lovely House in Sri Lanka on the South Coast. I am spoilt for choice when it comes to sea food. However, there’s nothing quite like catching your own. So I am out, fishing for dinner.

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I’m very taken with the potential for, and investing in a Vineyard in the Caucasus, and have taken a trip across the border driving down to Armenia. It’s a seven hour drive between Tbilisi and Yerevan, and we arrive late in the afternoon. The next morning we are off early to visit vineyards possibly suitable for development in Veghegagadzhor, in the Areni region of Armenia. This is where the best wines in Armenia are said to come from.

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I’m visiting Georgia’s Alazani Valley to participate in this years wine harvest, inspecting and sampling the grapes, helping them into the Qvevris and naturally taking an interest in previous vintages. The Alazani Valley benefits by being warm in the summer when the grapes are ripening, and is fed by the Alazani River, which originates from snow melt high in the Caucasus Mountains, irrigates the valley, and flows east. It empties out into the Caspian Sea. The mountains also provide a natural enhancement for vine cultivation here – grapes do not appreciate hot nights, they like to be cool in the evening. This means the Alazani Valley is one of the worlds great wine producing areas – cool air sweeps down at dusk from the Caucasus and blankets the entire valley with cool air overnight, until the morning sun burns that off once again and summer temperatures rise to 32 degrees. These are perfect conditions for grape cultivation.

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