November, 2 1 2014 Anna Nikulina and Ruslan Skvortsov together with Alexander Vetrov. Photo: Katerina Novikova As RIA NOVOSTI was informed by the company Japan Arts Corp., the organizer of the Bolshoi's tour, almost all tickets for performances of the renowned company have been already sold out. The casts star Maria Alexandrova and Svetlana Zakharova, who are well-known in Japan; Denis Rodkin and Vladislav Lantratov are the ballerina's partners. It will be the first time that the Japanese audience will see these male dancers perform the main parts in "Swan Lake" and "La Bayadere". The Bolshoi Ballet company will present "Swan Lake", "La Bayadere" and "Don Quixote". The guest performances will continue until December 7th. The gala concert "Golden Voices of Mongolia" took place on the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage on November 20th as a part of the program of cultural cooperation between Russia and Mongolia. The concert starred the leading soloists of the Mongolian State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, accompanied by the Russian National Orchestra (director - M. Pletnev). The orchestra was conducted by an Honored Artist of Russia Alexander Polyanichko. The program included arias from operas by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Verdi, Puccini and Saint-SaГ«ns. Enkhbat Amartuvshin, the winner of the Placido Domingo competition OPERALIA (2012), the winner of the 2nd prize and the Audience Award of the XIV International T chaikovsky Competition and a laureate of the 2nd prize and two special prizes of the Francisco Viñas International Singing Contest in Barcelona (2013) was one of the most anticipated guests. Mr. Amartuvshin has performed at different theatres and concert halls in Italy, France, Spain, South Korea, Romania and China. In 2012 he participated in concerts organized for members of the UN General Assembly, which took place in New York. Amartuvshin is the first artist in the history of Mongolia, to receive the title of an Honored Artist at the age of 24. The Bolshoi Opera's soloists Elena Manistina (mezzo-soprano) and Anna Aglatova (soprano) were the special guests of the concert. An exhibition about 75 years of the Mongolian State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet's history opened at the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage Exhibition Hall on November 20th. The Mongolian speed-meeting at the Bolshoi Theatre. Everyone sings now! On November 20th the gala concert "Golden Voices of Mongloia" takes place on the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage as a part of the program of cultural cooperation between Russia and Mongolia. For those that do not have special knowledge, it is dif ficult to imagine that the country that known for its people's nomadic way of life, as well as Tibet and Buddhist traditions, develops opera, a European art form. Of course, there is the influence of the "big brother", the Soviet Union, in such a posh presentation as a concert at the Bolshoi Theatre, which is quite nostalgic. It is natural that the opera has been something exotic for Mongolia; there is only one opera theatre in the country (Ulan-Bator), which opened in May 1963. The epic "Among sad mountains", written by self-taught composer Bilegin Damdinsuren and the professional Soviet composer Boris Smirnov in 1943, is considered to be the first national opera. By the way, an exhibition about 75 years of the Mongolian State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet's history has opened at the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage Exhibition Hall. It features costumes, props and photographs that illustrate the most significant achievements of the company. Nowadays there are several Mongolian singers that have managed to achieve significant success in the international arena. The playbill of the concert at the Bolshoi Theatre announced performances of the best of the best, laureates of international competitions that perform at the best opera theatres around the world. Enkhbat Amartuvshin (baritone) was the most famous guest. He is the winner of the Placido Domingo competition OPERALIA (2012) and the winner of the 2nd prize and the Audience Award of the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition. Amartuvshin is a graduate of the Mongolian University of Arts and Culture in Ulan Bator (class of a professor Tserenpil Eruu) and the first singer in the history of Mongolia that received the title of an Honored Artist at the age of 24. Even though he is an internationally acclaimed singer, he continues to live in his motherland and work there a lot. Amartuvshin and his seven fellow countrymen, supported by the Bolshoi's soloists Anna Aglatova and Elena Manistina and accompanied by the Russian National Orchestra (conductor - Alexander Polyanichko), performed masterpieces of Italian, French and Russian opera classics. Let it be the concert that will demonstrate to the audience, whose voice is really golden, and whose is only gilded. The Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage always challenges artists to an unbiased evaluation. /…/ T oday at the "Artistic Council". November 20th 2014 The Bolshoi Theatre soloist and a People's Artist of Russia Elena Manistina together with the opera singer and a the winner of the Placido Domingo competition OPERALIA (2012) Enkhbat Amartuvshin (Mongolia) were guests of the nighttime RC program "Culture News". The gala concert "Golden Voices of Mongolia" took place on the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage on November 20th as a part of the program of cultural cooperation between Russia and Mongolia. The concert starred the famous Mongolian "golden baritone" Enkhbat Amartuvshin, as well as Elena Manistina (mezzo-soprano) and Anna Aglatova (soprano). More details were discussed first-hand with the singers in "Artistic Council". Ksenia Egorova talked to the guests. The program was broadcast as a part of the nighttime program "Culture News" at 11.05 p.m., November 20th. On November 20th Maya Plisetskaya, the living legend, celebrated her 89th birthday. We remembered the most interesting facts from the famous ballerina's life, and found some rare pictures. Maya Plisetskaya was born on November 20th 1925 in Moscow. The future ballet star was born into the family of the famous Soviet engineer and mine director Mikhail E. Plisetsky and the silent cinema actress Rachel M. Messerer. Maya Plisetskaya Mass media about the Theatre Newsletter

November, 2 1 2014 followed in her aunt's footsteps; Sulamith Messerer was a ballerina and a Bolshoi Theatre soloist. Plisetskaya devoted herself to her job fully; in order to continue her dancing career for a longer time, she decided not to have children. She finished her dancing career at the age of 61, but on her 70th birthday she made a debut in the piece "Ave Maya", which was choreographed by Maurice Bejart especially for her. Maya Plisetskaya is a ballerina and a choreographer (she worked as an artistic director of the Rome Opera Ballet and the Spanish National Ballet of Madrid), a writer (she does not allow anyone else to check her autobiographic books and spends hours, editing each sentence) and a remarkable woman, who looks great and is full of energy at the age of 89; she rarely appears at social occasions, but every time she comes to any of them, it becomes a remarkable event. Maya Plisetskaya admitted that the ballet was not her "life-long passion". She wanted to become an actress, like her mother Rachel Messerer, who starred in silent films. When Plisetskaya's father was shot and her mother was sent to the camp for wives of traitors of their country, 13-year old Maya was adopted by her mother's sister, the Bolshoi Theatre soloist Sulamith Messerer; the girl took after her aunt and became a ballerina as well. At the age of 14 Maya Plisetskaya danced "The Dying Swan" for the first time; later this piece became her "trademark". The piece was choreographed by her aunt, Sulamith Messerer; she changed the original version of Michael Fokine, where the ballerina Anna Pavlova entered the stage facing the audience. Sulamith Messerer later explained: "There were two reasons for me to do it. First of all, Maya's extremely beautiful hands and arms and her remarkable dancing plastique. <…> Even though Maya had an extremely expressive face, I decided that she would enter the stage with her back to the audience in order to distract the spectators' attention from her feet, that were not that advantageous, and to concentrate their attention on Maya's arms and neck. This piece would not have become Maya's "trademark piece" if it had not matched her talent so well". Maya Plisetskaya admitted that she saw her "Dying Swan" at the Moscow Zoo: "I went there several times with only one purpose - to look at swans' plastique, the way their wings' moved and the set of their heads on their bended necks. One time I got lucky. Suddently a black swan several meters away from me spread his wings, put his leg up and made a classical arabesque. He remained in this position for an unbelievably long time. I remember that I was amazed at how great its balance was… ". The ballerina is self-critical of her performances and considers that today she would not even be taken into a ballet school: "My knee would not go in, and my instep is not very impressive either". Plisetskaya was the most glamorous ballerina in the country. People were as much interested in her outfits, as they were in her legendary roles. When she went on tours, she brought back costumes that no one in the Soviet Union dared to dream about. Legendary Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent designed outfits for her. Maya Plisetskaya and Yves Saint Laurent Maya Plisetskaya used to have very special relationships with Pierre Cardin; she was the designer's muse, and he was creating costumes and outfits for her for 30 years. The ballerina said: "Cardin designed a lot of priceless costumes for me, and did not ever ask for money". /.../ For articles published 19 November 2014 The New York Times writes about the tour of the Mikhlailovsky Ballet in the U.S. and says: "Today's Mikhailovsky sometimes seems more like the legendary pre-1968 Bolshoi - ardent, go for broke, space consuming - than the Bolshoi of today. No wonder: Its ballet master in chief, Mikhail Messerer, comes from old Bolshoi stock; and Ms. Osipova and Mr. Vasiliev always seemed old Bolshoi in their astounding vitality". Ismene Brown writes in the blog of the The Spectator about the decision of Alina Cojocaru who decided to skip a matinee performance with English National Ballet in Bucks UK in order to fly to Russia to save a Bolshoi show. T oronto Star publishes a positive review about John Neumeier's Nijinsky at the National Ballet of Canada starring Svetlana Lunkina. V arious publications announce the broadcast of the Pharaoh's Daughter including the German Frankfurter Neue Presse. France TV Info writes that "If it happens that the dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet are invited by the Bolshoi example, it will be the first time that stars and ballet soloists will share the stage in a co-production with the dancers of an external company". Newsletter

, 7 November, 2 1 2014 On the Bolshoi Theatre official pages in the social networks we uploaded pictures, taken by Katerina Novikova, the Head of the Bolshoi Theatre's Press- Office, on theThe Bolshoi Ballet's guest performances opened in the city of Utsunomiya, the capital of the Tochigi Prefecture. The company performed at the Tochigi-ken Sogo Bunka Center. Photo: Katerina Novikova first day of the company's tour in Japan: The Bolshoi Ballet's guest performances opened in the city of Utsunomiya, the capital of the Tochigi Prefecture. The company performed at the Tochigi-ken Sogo Bunka Center. Photo: Katerina Novikova The directors in charge of the performance, Vladimir Scherbakov and Irina Zibrova. Photo: Katerina Novikova The set has to be transported to Tokyo overnight. Photo: Katerina Novikova Anastasia Stashkevich, a Bolshoi Theatre leading soloist, celebrated her birthday on November 20th. Our best wishes to the ballerina! A photo from Anastasia Stashkevich's personal archives

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