South Ossetia is a tiny patchwork with perhaps as few as 50, 000 inhabitants in the Ossetian-controlled part.

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The world-renowned conductor Valery Gergiev, himself an Ossetian, gave a concert in the devastated South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali with his home orchestra, the Mariinsky of St Petersburg.

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New video installations by Sven Ortel add welcome scenic relief to the production, but Mr Zeldin was nevertheless obliged to take on the old set, which is dominated by four 12-foot-high giants, the primordial gods of Ossetian mythology.

ECONOMIST: Valery Gergiev's ��Ring��