About the opera: The libretto of the opera "Rigoletto" is based on the drama based "Le roi s'amuse" by V ictor Hugo; G. V erdi started working on the opera in 1850. The composer drafted the libretto himself; he also created the images of the main character and developed not only the plot outline, but also the set, including some small details. Verdi wrote: "I think that the story of "Rigoletto" is the best story I have ever written music to. It shows some dramatic situations; it also has variety, brilliance and pathos". "Rigoletto" premiered on March 11th 1851 at Teatro La Fenice (Venice). The opera was a huge success and soon appeared at theatres in many countries. The opera was first performed in Russia in 1853; an Italian company presented the production in Saint Petersburg. Since 1859 "Rigoletto" has been staged at the Bolshoi Theatre for 10 times. The last production was created in 1989. Now, a quarter of a century later, this famous opera by G. Verdi is back at the famous theatre. The famous "Rigoletto" is back at the Bolshoi Theatre; the audience is presented with an unusual version of the opera /Article published Dec 14th/ Half a century has passed since the time that the famous opera "Rigoletto" by Giuseppe Verdi was last performed at the Bolshoi Theatre. This time it looks like the production will be really surprising; the action takes place at the circus, there are acrobats and trapeze artists, and the singers also have to jump, climb the stairs and even fly under the big top. The production was staged by the famous Canadian director Robert Carsen. This is his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre, although his production of "Don Giovanni" by W. A. Mozart was presented by La Scala company on the Bolshoi Historic Stage in 2012. The director says that he considers the circus, where beauty and craziness, laughter, fear and cruelty come together, to be the right place for the jester Rigoletto. Besides, circus is a metaphor, a theme of some kind of hidden identification. Robert Carsen, the stage director. Photo: Oleg Chrenous December, 16 2014 Carsen, maestro Evelino PidГІ (Italy), who is considered to be one of the best interpreters of the Italian and French repertoire, and theatre designers Miruna and Radu Boruzescu that Carsen often works together with on both opera and drama productions. The cast stars many vocalists that the Russian audience knows rather well. Dimitris T iliakos made his debut at the Bolshoi in the opera "Don Giovanni"; Valery Alexeev performed in the opera "Mazepa", "The Enchantress" and "The Fiery Angel". The part of the Duke is performed by young singers Fabrizio Paesano (Italy), Pavel V aluzhin, a participant the Bolshoi Theatre Young Artists Opera Program and Sergey Romanovsky, who has already performed at the Bolshoi in the production of "Der Rosenkavalier" by R. Strauss. The internationally acknowledged singer Venera Gimadieva and Nina Minasyan, graduates of the Young Artist Opera Program, as well as Kristina Mkhitaryan, who is a current participant of the Program and a laureate of international competitions, and Anne-Catherine Gillet, who sings at the leading European theatres, perform the part of Gilda. The clown with the corpse: the premiere of the opera "Rigoletto" Is the opera "Rigoletto", staged at the Bolshoi Theatre, worth watching? There is "scary" gossip around this production to the music by Verdi; purists complained even before the premiere. The action is set not in the 16th century, but at a modern circus with clowns and acrobats; moreover, there are half-naked girls, running across the stage. What is the management thinking?! Apparently, the management is thinking about the contract, signed by the previous administration that signed the agreement with Robert Carsen, the famous Canadian director, who also staged the musical "My Fair Lady" at the Mariinsky Theatre. The cancellation of the contract would have resulted in paying a huge forfeit, although the current General Director Vladimir Urin carefully mentioned in one of the interviews that the audience's opinions about the new "Rigoletto" might differ. This is a co- production of the famous Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and four major European opera houses - Opéra National du Rhin, Theatre La Monnaie (Belgium), Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the Bolshoi Theatre. The budget of the production is over €1 mln; the financial expenses have been shared equally between all participants. Most likely, there will be only one or two blocks of performances of Carsen's production. But here is the question: what is better, complaining for the sake of c o m pla in in g, or tr y in g to und ers ta nd th e dir e cto r's id ea? Cars e n sta te s th e production has no "debauchery", but rather presents an attempt to have an insight into the tragic story about victims of cruel people that live in a world that is all about pleasures. By the way, the oversexed Duke, surrounded by the notorious girls, is singing the aria "Questa o quella, per me pari sono" ("This one or that one - makes no difference to me"); for him all ladies are courtesans, and the erotic show is his credo. This is precisely what the director shows. Why not have topless girls in the opera, if it is appropriate from the aesthetic point of view? Perhaps, we should not behave as Verdi's oppressors, who prohibited the first draft of the libretto, based on the drama based "Le roi s'amuse" by Victor Hugo because it Newsletter

Photo: Damir Yusupov This is an unusual interpretation of the famous opera; the action is set at the circus. This is a co-production of the famous Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and four major European opera houses - Opéra National du Rhin, Theatre La Monnaie (Belgium), Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the Bolshoi Theatre. "Rigoletto" has not been staged in Moscow for a quarter of a century; the final version, created in 1989, was on at the Kremlin Palace but was not a particular success and disappeared from the repertoire fairly soon. This production, on the contrary, has already become a success at many European theatres. Mr. Carsen always looks for some unusual approaches that allow the audience to take a look at a famous piece from a dif ferent perspective. For instance, when he worked on the production of "Don Giovanni" at La Scala (two years ago the opera was presented at the Bolshoi Theatre as well), the director used the principle of "theatre inside a theatre" and placed a mirror on the stage, so the audience hall became a part of the set. As for "Rigoletto", he chose the circus. The director considers this decision to be logical because of the main character's job (he is a jester); besides, this is a metaphor that has many meanings. The Bolshoi's New Stage, where the production is presented, is more of a chamber stage, and it suits this kind of production very well. Mr. Carsen considers Rigoletto to be an antihero. The Bolshoi Theatre official website quotes the stage director, who says: "In fact, he is not capable of loving anyone. He is explosive and jealous. His soul is black. Verdi centered the action around him and made the audience feel compassion for this person; this is one of the composer's major achievements". The director also names one of the challenges he faced while working on the production: "There is a distinct storyline; the plot has a twist and a terrible end, and Verdi makes sharp turns from irony to tragedy, grotesque, lyrics and comedy. W e need to manage to show all those changes of mood". Before the dress rehearsal on Friday the director shared his expectations with journalists: "I do not know what people will think about my production here, in Moscow; perhaps, they will consider it to be shocking, but Verdi's opera was also shocking, and the play "Le roi s'amuse" by Victor Hugo was prohibited… I think Verdi should be given credit for the fact that he was the first to make the antihero the main character. W e will make every effort in order to tell this story in a modern manner and to make it understandable. But I do not know how the audience will react". Mr. Carsen then continued: "My main objective is to tell the story. "Rigoletto" is not a very simple piece to stage. I wanted Rigoletto to be the main character; circus is the only place where he can be both a jester and a clown. Clowns work at the circus, and the circus is a place that is both funny and scary. But for me the circus is not only the place where the story is set. It is also a metaphor. W e all play some roles, but the question is - who are we really?" Dimitris Tiliakos (Rigoletto) talked about this complicated character. He said: "I have already sung "Rigoletto" in Dresden and in Brussels; I am happy that I am now singing this part at the Bolshoi Theatre. This is the second time I have performed at this theatre. Rigoletto is a rather complicated character. He is a clown, he is mysterious and it is sometimes difficult to understand his psychology; his face is covered with a mask and we do not know, what he is doing behind this mask, I mean, we do not know whether he is crying or laughing. Besides, it is rather challenging from the physical point of view: the action takes place at the circus, and we should not only sing, but also jump and dance. But I am absolutely happy to be a part of this production". The production team that staged this opera at the Bolshoi Theatre included Robert December, 16 2014 stars, many of whom used to study at the Kiev Choreographic School, had the same motives. Mr. Baranov mentioned: "They all have different perceptions of life and of this situation, but they all came to Moscow with the only goal, to support their alma mater. The concert "Ballet without Borders" and the Bolshoi Theatre's stage brought all of us together". Y uri Baranov also said that all money raised by the concert would be "accumulated and set aside in order to be spent on the School's reconstruction". He concluded: "W e hope that the situation will be solved sooner or later, and the School will use this financial assistance". An American conductor Semyon Bychkov makes his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre /Article published Dec 14th/ The new project "Great Conductors at the Bolshoi" opened with the concert conducted by the maestro An American maestro Semyon Bychkov, one of the best conductors in the world, made his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre on Sunday. The new project "Great Conductors at the Bolshoi" opened with a concert conducted by this outstanding musician; the concert took place on the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage. Maestro admitted: "This is a great honor for me to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre for the first time in my life". He also said that he had received the invitation from the Bolshoi Theatre General Director Vladimir Urin during a meeting in Paris this January. The famous conductor said: "Mr. Urin said that he was going to organize a series of concerts "Great Conductors at the Bolshoi" and asked me to open it. I gladly agreed. I visited the theatre many years ago, when I was young, and have not seen the Historic building after the reconstruction. So everything is new for me here". Semyon Bychkov is a student of the Leningrad school of conducting; he has made a brilliant career in the West, having become an extremely popular conductor. He has worked at world's leading theatres, including Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera in London and other companies. Mr. Bychkov has also cooperated with the best symphony orchestras, including the Paris Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Munich Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Maestro mentioned that he had special feelings about performing at the Bolshoi Theatre and had devoted a lot of attention to choosing the program. He explained: "It seemed to me, that my debut performance should have music that w as w rit te n here, in Russ ia. So I th ought about Glin ka, Rach m an in o ff and Shostakovich. These authors are an unalienable part of my creative career as well; their music matches the status of the event, the opening of the new concert cycle at the Bolshoi Theatre, which is associated with the Russian music culture throughout the world". The program that was presented at the Bolshoi could have been titled "A hundred years of the Russian music". The symphony orchestra, conducted by the American maestro, performed Valse-Fantasie by M. Glinka (1856), Rhapsody on a T hem e of Paga nin i (1 9 34), whic h was th e la st pie ce, co m pose d by Serg ei Rachmaninof f, and Symphony No. 11 '1905' by Dmitri Shostakovich, which was composed in 1957. This was Semyon Bychkov's debut at the Bolshoi Theatre. As for further cooperation, the maestro said that there were "negotiations concerning this possibility" and added that those negotiations were "rather precise". The conductor concluded: "I hope there will be a project that will be interesting both for me and for the theatre". The Bolshoi Theatre will show "The Nutcracker" at a thousand of cinemas around the world T he li v e bro a dca st of th e balle t "T he N utc ra cke r", ch ore o gra ph ed by Y uri Grigorovich, will take place on December 21st 2014. The "screening" will be organized by the Bolshoi Theatre and the French company Pathe Live that provides broadcasts of the Bolshoi's productions at more than a thousand cinemas around the world. Newsletter

did not show enough respect for the idea of royal power. The Italian Duke from Mantua appeared instead of the French king Francis I, who was a Latin lover. But the idea remained the same: Rigoletto, an evil court jester and a loving father, becomes a victim of frightful and grotesque circumstances - he will find the corpse of his daughter Gilda in a sack. Gilda sacrifices her life in order to save her air-minded loved one (the same Duke) from the assassin, hired by her father. The main character in Carsen's production is a jester, wearing the costume of Pierrot, with his face painted white and a red mouth. But doesn't our life sometimes remind us of a circus as well? T oday at the "Artistic Council". December 15th 2014 The conductor Evelino PidГІ (Italy) was the guest of the program "Culture News". The opera "Rigoletto" by G. Verdi, a co-production of the famous Festival d'Aix-en- Provence and four major European opera houses - Opéra National du Rhin, Theatre La Monnaie (Belgium), Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the Bolshoi Theatre, premieres at the Bolshoi Theatre New Stage. Evelino PidГІ, one of the best interpreters of the Italian and French repertoire, is the music director of the production. He talked about the production in detail in the program "Artistic Council", which was broadcast on December 15th at 11. 15 p.m. (Moscow time). Lada Aristarkhova talked to the conductor. T ASS and the Bolshoi Theatre will talk about their agreement A press conference about the signing of agreement of cooperation between TASS Russia News Agency and the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre will take place at T ASS headquarters on December 16th 2014. T ASS General Director Sergei Mikhailov and the Bolshoi Theatre General Director Vladimir Urin will be present. The press conference will start at 12.30 p.m. For additional information and accreditation please call: +7 (926) 608-08-16 All money raised by the concert "Ballet without Borders", which took place on the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage, will be set aside for the reconstruction of the Kiev Choreographic School. Yuri Baranov, the producer of the charity project, told TASS about it. The concert "Ballet without Borders" took place in December 7th; it was initiated and organized by Svetlana Zakharova, the People's Artist of Russia. World ballet stars took part in the concert; it was planned that all money raised would be donated to the Kiev Choreographic School and spent on its reconstruction. Yuri Baranov, the Bolshoi Ballet's soloist, was the producer of the project; just like Svetlana Zakharova, he used to study at the Kiev Choreographic School. Last Saturday, December 13th, it was announced that the administration of the Kiev Choreographic School refused to take the money, which was raised by the Bolshoi Theatre's stars and planned to be spent on the School's reconstruction. This was written in the letter of Ivan Doroshenko, the director of the School, which was published on the website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture. According to the director, he refused to accept the donation because of Svetlana Zakharova's position. She was one of 150 Russian cultural luminaries that signed the letter in support of the Russian President's policy in Crimea this spring. As it is stated in Mr. Doroshenko's letter, "it is only natural that the Kiev Choreographic School refuses to accept the help of Svetlana Zakharova, People's Artist of Russia". Y uri Baranov told TASS: "I am really disappointed with the fact that we are victims of this situation. The desire and the idea to organize a charity gala concert had appeared before all these political events happened. When we were working on our idea, we were driven only by our love for art, ballet and our native school that we were really eager to support". According to Yuri Baranov, all artists that took part in the concert, all world ballet December, 16 2014 Mass media about the Theatre For articles published 12-14 December 2014 Agence France Presse (AFP) Kiev bureau reports that the director of the Kiev State Ballet School, Ivan Doroshenko, in a letter published on the Ministry of Culture's website on Saturday said: "The Ukrainian artists who participated in the concert appear to not be aware that the Russian dancer S. Zakharova signed a letter supporting the politics of (Russian President) in Crimea," "Otherwise, Vladimir Putin they would never have agreed to take part in this provocative farce." The article says that the school will refuse to accept the money raised at the gala Ballet Without Borders charity concert in Moscow last week where many of the world's top ballet stars appeared to raise money for the school. The article is republished in other editions including the New Straits Times, Asian Age and other similar publications. In another AFP article originating in the Moscow bureau of the AFP newswire the report says world ballet stars including Natalia Osipova the prima of the Royal Ballet put on a dazzling show to raise money for the school at the gala concert at the Bolshoi Theatre organized by the Bolshoi's Ukrainian born prima Svetlana Zakharova and Ukrainian Yuri Burlak the producer of the concert. "It's necessary to help children, no matter what country they live in," said Ms Zakharova, who said she had the idea after visiting her alma mater in Kiev last year "before the [political] situation became complicated." This AFP article is republished in The Telegraph (UK) and many other international editions. Another AFP report about the vote of the US congress to impose more sanctions on Russia and send US made lethal weapons to the Ukraine also mentions "Meanwhile in Kiev, ef forts by the artistic community to rise above the international conflict fell flat when the ballet school rejected charity money raised by Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, it emerged Saturday. " The report is republished in many international editions. Prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova organised a special gala at the Bolshoi last week to raise money for her old school in Kiev, but the cash was turned down when the Kiev State Ballet School learned that she had supported Russia's annexation of Crimea. Many local editions announce upcoming transmissions of Bolshoi Ballet productions in cinemas. The local edition Times-Herald Record reports that the Bolshoi's Legend of Love shows the superb artistry of The Bolshoi Ballet, it is a supremely engaging production. Other local editions announce the upcoming live transmission of the Bolshoi Ballet's Nutcracker. W e uploaded photographs from the opening night of the opera "Rigoletto" (December 14th, the Historic Stage) on the Bolshoi Theatre official pages in the social networks. The interview with the director of the production Robert Carsen is available on the YouT ube channel. The interview is a part of our regular rubric "Green Living Room": Evelino PidГІ, the conductor Newsletter

The first time "The Nutcracker" was broadcast all over the world was four years ago; after that the production was released on DVD and Blue-Ray. This time the production will star the new cast: Anna Nikulina will perform the part of Marie, and Denis Rodkin will perform the part of the Nutcracker. The dancer will make his debut with this part two days before the broadcast. The production will be broadcast at 6 p.m. (Moscow time). In Russia it will be transmitted in Moscow (cinema chain "Formula Kino"), Saint Petersburg, Ryazan, Murmansk, Syktyvkar and Krasnodar. W orld theatres: http://.pathelive.com/fr/sp/spectacles/the-nutcracker Kirov mass media: Mr. Urin told why the Bolshoi Theatre could not come to Kirov The former director of the Kirov Theatre for Youth received the title of the honorary citizen of the Kirov oblast Mr. Vladimir Uirn, the Bolshoi Theatre General Director, who used to be the director of the Kirov Theatre for Youth, came to his native city to receive the title of honorary citizen of the Kirov oblast. As he received the award from the Governor of the Kirov oblast, Vladimir Urin mentioned: he probably would not have achieved so much in his career if he had not watched productions of the Kirov Puppet Theatre and Theatre for Youth in his childhood, and if he had not participated in programs for children on the Kirov TV. Prior to the start of the ceremony the Bolshoi Theatre General Director talked to journalists and said that he had never lost touch with his small motherland; he added that he sometimes visited it. He also regretted that he had not visited any of the Kirov theatres for the long time and said he was sorry he paid less attention to the Theatre on Spasskaya than he had wished. Managing the main theatre of the country took much time and effort. He also said he was sorry the Bolshoi Theatre could not come to Kirov. Vladimir Urin stated: - W e would love to come to Kirov. We have the repertoire that we could present in Kirov, even at the drama theatre. The stage would suit us, but unfortunately there is no orchestra pit. We simply will not be able to seat the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra there. December, 16 2014 Bolshoi Theatre in the Internet Newsletter

, 7 December, 16 2014 Kristina Mkhitaryan (Gilda) Dimitris Tiliakos as Rigoletto Photos: Oleg Chernous