September, 1 7 , 2014. Issue No. 3

Artist of the USSR, will be eliminated. Mr. Urin explained: "Some time ago Makvala F. Kasrashvili has understood, that after the arrival of Tugan Sokhiev, the Bolshoi's new music director and chief conductor, her responsibilities should change. She asked to re-consider all of her job-duties, since she had planned to do some creative work, but not administrative work. Mr. Sokhiev appreciates Kasrashvili's remarkable singing skills; she has vast experience, a lot of knowledge and talent. He considered her opinion and offered her the position of an advisor to the theatre's music director". He also offered to her to become the co-chair for the opera board, which will be created at the Bolshoi Theatre and will be chaired by the theatre's music director. The board will be a deliberative body; it will be comprised of the opera company administration and six soloists. Four of them will be assigned by the director, and two are chosen by their peers. Mr. Urin said: "Yuri Udalov, the previous director of the opera company, became the vice-director; Lyudmila Talikova will take his position in the new season. She graduated from the Astrakhan State Conservatory, entered the musicology department at the French University of Sorbonne, graduated from L'Université de Versailles, where she majored in "management in culture and art" and had an internship at the Paris National Opera producer's center". Besides, as the General Director said, the department of perspective planning and special projects resumed its activities starting from the new season. Mr. Urin explained: "The functions of this department change. Earlier it was mainly dealing with the opera company; in fact, this department formed the company's repertoire and casting. It will now deal with both the opera and the ballet companies". This department will be chaired by Irina Chernomurova; together with the Bolshoi's management the department will form its plans three years in advance. The Bolshoi's General Director stressed: "All other heads of departments and units will remain in their positions. There will be no other staff changes". He added that T ugan Sokhiev and the ballet company artistic director Sergei Filin "are about to start working on the new season's projects and making plans until the year of 2017". The Bolshoi Theatre opens the season with the opera "Boris Godunov". The traditional company meeting, marking the opening of the new season, took place at the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia The Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets wished the company to work hard and to gain success in its creative career: "Being your fan and a permanent member of the audience, I consider what you did over the previous year to be incredibly ambitious. I know how "The Tsar's Bride" was received in Vienna and how performances went here; this is worth the most deafening round of applause and recognition from the whole country". The Deputy Minister of Culture Elena Milovzorova said in her welcoming speech: "W e are now opening the season at our country's main theatre. The previous season was marked by new productions and the company's amazing guest performances in Europe and America. These events prove the Bolshoi's scale and creative power; the Bolshoi preserves cultural heritage and, what is more, creates new productions. It works with some theatre luminaries, as well as with some young directors and ballet and opera artists". Elena Milovzorova also mentioned that the ballet company's new and respected artistic council had been created over the previous year, the collective agreement had been signed, and, most importantly, the new music director and the conductor of the theatre - Tugan Sokhiev - were appointed. Alexander Zhukov, the Chairman of the Bolshoi Theatre Board of Trustees, awarded the Bolshoi Theatre

workers that became laureates of the 238 Season Board of Trustees Award. The State Bolshoi Theatre of Russia opened its new, 239 season on September 14 with the opera "Boris Godunov" by M. Mussorgsky. In the coming season the theatre will present nine premieres - six opera productions and three ballets. These include "The Maid of Orleans" by P. Tchaikovsky, which will be performed on the Historic

Stage on September 26. The production will be conducted by Tugan Sokhiev, the Bolshoi's new music director and chief conductor. The Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets and the Deputy Minister of Culture Elena Milovzorova, as well as the Chairman of the Bolshoi Theatre Board of Trustees and the Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Alexander Zhukov and the Bolshoi's General Director Vladimir Urin attended the Bolshoi company's meeting. Dmitry Medvedev, the Prime Minister of Russia, turned 49 years old on

September 14 The Bolshoi Theatre's General Director sent his greetings: - Dear Mr. Dmitry A. Medvedev! I am very happy to congratulate you on your birthday. What shall I wish such statesman as you? I wish you energy, luck, wisdom, patience and health! On behalf of the Bolshoi Theatre I would like to express, how grateful we are to you for the attention, help and assistance that you provided us with during the years of the reconstruction and continue to provide us with now. If you get a chance to distract yourself from state affairs, you are very welcome to come to our performances. You know very well that the music will never betray, lie to you or let you down!
Vladimir Urin and the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia.

On October 1 the Bolshoi Theatre will participate in the on-line broadcast from behind the scenes for the first time

The Bolshoi's press-office announces that on October 1 the Bolshoi Theatre will

take part in the project World Ballet Day live. On Wednesday, October 1, the live internet-broadcast from behind the scenes of the world's five leading ballet companies will be organized. The Australian Ballet (Melbourne), the Bolshoi Ballet, the Royal Ballet (London), the National Ballet of Canada (Toronto) and the San Francisco ballet will take part in the project. This will be the first time that the live broadcast will be provided by YouT ube channel for more than nine hours. The audience will be able to see everything that happens behind the scenes and at the rehearsal rooms of these five theatres. The time difference will allow each company to organize the broadcast starting from the very beginning of the ballet artists' working day. The baton will be passed from one theatre to another. The Australian Ballet in Melbourne will be the first. Moscow will take up the baton and pass it to London; the company from Toronto will follow, and the San Francisco Ballet will close this internet-marathon. The Bolshoi Theatre plans to show rehearsals of the ballet "The Taming of the Shrew", choreographed by Jean-Christophe Maillot, which premiered at the end of the previous season, and the ballet "The Legend of Love", choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich. The video content will then be edited and a film will be made. The idea of the project belongs to the Royal Ballet; in March 2012 the company already carried out a similar project. The broadcast was viewed 200,000 times. The charming predictability of the timekeepers "Semyon Kotko" in Moscow
September, 1 7 2014 Newsletter

Every time a new project of the State Academic Symphonic Chapel of Russia appears on the concert venues' playbills around Moscow, the audience knows that this is something promising yet predictable. In this particular case the word "predictability" has a positive connotation. The collective has been cooperating with the same soloists, who perform the vocal parts on quite a decent level, for many years. The orchestra demonstrates great performance as well: there are no voluntary cuts or extreme interpretations. As a rule, the collective presents operas that are not included in the repertoires of other Moscow theatres; this, perhaps, is the best thing about the Symphonic Chapel. All of those things are more than true about the opera "Semyon Kotko" that was presented on the New Stage. In the Soviet era the opera was staged quite often; music lovers liked it not because of the ideological connotation, found in the novel by V alentin Kataev. When Sergei Prokofiev, who was famous for his contempt for streamlined paths in music, was searching for a new original music language for his new opera and a new kind of people, he looked at Ukrainian folklore. He enriched the score with symphonic arrangements of folk melodies and also used the lively speech of villagers in the original source. This is something that is often done in literature and film, but not in opera. The prosaic text of the novel was rewritten; some parts were rhymed in order to make the listeners perceive it is a ballade. At the same time, some spoken phrases are structured with the help of rhythmically repetitive words; this helps to create the special rhythm of the prose, just like the bar lines help create rhythm in the music. The poem "The Testament" by Taras Shevchenko, which was a piece of compulsory reading at Soviet schools, was used for the climax choir number. Prokofiev used the ideologically consistent material and created not a short-lived leading article, but a real opera, which still attracts musicians. Theatricality, which is something all Prokofiev's operas have, presents a serious challenge when it comes to concert performances. The music implies some stage action, which, in turn, becomes a trigger for the music and gives an impulse for the further development of the plot. The opera was staged at the Mariinsky Theatre, but it can hardly be said that this provocative, dark and apocalyptical production, created by Yuri Alexandrov, matches the music by Prokofiev very well. Elements of an illustrative theatre production are a usual thing at the concerts of V alery Polyansky's collective. The rules and regulations of the theatrical approach are not some clichés, but rather are developed for each opera: costumes are used in the opera "A Life for the Tsar" and props from a village house are used in the orchestra in the opera "A Night Before Christmas". Here is the set for "Semyon Kotko": the wicker fence with some dishes and food and a very simple backdrop, which stylized images are projected on. There is one more detail: the collars of the soloists' shirts are unbuttoned, and there are no bow ties. I mean, what bow ties are we talking about, the action takes place in a village! The soloists do not only sing their parts on a very high professional level, but also create very vivid images on the stage.
Let us first talk about three female characters. Ksenia Dudnikova, the soloist of the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre, impressed me most of all. The part of Frosya is not easy; this is a very complicated character. This part is very advantageous as well. It is for this part that the composer wrote a touching arioso, based on a Ukrainian folk song, the bright duet with Mikola and the long tragic story from act 4. Ksenia Dudnikova's voice has a lot of volume; it is not lost in the sound of the orchestra and allows her to perform both low and high tessitura rather effortlessly. The low register makes both flirty and dramatic passages very expressive; the singer also knows how to control her powerful fortes, which do not harm either the quality of the sound nor the articulation, which, in fact, happens rather rarely. Anastasia Privoznovz's soprano in "peacetime" and in the opening duet with Semyon in Act 3 might have seemed too harsh and rough for a spoiled daughter of a rich man. But in the amazing ensemble finale of Act 3 her voice, which was flying above the choir and the orchestra, became the main jewel in the crown. It brought into focus the energy of the soloists, the choir and the fire in Prokofiev's music. L yubka is another character that reveals itself through the tragic event. Her cries go in unison with the most tragic and scariest part of the opera, the execution of Ivasenko and Lyubka's fiancé Tsarev. This part is really tragic; it also demands great vocal and emotional effort. Anna Pegova, who performed this part, demonstrated extreme devotion; she used not only her vocal skills, but also her acting in order to captivate the audience and to make it be strick together with her heroine. The title part in this opera was performed by Oleg Dolgov. It was a very powerful performance; he also demonstrated the folk-like lyricism of his legatos. The singer did not use any visual effects; however, he managed to show what his character was like in all key scenes. The heated confrontation with Tkachenko in Act 2 probably was the scene that stuck in memory. The collective of Valery Polyansky regularly invites Andrei Antonov, the bass singer from the Samara Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, to participate in his projects. This singer possesses a diverse range of artistic skills, which allows him to create convincing images in the pieces that are very much different from one another in terms of stylistics and the kind of theatrical characters that they have. He created an image of Tkachenko, which was very vivid; he made a cowardly attempt to escape, was arrogant in conversation with Semyon and subservient as he communicated with the aggressors. Each trait of his personality was very well elaborated; it gave an impression of a real dramatic character. Maxim Sazhin made his character Mikola truly simple and charming. One of the main characters was embodied very nicely; this happened largely due to the singer's voice, which, perhaps, was the most expressive in his short solo number to the guitar accompaniment. His voice is loud enough, level in all registers, and pleasant to listen to because it was raucous, which was very appropriate. Evgeny Liberman performed the small part of Klembovsky; his voice had similar characteristics. Perhaps, there was only one thing that was alarming in his performance: it was the tendency to force the sound, which was partially encouraged by Prokofiev's orchestra, which rarely allows soloists to take the leading positions. Ruslan Rozyev performed the part of Remenyuk, which is the second most important male part. The dark bass voice that has a noble matted sound was very harmonious in both slow village dialogues and in the heroic vow. The choir is a petrel in this opera, meaning that the choir numbers become more epic as the events become more dramatic. As for the performance of the State Symphonic Chapel of Russia, the epic power combined with the pinpoint accuracy of the polyphony. The ensemble soloists made a very good impression with their harmonious and synchronized performance and the combination of their voices. The theatricality of Prokofiev's opera, which has already been mentioned, can be applied to a kind of theatre in the orchestra, where the modest accompaniment can flare up with a whole bunch of instrumental characteristics, develop the theme that first appeared in the previous act, reveal irony and humor and whirl up in a deafening storm. The orchestra, conducted by Valery Polyansky, was as precise as a clock mechanism, and conveyed the beauty of Prokofiev's music to the full extent. One of the opera's secondary missions is to trace details of time periods, which might otherwise fade away, and put them into the protective environment of eternal music. It is something like those fragile relicts that we find centuries later in the pieces of amber. With each new generation the social aspect of the "Semyon Kotko" plot becomes less and less understandable. Very soon adults will know about village councils and reach peasants much less than they know about knights and dinosaurs. But music can preserve something, that is the most important - feelings, cleaned up from ideological peelings. It can make the listeners empathize with the characters, even though they do not understand the plot quite well. God bless those that preserve such music for us and for future generations. On the Bolshoi Ballet official pages in the social networks we uploaded the information about the screening of the ballet "Lost Illusions": The Summer Theatre Festival, organized by our partner, the company CoolConnections, is coming to an end. The ballet "Lost Illusions", created on commission from the Bolshoi Theatre, was the final screening of the program "Bolshoi Ballet at the Cinema". The screening took place on September 16th. Bolshoi Theatre in the Internet September, 1 7 2014 Newsletter

September, 1 7 2014