Kirov to help open O.C. hall, theater

Conductor Valery Gergiev will bring the Kirov Opera, Ballet and Orchestra to the Orange County Performing Arts Center in October 2006 to help celebrate the opening of the center’s Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and the Samueli Theater.

Gergiev will conduct fully staged productions of Wagner’s four-opera “Ring” cycle and Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov,” according to a representative of New York-based Ardani Artists Management, which is managing the company’s tour. The spokeswoman said that the Kirov Ballet will dance “Romeo and Juliet” and “Raymonda” and that there will also be at least two Kirov Orchestra concerts.

Jerry Mandel, president of the center, would not confirm the bookings. He released a written statement Tuesday saying only that the Kirov companies “are definitely among the remarkable artists that we are negotiating with.”

But the Ardani Artists representative said that Gergiev would conduct Wagner’s “Rheingold,” the opening opera of the “Ring,” on Oct. 6 in Segerstrom Hall, followed by “Die Walkure,” Oct. 7; “Siegfried,” Oct. 9; and “Gotterdammerung,” Oct. 12. Kirov Orchestra concerts will take place Oct. 8 and 10. “Boris Godunov” will be staged Oct. 13 through 15. “Romeo and Juliet” will be danced Oct. 17 through 19; “Raymonda,” Oct. 20 through 22.