School in order to cover the reconstruction expenses. This year the famous educational institution will be 80 years old; in the last 30 years the building has not been reconstructed and is in a very poor condition. T o make a step towards each other Best dancers of the world performed in the charity gala in support of the Kiev Choreographic School that took place at the Bolshoi Theatre on December 7th The day before the gala "Vechernaya Moskva" visited the dress rehearsal of "Ballet without Borders". The concert was initiated and organized by Svetlana Zakharova, t h e Bols h oi Theatr e 's prim a balle rin a (a nd th e fo rm er gra d uate of th e Kie v Choreographic School - editor's note). The Bolshoi Theatre's prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova There were only mass media representatives in the audience hall during the dress rehearsal. It was one of those rare cases when the Bolshoi Theatre audience hall had some vacant seats. All tickets for this spectacular ballet gala were sold out a month ago. All money raised will be donated to the Kiev Choreographic School, the Alma Mater of many world ballet stars, and spent on its reconstruction. The action that took place on the stage during the dress rehearsal reminded us of a "quilt", made from small, bright and easy-to-recognize fragments and pieces of ballets that are real "trademarks" of those theatres that the participants of the concert perform. The dancers from Germany, the UK, France and Russia participated in one gala. Most of them used to study at the Kiev Choreographic School; participation in this charity concert was a way for them to support their Alma Mater. Natalia Osipova opened the second part of the concert; she performed the part of Juliette. She had been dancing at the Bolshoi Theatre for seven years, and now she is working with the Royal Ballet (the UK). Natalia admitted: - I love to come back and dance here. I am also very happy to participate in the same project with wonderful dancers from different countries that were united by the idea of this wonderful, generous project. How could I refuse to help children? It is terrible that they are studying in such bad conditions. When you come to a rehearsal room in winter and it is so cold that you shiver… I am glad that I have a chance to do something to help change this situation. Art has some kind of creative power; it can even save people. There is no place for conflicts in art. This is why the gala, created by the group of dancers, was called "Ballet without Borders". Y uri Baranov, the producer of the gala and the Bolshoi Theatre's soloist, told "V echernaya Moskva": - Ballet knows no obstacles and no language barriers. Body language and plastique language is easy for everyone to comprehend; it needs no translation. Stage directors, choreographers, artists and people of art feel the changes; therefore, the material that has been performed in a particular way for a number of years can have new interpretations. I have seen children that study at the Kiev Choreographic School. They are really talented! We can say that they are a national treasure. Any country, regardless of its political situation, has art. It is art that makes people happy and provides them an opportunity to forget about anything that makes them feel uneasy. The Moscow audience was happy to attend the concert. Even though all tickets had been sold out beforehand, it was still possible to buy a spare ticket near the theatre right before the performance. Both ballet fans and those, who simply wanted to support this generous initiative, came to the concert. Andrei and Maria Ponomarenko, guests from Krasnoyarsk, told "Vechernaya Moskva": - We simply could not have missed this gala, since we knew who the money would be donated to. Nobuhiro Terada, the Kiev Choreographic School artistic director and an Honored Artist of Ukraine "V echernaya Moskva" also managed to get a hold of Nobuhiro Terada, the Kiev Choreographic School artistic director and an Honored Artist of Ukraine. - W e all are very grateful to Svetlana Zakharova for the fact that she does not forget about us and supports us. I extend my gratitude to the artists that came to participate in this gala in support of our school. Many of them are the graduates of this school. - The building has not been reconstructed for a very long time. We continue to work in spite of everything. Svetlana Zakharova visited us a year ago. She saw everything and decided to make a present for the children. - W e are not politicians. People of culture should get together and make a step towards each other so we do not have war. Svetlana has already made a major step; she has made a huge effort to prevent war between Ukraine and Russia. There will be people that will criticize, both in Ukraine and in Russia. But we are very grateful to her; I mean, I, the School, the theatre and our children. We support this idea. Unfortunately, we will not be able to come to Moscow, but we send Svetlana our deepest gratitude. December, 9 2014 Newsletter

Rescuers simulated a fire alarm at the Bolshoi Theatre There was smoke, evacuation, rescue and putting out a simulated fire. According to the rescuers' plan, the fire started in the orchestra pit during the matinee rehearsal. The press office of Moscow Chief Administration of Ministry of Emergency Situations stated that on Monday, December 8th 2014, the Bolshoi Theatre would be covered in smoke... there would be smoke, evacuation, rescue and putting out a simulated fire. Fire alarms went off in the lower boxes and the rescuers arrived. Because of the intensive fire there will be a lot of smoke; there was a chance that the fire would spread into the audience hall and onto the stage. The rescuers organized a simulated evacuation, saved people from the seventh floor and put out a simulated fire. Culture. New people at the Bolshoi and in the modern visual art In 2015 the audience will be able to evaluate productions of state theatres and grade what they see using the grading scale from 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest grade and 5 - the highest). This piece of news hardly is a rude awakening. The criteria that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of budget spending has been developed for several years, so this concept is neither the first, nor the last one. Now we are talking about involving audiences in this process and providing people with opportunities to evaluate productions in the Internet and even at theatres' foyers. /…/ The meeting of the Bolshoi Theatre Board of Trustees took place last week; Mikhail Shvydkoy, who used to be the first vice-chairman of the Bolshoi's Board of Trustees, was elected the new Chairman of the Executive Committee for the next two years. He became the third Chairman of the Executive Committee in the history of the Board of T ru ste es. E arlie r th is posit io n w as ta ke n by A le xa nder B udberg ; K onsta ntin Remchukov was the first Chairman of the Committee. /…/ "Rigoletto" by Giuseppe Verdi will be performed at the Bolshoi; this is the co- production of the Bolshoi Theatre, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Festival d'Aix- en-Provence, Opéra national du Rhin and Theatre La Monnaie (Belgium) Not only Moscow, but the whole of Europe watches "Rigoletto" and listens to this opera; the show is not positioned as a guest production at any of the theatres. In fact, the theatres shared all expenses; each of them had its own auditions and knew that the production would not stay in the repertoire forever. This project started several years ago; thus, the Moscow audience will be presented with the administrative heritage of the Bolshoi's former team. Robert Carsen, the ultimate and impeccable leader of world opera stage direction, an aesthete and a virtuoso, who can present the modern opera theatre as a respectable art, is the main figure of this project. Carsen plays cunning when he says that "classics remains classics and one does not have to set the opera in modern times in order to make it modern". The time and place that his productions are set in turn out to be the most unexpected ones; however, supporters of opera "truth" do not blame him for this. Even the particular eroticism in some of his works does not cause major scandals. This Canadian professional demonstrates very sophisticated technique; it allows him to avoid complaints of traditionalists and strike a chord with progressive audiences at the same time. His decisions appeal to the audience because they are so well thought-through; his concepts are fun, but not destructive; his opera productions are wonderful, like jewels.
Carsen's productions are always independent visual objects that come to life on the stage thanks to sophisticated dramatic tension. The minimalism of the almost conservative "I Capuleti e i Montecchi" by Bellini, the extreme aestheticism of "Elektra" by Strauss, staged on the "naked" stage in Paris, or sophisticated and elegant, but at the same time conceptual inauguration performance at "La Scala" after the theatre's reconstruction - everything that Carsen creates amazes with the grandeur of architectural forms and plastique movements of the characters' souls. Carsen is the person that can create an expensive postmodernist product even in the time of financial crisis and strict economy; he can create such a kind of production even on an empty stage. During a rehearsal. Photo: Damir Yusupov However, there will be no empty stage in this version of Verdi's "Rigoletto". There will be no Duke's palace, dark side streets, houses and gardens of Mantua and sea shores either. Carsen uses his favorite trick of the dramatic unity of time and place; the terrible story of "Rigoletto", from the first words to the last sighs and screams will take place in the circus arena. But even an opera orthodox will not be able to blame the director for this trick. Everyone knows that Rigoletto is a jester. Circus is the right place for him. One should not doubt that the tragic pathos of the grandiose score based on Hugo's play "Le roi s'amuse" (Verdi set the story not in France, but in Italy, and Hugo was very unhappy about it), will not only remain untouched, but will actually be more acute than one might wish. The circus will become a place for not only jokes, but also torture, charm, mockery, caricature bandits, tender and indifferent artists, brilliance, fear and real death. Well, if it turns out to be real in the finale. For articles published 5-7 December 2014 Agence France Presse (AFP) the French newswire reports after the performance of Ballet Without Borders the gala in support of the Kiev Ballet School organised by the Bolshoi's prima Svetlana Zakharova. "It was a full house, it was a huge success," the producer of the concert, Yuri Baranov, told AFP, referring to rapturous applause and stamping of feet." The report says a dozen of the world's top ballet stars put on a dazzling performance. Agence France Presse (AFP) says many international stars came to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre including Natalia Osipova the prima of the Royal Ballet. The article is republished in many international editions including the Kyiv Post, The Luxemburger W ort, L'Express, ANSA and others. T he Ja p ane se M ain ic h i N ew sp ap ers p ublis h es a n a rtic le a bou t th e fin al performances of the Bolshoi Ballet in Japan. December, 9 2014 " Rigoletto " at the Bolshoi Newsletter

, 7 December, 9 2014 Monaco Channel reports about the upcoming Monaco Dance Forum in December which will include the legendary Bolshoi Theatre Ballet which will perform "The T aming of the Shrew" on 20 and 21 December 2014, choreographed by Jean- Christophe Maillot. "The ballet received a standing ovation at its premiere in July 2014 in Moscow, this creation is a unique event in the history of the legendary R uss ia n co m pany: th is is th e fir s t tim e th e B ols h oi ha s in vit e d a fo re ig n choreographer to create a narrative ballet for an entire evening". An article published in the National Post (Canada) points out that Russia and the W est should be friends not enemies and points to Russian culture to demonstrate how much Russia and the West have in common including the Bolshoi. "Russia's culture resonates deeply with ours. We have for centuries been moved by Russian a uth ors su ch as To ls to y and D osto evsk y, by R ussia n co m pose rs su ch as T chaikovsky and Rachmaninof f, by Russian artistic institutions such as the Bolshoi and the Hermitage - in short, by what is known as the Russian Soul." The Daily Telegraph publishes several articles about Russian ballet including the B ols h oi aro und th e la u nch of a ne w se rie s of D VD s of film s of S ovie t- e ra performances titled the Russian Ballet Collection. Many editions announce the screening of the Bolshoi's La Bayadere in cinemas around the world and the upcoming transmission of The Nutcracker later in December. Svetlana Zakharova and her friends are going to perform in Athens! Svetlana Zakharova's Christmas galas will take place at the Megaron Concert Hall in Athens on December 11th - 13th. Performances of the Bolshoi Theatre's prima ballerina and her friends in Athens become a tradition. This year her visit will be a wonderful Christmas present. Gala concerts will be organized for three days in a row, December 11th - 13th at 8.30 p.m. (local time). The program will include fragments of classical ballets, as well as some modern productions. The concerts will star Svetlana Zakharova and the Bolshoi Theatre's soloists Andrei Merkuriev, Mikhail Lobukhin and Anastasia Stashkevich, as well as Patrick de Bana, the founder of the Nafas Dance Company and artists of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre. W e also uploaded the TASS article "Mikhail Shvydkoy has become the new Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bolshoi Board of Trustees" on the Bolshoi Theatre official pages in the social networks: /T ext: Olga Svistunova, TASS/ Katerina Novikova, the Bolshoi's spokeswoman, told TASS that Mikhail Shvydkoy, the Special Envoy to the President of the Russian Federation for international cultural cooperation, had become the new Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bolshoi Board of Trustees. M-me Novikova mentioned that on December 4th the meeting of the Executive Committee had taken place. Representatives of companies that are members of the Board of Trustees were present at the meeting that was chaired by Alexander Zhukov, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma and the Board of Trustees' Chairman. Vladimir Urin, the Bolshoi Theatre General Director, talked about the theatre's projects of 2014, the coming premieres and guest performances, shared relevant tasks that the theatre's administration focuses on and expressed his gratitude to all Board of Trustees' members for the support that they provided the theatre with in 2014. The non-commercial organization the Bolshoi Theatre Foundation, established in 2002, is one of the tools for providing the theatre with support. Vasily Titov, the chairman of the Foundation's Council and the first deputy director of VTB Bank, talked about the Foundation's work in 2014 and its plans for the coming years. The Council also confirmed Mikhail Shvydkoy's appointment to the position of the Executive Committee's chair for the time period from December 2014 till December 2016; this appointment was the result of the voting, organized among the Board's members. Mikhail Shvydkoy, the Special Envoy to the President of the Russian Federation for international cultural cooperation, who used to be the first vice-chairman of the Bolshoi's Board of Trustees, became the third Chairman of the Executive Committee in the history of the Board of Trustees. Earlier this position was taken by Alexander Budberg; Konstantin Remchukov was the first Chairman of the Committee. The Executive Committee that works in between meetings of the Board of Trustees, supports the theatre's activities; it is formed from legal representatives of the Board of T rustees' members.

Bolshoi Theatre in the Internet