The new Mariinsky Theatre opened 2 October 1862 with a performance of Glinka's A Life for the Tsar. Under Eduard Napravnik, who worked at the theatre for half a century, becoming Principal Conductor in 1869, the Mariinsky Theatre and the Russian Opera Company entered a golden age, premiering the great Russian repertoire of operas by Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky.