St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre has staged the opera Dead Souls to the music by Rodion Shchedrin, who turns 80 in 2012. One of the indisputable operatic masterpieces of the 20th century will appear in the brand new, bright, expressive staged version, more than 30 years later, again at the Mariinsky Theatre. The premiere of the production took place on March 18. It is the first Russian production since its 1977 premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre.