We're all about celebrating city culture here at UrbanToronto, especially during the long, cold winter! So we're especially excited to announce an extra-special contest just for UTers!

One lucky UT member will win a pair of tickets to an exclusive VIP event celebrating the Diamond Schmitt Architects-designed New Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. The recently-completed 2,000-seat theatre has been hailed for its carefully engineered acoustics and sensitive juxtaposition of a modern building set amongst the surrounding historic 19th century architectural backdrop of this storied city.

New Mariinsky Theatre, image courtesy of Diamond Schmitt Architects

Hyped as the most important building constructed in Russia in 70 years—and the first new opera house built in Russia since the time of the Tsars—the story of the building's race-to-finish construction in time for the gala opening has inspired a film, The Maestro & The Master: Building the New Mariinsky.

To celebrate this crossroads between architecture and culture, Diamond Schmitt Architects and UpFront Entertainment Inc. will be presenting the premiere screening of the film in Toronto on Wednesday February 11, 2015 at the Design Exchange.

One of our lucky readers and a companion will have the opportunity to attend this exclusive event through participation in a photography contest. To enter, submit a photo of a cultural happening in an identifiable Toronto setting to us. A panel of UrbanToronto judges will pick a favourite image that best exemplifies the theme of people enjoying the cultural life of Toronto.

Here are the rules for the contest:

  • Image must depict a cultural event or location within the GTA
  • Image must be submitted to the dedicated Forum thread by the original photographer on or before January 31st at 11:59 PM
  • Images must be from the past five months
  • Selfies or photos with identifiable well-known individuals will not be considered

The winner's name and winning photo will be published in a front page story on UrbanToronto.ca on February 2, 2015. The submitting photographer will receive two tickets to the exclusive premiere event screening of The Maestro & The Master: Building the New Mariinsky in the grand setting of the Design Exchange.

Now get snapping! Good luck to all!