"Acclaimed music journalist John Ardoin focuses on the inspired directorship of Valery Gergiev in this celebration of the Kirov theater and its heroic survival. In the 1990s the great artistic institution regained its original name, the Mariinsky Theater, and thanks to Gergiev's tireless efforts won back its status as Russia's premier opera theater. At Gergiev's invitation, Ardoin moved to St. Petersburg and endured the long Russian winter of 1995-1996...