St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Orchestra (formerly known as the Kirov) will be performing at the National Arts Centre on March 15, with superstar conductor Valery Gergiev. Gergiev is a fascinating personality, as this article attests: maestro, businessman, jet-setter, Russian nationalist and friend of Vladimir Putin; and, according to a review of a documentary about him, the possessor of "an elemental ferocity just barely held in check."