October, 2 4 2014 The excitement around "A Legend of Love." Sergeyev considered the charismatic Grigorovich to be a dangerous rival and did not want him to have a success. Some behind-the-scenes games started: the artists' schedules were made in such a way that rehearsals for Grigorovich's production and for other ballets overlapped, which caused confusion and slowed the creative process. The scandal broke when the dress rehearsal for "A Legend of Love" was scheduled for the same time as the rehearsal for "Laurencia", where Rudolph Nureyev danced together with Alla Shelest. Grigorovich was furious. He said: "If you leave now, you can never come back!" Nureyev made a decision: "OK, then I will not come back". This is how "A Legend of Love" lost its main hero. According to his friends, Nureyev was very sad and hoped to dance "his part" at some point. Soon he asked for political asylum during the theatre's guest performances in Paris and stayed in the West. His suitcase, which later arrived in London from Paris, was packed with fabric that he bought in France for Ferkhad's costume. Years later, when he was a world star, Nureyev confessed to Marina Shamsheva, the Mariinsky Theatre's repertiteur, that the role of Ferkhad was his dream. "Please, tell Sergeyev, that there is only one thing I regret: I regret that I have not danced in "A Legend of Love". The premiere of the production, however, was a great success. Alexander Gribov danced the role of Ferkhad, Olga Moiseeva performed the role of Mekhmene Banu, Irina Kolpakova, the future prima of the Kirov ballet and the last student of the great V aganova, performed the role of Shireen. Even though a lot of efforts were made to ruin the production, it was called a masterpiece. Dmitry Shostakovich was amazed by "A Legend of Love", and the great Galina Ulanova was very sad about the fact that she had already finished her dancing career. The Golden age of "A Legend of Love": Plisetskaya, Bessmertnova, Liepa In 1964 Yuri Grigorovich was appointed the main ballet master of the Bolshoi Theatre. "A Legend of Love" became the first production that he staged at the famous theatre. The premiere cast starred the Bolshoi's prima Maya Plisetskaya, Grigorovich's wife and muse Natalia Bessmertnova and the young dancer Maris Liepa, for whom the role of Ferkhad became the start of a breathtaking career. The decision to stage "A Legend of Love" in Moscow was logical; the Leningrad production was extremely popular . One of the reasons for such popularity was the unusual eroticism of the ballet. In the love pas de deux of Princess Shireen and her lover the audience was shocked to see an incredible acrobatic lift: the dancer lifted the ballerina so that her head was down and her legs went up and opened in a leg- split. Mekhmene Banu, who gave her beauty in return for her sister's recovery and covered her face with a scarf forever repeated the same pose in her erotic dreams about Ferkhad. The choreographer's brave decisions were so innovative that they truly puzzled "old-school" artists. Natalia Dudinskaya, the Kirov Theatre's prima, said that even if she had been asked to dance "such horrible choreography" she would have never agreed. There also were people that were disgusted with "immorality" on the stage. The famous leg-split was even discussed at a special meeting of the Communist Party regional committee in Leningrad; back then it could have resulted in removal of the production from the repertoire. But the General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev liked the ballet, and this is what saved "A Legend of Love". No one dared to contradict his expert opinion. When Grigorovich brought the production to Moscow, he did not give up any of his decisions; still, the Moscow production was memorable for the bright performance of the outstanding cast, the Bolshoi's legendary stars, in the first place. Maya Plisetskaya said: "One of the best parts I have danced was the part in "A Legend of Love". Mekhmene Banu is a unique character. Joan of Arc, Juliette and Francesca sacrificed their lives, but not a single one of them sacrificed her beauty. T o act, to live though and to dance this character was an incredible experience". The revival of "A Legend of Love": Tsiskaridze, Lopatkina The ballet "A Legend of Love" was staged in many Russian and foreign theatres. It also remained a part of the repertoire of the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky theatre for many years. In 1998 the production was removed from the Bolshoi's repertoire; however, it returned to the Bolshoi's stage four years later. Yuri Grigorovich, as always, was in charge of the revival. Natalia Bessmertnova, the charming Shireen of one of the first casts, became his assistant. The ballerina admitted: "This is one of those productions that are the dearest to me. Everything about it is important: stylistics, choreography, emotions, expressiveness and the feelings of the main characters".
Nikolay Tsiskaridze, the company's premier and a crowd-pleaser, managed to express all those qualities. Arif Melikov shared his impressions: "Ballet fans miss Nikolay Tsiskaridze. His Ferkhad was so inspired that he could have painted three palaces and broken through three mountains in his spare time". "A Legend of Love" was not performed very often at the Mariinsky Theatre; still, it remained in the theatre's repertoire. Thanks to Ulyana Lopatkina, the queen-like prima of the modern ballet, the production got a new life on the composer's 80th birthday. Lopatkina performed the part of Mekhmene Banu. "A Legend of Love" is revived at the Bolshoi Theatre again in 2014, almost half a century after the Moscow premiere. The cast stars the artists that make the theatre's company famous today. Arif Melikov says: "I am happy with the fact that the story of "A Legend of Love" continues. It is obvious that this is the story of victories and negotiations, and it still strikes a chord. It means that we guessed right some time ago and created something that people can always relate to". Newsletter

October, 2 4 2014 The Bolshoi Theatre opens its season of ballet broadcasts The first live broadcast of the Bolshoi Theatre's new season will take place on October 26th. The audience will be presented with the production "A Legend of Love".
The ballet was created in 1965; it was removed from the Bolshoi Theatre's repertoire for several years, but this season it has been revived and staged on the Bolshoi Theatre's Historic Stage. The cast: Queen Mekhmene Banu - Svetlana Zakharova Princess Shireen, her sister - Anna Nikulina Ferkhad, court painter - Denis Rodkin V izier - Vitaly Biktimirov Shireen - Anna Nikulina, Ferkhad, court painter - Denis Rodkin. Photo: Damir Yusupov The program of ballet broadcasts includes seven productions; six of those were staged by Yuri Grigorovich ("The Pharaoh's Daughter" was created by the French choreographer Pierre Lacotte). One of the main Russian ballet masters of the 20th century staged original productions (for example, "A Legend of Love", "The Nutcracker", "Romeo and Juliette" and "Ivan the Terrible") and also created versions of Marius Petipa's ballets, for example, "La Bayadere" and "Swan Lake". These productions will be presented in the cinemas of 29 Russian cities. The schedule is available on the web-site of the art-union CoolConnections, the project's organizer. The major revival of the ballet "A Legend of Love" premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre The famous ballet "A Legend of Love" returned to the main stage of the country. The revived version was staged by Yuri Grigorovich. On Thursday the Bolshoi Theatre presented a premiere. The famous ballet "A Legend of Love" returned to the main stage of the country. It has been staged by dozens of choreographers. Still, the first production, created by Yuri Grigorovich, is considered to be the best. He also created the revived version of the ballet. There were so many people at the dress rehearsal of "A Legend of Love", that even heads of the ballet company could not find seats. The excitement is rather easy to understand. This production is for those that believe in fairy-tales and like to travel in time. The boxes were packed, many people were standing in the tiered stalls, Sergei Filin could not get to the stalls and Boris Akimov could not even enter the audience hall. But he is not surprised by such excitement for the production that was created half a century ago. Boris Akimov, a ballet master and a People's Artist of the USSR, is convinced: "Retro is always interesting, right? Always! No matter what we say. And then, this production. It is very interesting. I mean the characters and the direction". Y uri Grigorovich composed this eastern fairy-tale together with Arif Melikov and Simon Virsaladze in 1961; the production premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre. Four years later the ballet was staged at the Bolshoi. The production has been revived several times since the premiere. This version was controlled by Yuri Grigorovich. Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi Ballet artistic director and People's Artist of Russia, said: "He organized the auditions himself. I can say that the majority of the artists did not go through those tough auditions, many were changed or suspended during the rehearsals".
During the live broadcast from behind the scenes of the Bolshoi on the World Ballet Day the whole world could watch those rehearsals. Yuri Grigorovich did not try to hide his emotions. But the company survived; it is Grigorovich himself! The final result speaks for itself. The pattern in the ballet reminds us of Persian wall- paintings. But the maestro is not completely satisfied even now. Y uri Grigorovich, People's Artist of the USSR explains: "The company works well. Everyone is doing a wonderful job, I have no issues with anyone or anything, except with the time. As always, we are short of the time. Some details…" Grigorovich did restore the details. The soloists are brilliant; they astonish the audience just like Lavrovsky, Plisetskaya and Bessmertnova used to do it. Denis Rodkin, the Bolshoi Ballet's leading soloist says: "As for the first dancers that performed in this production, I can mention Maris Liepa; as for those, who have danced in it recently, I was impressed with Nikolay Tsiskaridze's performance. I really looked up to those two dancers". Svetlana Zakharova, People's Artist of Russia, is talking about her part and smiling: "In this production I have to suf fer and worry all the time. I will not smile a single time during the whole performance". It really was the last time that Svetlana Zakharova smiled before the performance. She has certain responsibilities with this part. The story of a girl who is ready to sacrifice her crown, her own beauty and love, for the happiness of her younger sister, is a real tragedy. Those who saw the first version of "A Legend of Love" in 1961, will most likely consider the new version to be more dynamic. At the same time we can only envy those who have nothing to compare this production to. The eastern fairy-tale and travel in time started on Thursday. The eternal story of love, jealousy and self-sacrifice is back at the Bolshoi "A Legend of Love", one of Yuri Grigorovich's most famous ballets, returns to the Bolshoi Theatre's Historic Stage. The production was created half a century ago. The premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theatre. Later the ballet was staged at the Bolshoi. In different years the cast starred Maris Liepa, Maya Plisetskaya and Nikolay T siskaridze. Now it is time for the young generation of dancers to perform this story. Anna Vladimirova, the reporter of "Vesti FM" radio, reports. The set on the Bolshoi's stage presents an open book of eastern fairy-tales. Characters of the play "A Legend of Love" by Nazym Hikmet appear from this book. They dance the eternal story of love, jealousy and self-sacrifice. Y uri Grigorovich started working on "A Legend of Love" after he had staged "The Tale of the Stone Flower", a very Russian ballet to music by Sergei Prokofiev. Then the maestro wanted to take a look at a new, mysterious culture that he was very Newsletter

October, 2 4 2014 Newsletter interested in. He says: "I used to like the East a lot. I was keen on the East. I like eastern plastique, eastern poetry, eastern paintings and miniatures. Therefore, this new eastern material was very interesting for me to work with, especially after I had worked on such a Russian story". Yuri Grigorovich is also convinced that it is possible to talk about love or, rather, to dance about love in different languages and in any rhythm. "I think this love that appears at different points of the characters' lives is interesting by itself. "Romeo and Juliet", "Layla and Majnun" - the love story is the same, and it will be interesting as long as people live". Svetlana Zakharova, who performs the role of Mekhmene Banu, stresses that Grigorovich is a real artist, who continues to "paint" his ballet during all his life; he changes it to make it modern and adds new details to it. By the way, the role of the self-sacrificing and passionate Queen Mekhmene turned out to be extraordinary even for the experienced prima. Svetlana Zakharova says: "In this production I have to suf fer and worry all the time. I will not smile for a single time. This part is unusual for me, but it is very powerful as well". Svetlana Zakharova is the only People's Artist in this cast. Other parts are performed by young untitled dancers. Denis Rodkin (Ferkhad) is respectful to the experience of the previous soloists. However, he is convinced that the new collective will not let the great choreographer down: "Previous generations of dancers performed this role in a brilliant way. I hope that I will demonstrate an equally good performance, because I have worked a lot on this part. I did not try to copy anyone. I am trying to combine the technique and the emotions. I believe that everything will work out well". "A Legend of Love" is the kind of production that has to be in any theatre's repertoire. The Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director Sergei Filin considers that its new version is easy to understand for the modern audience. Mr. Filin says: "I can say that Yuri Grigorovich has made some cuts and some changes; the production has become more dynamic. This is mostly true about corps de ballet scenes. Some significant changes have also been made to solo parts". The production "A Legend of Love" has become the Bolshoi's first ballet premiere in the new, 239th season. The recording will be broadcast at some Russian cinemas on November 15th and 16th. "Cosi Fan Tutte" at the Bolshoi The production of Mozart's masterpiece "Cosi Fan Tutte" became one of the highlights of the Bolshoi Theatre's 238th season The interest in operas by Mozart continued to increase during the whole of the 20th century; sometimes it resulted in unusual interpretations of the composer's operas, which were very dif ferent from each other. The tendency remained the same in the 21st century. There were various ways to express the idea about the modern world being relevant and in harmony with the music of the Austrian genius (actually, this idea inspired almost every director). However, each of those productions ways used different means, since the music theatre has lots of tools to help bring even the most audacious ideas to life. Still, there have been only a few successful attempts to do so. One way is very much about a director trying to find the borders: where does Mozart "in a wig" and the gallant style aesthetics end and where is it possible to bring to the stage modern people with their psychology and manners. The production of "Cosi Fan Tutte", staged by the director Claus Guth and the conductor ГЃdám Fischer in 2009 at the Salzburg Festival, and the recent premiere of the same opera at the Royal Theatre in Madrid (2013), when the orchestra was conducted by Sylvain Cambreling, can be named as two examples of this approach; each of those productions was successful to a different degree. The second approach is a more responsible one; it is the musical interpretation, which many "modern" productions lack. Paradoxical as it might be, the production teams do not always consider the music to be the main artistic component of the production. Directors and conductors try to make a production extraordinary and often forget that the composer's authentic text is a precious tool. When one studies this original text attentively, one can come up with the most successful musical interpretations of a production; unfortunately, this is the weak point of opera productions both abroad and in Russia. In this particular context the Bolshoi's production is remarkable for its "classical" staging; this can be considered to be a happy exception from the rule that the fans of this genre should be happy with. Bright and colorful costumes and set together with the music by W.A. Mozart create a harmonious combination of music and design in this production. The Bolshoi was obviously lucky to get Stefano Montanari and Floris Visser to work on this production; the theatre was also lucky to have Gideon Davey, Dieuweke van Reij and Alex Brok create such incredible visuals for the production. Speaking of the musical interpretation, this production is an example of the conservative idea of the gallant style, based on the contrast of two spheres: the illustrative "large-scale" orchestra performance and eagerly refined beauty. The brightest music interpretations of Mozart's works in the world are based on listening to the composer's intonation attentively. Here are some sharply original ideas, which the production team's members based their music dramaturgy on while working on operas by Mozart: This is what Teodor Currentzis says about one important aspect of Mozart's music, its radicalism: "…Mozart invented such radical and expressive transports that made this music forever modern…" Many modern composers feel the same way about Mozart's music. For example, this is what Dmitry Kurlyandsky writes about it: "… this quality shows even in the very first pieces, for example, in the album that he composed for his sister Nannerl: far modulations, broken melodic idioms, non-resolved dissonances - kind of a hide- and-seek game". "Cosi Fan Tutte" by W.A. Mozart, staged at the Bolshoi Theatre. Photo: Yana Rossi/ Classica.FM This extremely modern perception of Mozart's musical tissue provokes the most interesting interpretations of opera scores by this Austrian classic; such interpretations are to be respected. All of them in one way or another are connected with the authentic school of performing; according to many outstanding musicians that interpret works of this composer, it is possible to create contrast and lively ef fects, which are characteristic of Mozart's musical thinking, only using the instruments of his epoch. René Jacobs, one of the leading specialists of authentic performance, admits in his interview with radio "Orpheus": "… I have to say that Mozart's music sounds much better if we use the instruments he wrote it for…" The Russian conductor Teodor Currentzis has a similar opinion; in one of his interviews for Classica FM he shared his ideas: "…The music of Mozart loses a lot when it is performed by romantic singers. The speaking naturalness is lost. It is just romantic singing; the music is softened a bit. Mozart chose the singers himself, and those singers made sure the pieces were not so polished…" Speaking of the most brilliant examples of such opera productions, we can mention the production, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt (the Zurich Orchestra, 2000) and, of course, the wonderful recording of the production, conducted by René Jacobs in 2000. The search for the true spirit of Mozart's music, where the young bravery and endless energy of the musical tissue together with prayer-like reflection and concentration as the main components, is an endless process. This means, that there will be more bright discoveries on the way. Mass media about the Theatre October, 2 4 2014 Newsletter

, 7 October, 2 4 2014 The new version of the ballet "A Legend of Love" premiered on October 23rd .youtube.com/watch?v=NIfcvDbYDxU The revived version of the ballet "A Legend of Love", choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich, premiered on the Bolshoi's Historic Stage on October 23rd. The Bolshoi Theatre's prima Svetlana Zakharova performed the role of Queen Mekhmene Banu; the great Maya Plisetskaya was the first to dance this role. Even if you did not buy tickets to the opening night, you still will have a chance to watch one of the premiere performances. On October 26th the live broadcast of this ballet will take place at cinemas all over the world! T ickets to the cinemas are available at: http://.pathelive.com/fr/sp/spectacles/the-legend-of-love Irina Dolzhenko (mezzo-soprano), People's Artist of Russia and a singer of the Bolshoi Theatre celebrated her birthday on October 23rd. Our best wishes to the singer! Irina Dolzhenko http://

For articles published 22 October 2014 Hundreds of newspapers and websites all over the world announce the upcoming LIVE broadcast of the Bolshoi Ballet's A Legend of Love in local cinemas. CapeNews net (USA) writes that on Sunday, October 26, the 239-year-old Bolshoi Ballet brings to cinemas across the globe "A Legend of Love," featuring original choreography by Yuri Grigorovich with the Bolshoi's principals, soloists and corps de ballet. "A Legend of Love" is a tale of forbidden love, self-sacrifice, jealousy and suffering. It returns to the Bolshoi stage after a 10-year absence and is one of Russian master Y uri Grigorovich's earliest choreographic works. Music for "A Legend of Love" is by Arif Melikov, libretto is by Nâzim Hikmet. The Union of Grass Valley writes "The Bolshoi Ballet is one of the largest and most celebrated ballet companies in the world." The Spectator (UK) publishes a large article Maya Plisetskaya and Rodion Shchedrin and their life in the Soviet Union. The article is published on the eve of the UK premiere of Shchedrin's new opera at the Barbican. The Times (London) publishes a large article about the life of Yuri Lyumibov that also mentions that Prince Igor at the Bolshoi Theatre was one of his last productions. Bolshoi Theatre in the Internet