February, 13, 2014. Issue No. 233

On February 16 the masterpiece of 20 century choreography, the three-act ballet "Jewels" by George Balanchine stage by the Bolshoi Theatre will be transmitted in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Murmansk, Kaliningrad, Ufa, Voronezh, Saratov, Vologda, Krasnodar and other cities that are parts of "Theatre Cinema Season 2013-2014" project.
"Jewels" were created in 1967. Balanchine staged this first "full-length" ballet that has no plot for his company the New York City Ballet. The ballet has had a happy stage life: it was danced at many theatres of the world and always was a huge success. Like any great piece; the story of its creation is connected with many legends of different kinds. This is also true about "Jewels".Newsletter According to one version, Balanchine and the jeweler Claude Arpels met at the home of the violinist Nathan Milstein. They realized that they had same interests when Balanchine was looking at the windows of the famous Van Cleef & Arpels on the Fifth Avenue. Several decades ago Arpels was still impressed by productions of Diaghilev's enterprise. Balanchine was charmed with the shine of the precious gems; he had an idea to create a ballet where dance itself would gleam and sparkle like the light on the diamond facets. Each gem is also considered to symbolize one of the three stages in the ballet master's life and career:
"Emeralds" to the music of G. Fauré represented the sophistication and elegance of France, which also are characteristics of the French ballet school, "Rubies" to the music by I. Stravinsky paid tribute to ragtime that was popular in America and on Broadway, while "Diamonds" to the music by P. Tchaikovsky was the nostalgic memory of crystal purity, which the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet was famous for.
This is what Clive Barnes, a famous American critic born in the UK, wrote about the production: ""It is open to doubt whether even George Balanchine has ever created a work in which the inspiration was so sustained, the invention so imaginative or the concept so magnificent as in the three-act ballet that had its world première at the New York State Theater last night" (NY Times, Friday, April 14, 1967).There is another famous quote about this ballet: "Jewels" is like breakfast, lunch and dinner at Tiffany's".

Van Cleef & Arpels that inspired one of the 20 century's most famous choreographers became the Bolshoi Theatre partner for the new premiere of the ballet. The company itself found inspiration in ballet long before the historic meeting of Balanchine and Claude Arpels. The Spanish Dancer clip (this image is on the playbills for this Bolshoi premiere) was created in 1941. The company's jewelers used dance motifs in their works several times. In 2007 "Jewels" was staged at the Royal Opera House in London; the collection was created to mark the
40 anniversary of the Balanchine masterpiece's world premiere.
Thanks to Van Cleef & Arpels the Bolshoi production has luxurious costumes: costume designer Elena Zaitseva and set designer Alyona Pikalova were allowed into the holy of holies, the "archive" repositories of the jewelry house, where they had a chance to study the most famous exhibits. This is what they based their work on while working on the new production. This George Balanchine ballet is 2 hours and 12 minutes long; it consists of three parts - "Emeralds" to the music by G. Fauré, "Rubies" to the music by I. Stravinsky and "Diamonds" to the music by P. Tchaikovsky.
February, 132014Newsletter Pedagogue-repetiteurs: Sandra Jennings, Merrill Ashley and Paul Boos
Set designer - Alyona Pikalova
Costume designer - Elena Zaitseva
Music director - Pavel Sorokin.
The cast:
"Emeralds":"Rubies":
Ekaterina Krysanova
Vyacheslav Lopatin
Ekaterina Shipulina
"Diamonds":
Olga Smirnova
Semyon Chudin
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On February 26 the star of world opera Maria Guleghina will give a solo concert at the State Kremlin Palace. She is the only Russian singer who has participated in the Metropolitan Opera productions more than 160 times and starred in 17 productions at Teatro alla Scala. The singer prepared a special program for this concert; it consists of her favorite arias.

- The only reason is artistic interest. When I am offered to participate in an interesting concert or production, I accept this offer. I came back to Russia at the invitation of my friend, the conducting genius Valery Gergiev; I am proud to be friends with the Mariinsky Theatre and I am also proud of this theatre's accomplishments



- This was another time when I had to make a difficult choice. It is difficult to decide what you cannot do without. There are about ten of the most difficult arias. There will be, of course, pieces by my favorite Tchaikovsky, as well as arias by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Catalani and Giordani.

- I've decided to sing one of my most favorite cavatinas. My love for opera started when I heard it in the film "Come Tomorrow" for the first time.

- Yes, this is the cavatina of Rosina. Rosina is one of those characters that are dearest to me; I can say that this is my only comic part. There is Lady Macbeth, Abigaille, Lisa, The Maid of Orleans, Norma, Maddalena, Wally, Manon, Tosca….and then there is Rosina, who is like a ray of light in the realm of darkness. Authors have killed almost all characters in the dramatic soprano repertory.

- These are famous and very good music collectives. You can trust them completely. As for Fabio, here is what I can say about him: it is very important that a conductor is someone who feels the same way about everything you do. You should feel that both of you are on the same page and move in the same direction.

- Not very long ago there was a rehearsal of the gala, marking the anniversary of Andrey Karaulov's program "Moment of Truth"; the gala was conducted at the Kremlin Palace. I sang there with no mikes and was completely happy. But in the end the TV people begged me not to do it, because, as they explained, it was not possible to record it with no mikes. If I decide to have some extra sound at my concert, it will be very minimal. This hall is very "hollow"; it was not designed for opera productions, even though the Bolshoi Theatre used to have its premieres there. By the way, eight years ago when I performed at the charity concert "Christmas at the Kremlin" together with Jose Carreras, my microphone stopped working in the middle of my aria, but I continued singing.

- Like with everything else, it all depends on your goal and on the way you present Newsletter February, 132014
- May God give me energy; I have always loved our audience, and I still love them. Let us not forget that east or west, home is best.

The Bolshoi Theatre prima ballerina and the People's Artist of Russia Svetlana Zakharova participated in the Sochi Olympic Games Opening Ceremony; she starred in the scene "The First Ball of Natasha Rostova". She shared her impressions from the ceremony with "Vesti FM".

- I got a call and received an offer to participate in the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. I contacted Radu Poklitaru, who choreographed this scene, right away. Later we had a meeting. He told me that it would be "War and Peace"; the first ball of Natasha Rostova, to be precise. When I learned what I was about to participate in, I was so excited that I agreed that very minute.

Newsletter



- I hate conflicts. You always need to find a way to fix all problems and to end arguments peacefully. Conflict is not a normal thing. You can argue, but your goal should be to understand your interlocutor; you can express your position, but still be respectful to your opponent. The worst thing both at the theatre and in life is betrayal. You cannot let those people who trust you down.

- I was so busy: I went to three schools, February, 132014Newsletter Natasha Rostova" at the Opening Ceremony. The "Izvestia" reporter talked to the People's Artist of Russia.

- Yes, it was, and I would like to express my gratitude to him. It was very interesting to work with him. He is a special person; he is very open. He created a small masterpiece: during just 12 minutes he managed to present a part of Russian history,
starting from the times of Peter the Great up to the tragic events of the 20 century. I guess he still does not realize that he managed to do it. For example, it was difficult to tell the story of the main characters of "War and Peace" in 7-8 minutes. There were 200 dancing pairs, and he managed to find the right accent to highlight us. I do not - I was there several years ago. Now it is hard to recognize the city. It is unbelievably beautiful; everything has been done in an impeccable way. There are new ski resorts that have appeared from nowhere. The Olympic Park is really impressive, I mean, the size and all facilities. During the Olympic Games everything is very convenient February, 132014
Dinara Alieva is an Honored Artist of Azerbaijan. She was born on December 17 1980 in Baku. She graduated from a musical school where she learned to play the Newsletter professor of the Paris Conservatory and a clarinet soloist in the orchestra of the Académie Royale de Musique. He staged several operas and played flute and clarinet, but his numerous pieces for the winds regained popularity only recently.
Various combinations of wind instruments were popular with different composers in
the first half of the 20 century. The famous French pianist and composer J.-M. Damase, our contemporary (he passed away last year) became famous with his chamber pieces, where wind instrument play "main parts".
The program also included Sextet for the piano and winds by F. Poulenc (composed in 1930s) and suite by D. Milhaud based on the music for the play by J. Anouilh "Le voyageur sans bagage (The Traveller Without Luggage)". The premiere of this play with music by D. Milhaud was the first success of the playwright.
The concert closed with the Octet for the winds and the string by J. Francaix that was composed in 1972. The composer, who was "blessed" by the French music luminary Maurice Ravel in his youth, wrote music of various genres.

Trend Life quotes Russian mass media sources and reports that the Honored Artist of Azerbaijan and Bolshoi Theatre soloist Dinara Alieva performed at the Moscow State
Tchaikovsky Conservatory Grand Hall during the jubilee festival marking the 85 anniversary of The Grand Choir "Masters of Choral Singing".
"Requiem" by Giuseppe Verdi was performed at the Moscow Conservatory Grand Hall by The National Philharmonic of Russia, The Grand Choir "Masters of Choral Singing" and soloists Dinara Alieva (soprano), Agunda Kulaeva (mezzo-soprano), Georgi Vasiliev (tenor) and Evgeni Stavinsky (bass). Lev Kontorovich, a People's Artist of Russia and professor, conducted the performance. According to the Russian mass media, Dinara Alieva performed her part in a beautiful way.
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The Bolshoi Theatre in the InternetNewsletter Digest has been compiled by The Bolshoi Theatre Press Office
Photos: Damir Yusupov and Mikhail Logvinov
Design layout: Vladimir AndrusenkoAll materials used in the digest are the public domain of information agencies, mass media, civil society organizations and government International press analysis
The news continues to be dominated by the Sochi Winter Olympics with little news about culture except in connection with the Olympics.
USA Today informs sports fans "that guy with the drum is Gediminas Taranda and he's head of the Imperial Russian Ballet Company. You might have heard of it, it performs at a little place called the Bolshoi. This is the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. It is very famous."
The Public radio network interviews Bolshoi Ballet dancer David Hallberg asking him about how it is to perform with the Bolshoi Ballet.
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung publishes a short article about Tugan Sokhiev being appointed as music director of the Bolshoi Theatre.In brief

Mass in h-moll by J. S. Bach is not performed very often; on February 12 it was performed at the Moscow Conservatory Grand Hall. This concert was one of the events that marked the jubilee of the conductor Vladimir Minin, who is also the Moscow State Academic Chamber Choir artistic director.
The Vladimir Minin Chamber Choir performed together with The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Fedoseev. Eugenia Sorokina (soprano), Agunda Kulaeva (mezzo-soprano), Alexei Tatarintsev (tenor) and Petr Migunov (bass-baritone) performed solo parts.
Petr Migunov, a laureate of international competitions, a Bolshoi Theatre and The State Academic Capella of St- Petersburg soloist said: "Communication with Vladimir Minin, this legendary conductor, is a great honor and a great joy. His detailed works as well as his sophisticated taste are absolutely amazing".
According to the "Novaya Opera" soloist Agunda Kulaeva, "remarks that Vladimir Minin makes are always important". The singer was especially grateful to the maestro for pieces of advice that he gave while working on Mass in h-moll. She admitted that it was difficult, but thanks to Vladimir Minin everything worked out.