The Mariinsky Theatre website, display window to probably the hottest centre for Prokofiev performances today - run, of course, by the dynamic conductor Valery Gergiev. Please note that this site has Russian and English-language versions, and I've only checked out the English version (perhaps one of our Russian speakers can review the other - if so, send your review to our webmaster).
   You'll find most of the usual features of such opera company sites, including a list of their repertory (alas, no synopses of the various operas as yet), and a calendar of past, current and forthcoming performances. Recently the site has created facilities for buying tickets on-line, though I cannot vouch for its security; those who prefer can make use of the telephone and fax numbers provided by the site or its e-mail link. Less usual features include links to brief biographies of the company's singers and dancers, histories of the opera and ballet companies, and information on such initiatives of Gergiev's as the formation of the Young Singers' Academy. Alas, the site seems to have dispensed with the slide show of appetising pictures taken throughout the theatre, but there still remains the virtual tour of the Main Hall and a "Panorama of the Theatre Square" outside the Mariinsky using QuickTime (there's a link to download the software if you are not already armed with this): for either option, you simply wait for what appears to be a picture to download, which you can then "look around" in a virtual 360 degree turn around (that is, look almost everywhere but immediately above or "down at your feet"!): zoom in by pressing your shift button, and zoom out by pressing control.