which has become the first premiere of the new, 239 season Tugan Sokhiev: "I love Tchaikovsky's music a lot and treat his scores very reverently" October 1 - 20-hour live broadcast from rehearsal halls of the five greatest ballet companies in the world Facebook: Svetlana Zakharova, Maria Alexandrova, Artem Ovcharenko and Denis Rodkin shared their expectations of the live broadcast from behind the scenes at the Bolshoi Theatre New Stage - International Chereshnevy Les Open-Art Festival. REQUIEM. Ballet by Boris Eifman in two acts. St. Petersburg Eifman Ballet Historic Stage - rehearsal day "The Maid of Orleans" at the Bolshoi Theatre Jean-Christophe Maillot rehearsing dancers of The Bolshoi Ballet in 'The Taming of the Shrew'. Photo: M Logvinov T ugan Sokhiev, the Bolshoi Theatre's new music director, made his debut with the concert version of "The Maid of Orleans" by P. Tchaikovsky, which premiered on the Historic Stage. Photo: Damir Yusupov provided an image of the opera, which was solid in terms of acoustics and integral in terms of the visuals; it can be said that the opera was lucky. It could have been performed as an ornate and a wordy novel by Tchaikovsky with exuberant genres, French music and drama; it could have frightened with pre-Rafael historicism or unintended Wagnerism. But it became a new repertoire cornerstone; it has folk scenes, heroic deeds, kings and knights, social polish and religious pathos. It happened nowadays, when the demand for Russian operas has grown, and Glinka's mythology, Mussorgsky's drama or Rimsky-Korsakov's shrilling speculative fiction become less relevant every day. More brushwood for Joan of Arc The conductor Tugan Sokhiev made his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre with "The Maid of Orleans" In autumn of 2013 the Bolshoi Theatre's newly appointed General Director Vladimir Urin faced an extremely unpleasant situation: two weeks prior to an important premiere he suddenly lost the chief conductor Vassily Sinaisky, who decided that he could not get on well with the new management. This situation was resolved only in January of 2014. It was then that Mr. Urin introduced the new music director at a big press conference. This position was given to the 36-year old Tugan Sokhiev, who was born in the North Ossetia and was the student of Ilya Musin and Yuri Temirkanov. He has been the Mariinsky Theatre permanent guest conductor since 2005; he is also the chief conductor of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and was appointed the chief conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in 2010. In the case of the Bolshoi Theatre, apparently, the recommendations of Valery Gergiev or the recommendations from the National Philharmonic (Sokhiev had performed with both) played the major role. As it was agreed, Sokhiev spent more than six months getting to know how everything worked; he came to watch the productions of the current repertoire, assessed the abilities of the orchestra and assured everyone that, being the music director, he was interested in the current repertoire much more than in the premiere. No need to say how much everyone was looking forward to his debut on the Bolshoi's Historic Stage. He made his debut with the impossible concert version of "The Maid of Orleans" by Tchaikovsky. Not everyone can bear four acts of music and singing, where it is almost impossible to make out the sonorous words of the libretto. Besides, the concert version of the opera is not the most attractive way to present a production. The tension grows; the remarks say: "Dunois enters with a happy face" or "The soldiers attack Lionel and defeat him; afterwards they are trying to put the chains on Joan". But the singers do not move; they face the audience and mostly look at their sheet music. Still, it is hard to complain that any of them did not express enough emotions. Anna Smirnova was very good as Joan of Arc; she managed to express the great internal struggle of her character, when the love for her enemy Lionel, a Burgundian knight, strikes her like lightning in the second part of the opera. But… the angels in heaven are already singing "You should atone your sin with patience". Then there is the fire, which P. Tchaikovsky "painted" in the music very skillfully; the tongues of fire embrace the lonely figure of the martyr. Joan begs: "Give me the cross!". She gets the answer: "Here is a present for you!", as people put more brushwood in the fire. Needless to say, the Bolshoi Theatre's gorgeous choir did a great job (chief chorus master - Valery Borisov), and the crowd scenes were very impressive, bearing in mind that everyone was rooted to the ground. Newsletter

Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofiev/photo ITAR-T ASS The first premiere of the season was not a real theatrical production, but this is not the main point. It happens quite often that concert versions make the audience feel excited by the acting and the new meanings. In this case it seemed that even if there had been some décor for the music and some costumes for the singers, everything would have been the same; it would have been the same solemn static ritual that would have involved a numerous cast and provoked no emotions. Ceremonial operatic aesthetics is self-suf ficient; it does not need a director's search and sophisticated experiments with the musical style, because it is an event and a revelation itself. It looked like the Bolshoi had remained in the same state as 20 years ago, and even the vocal style on the stage proved it. Nevertheless, the idea to stage "The Maid of Orleans" had been discussed at the theatre when the previous director still had his position; there even had been an idea to revive the production staged by Boris Pokrovsky. Finally this luxurious opera, a suitable and a spectacular one, was given to the new chief conductor, whose debut was really looked forward to: no one expected that Sokhiev, who was given this position in the middle of the season (in January, to be exact), would start to flex his muscles at once, but at the same time only a few could imagine that he would demonstrate self-restraint that lasted for a half of the season. This debut was even more unexpected in manner: not many people could imagine that the European director Sokhiev would reconstruct half-forgotten features of the grand style in such a meticulous, expert and steady manner, that he would invite casts, consisting mainly of guest soloists, who would help him bring his ideas to life in the most precise way and that he would make the orchestra, the choir and the singers give such a massive and strong sound. Anna Smirnova headed the team of the soloists. The Bolshoi chose the version for soprano, but not for mezzo. This singer, who mostly performs Verdi's operas, is almost unknown in Russia; her huge voice has a W agner-like power, her technique is bold and she also is a statuary actress, meaning that she is one of those singers that usually do not move on the stage, since it is important to stand up and sing, so that the voice would fly as far as the walls of the audience hall would allow it. In Tchaikovsky's score Joan is a dimensional character, almost like one of Wagner's characters: it has pastoral tenderness, ecstatic viscous love and religious and patriotic pride. However, in Smirnova's interpretation various details shaded into one shocking color of operatic ecstasy, painted with the heroic soprano. Next to Smirnova's voice even the big baritone of Igor Golovatenko seemed almost miniature; however, he used attractive phrasing to suit the generality of the stylistic whole. Stanislav Trofimov, the well-built bearded bass singer, whose repertoire includes the part of Ivan Susanin, was the only one who could compete with the main singer of this cast in terms of dimensional sound. He added some colors from Mussorgsky to this part. Other members of the cast - Oleg Dolgov, Irina Churilova, Pyotr Migunov and Arseny Yakovlev (tenor), the promising participant of the Young Artists Opera Program - performed their parts in a businesslike and profound manner, as if they were trying to raise to the surface the vocal Atlantis of 1970s- 1980s.
T ugan Sokhiev created a good balance: huge choir masses did not outmatch the singers even when Joan was not on the stage, the orchestra enumerated the episodes matter-of-factly and precisely, each tutti was solid, woodwinds solos, accomplishments and faults of the brass echoed the vocal parts. Everything was not exactly transparent, but precise and clear. The sound made one think not about an opera with dances, prayers, choirs of angels and arias of people, but of climbing some bastions. It would have better suited the stage at the State Kremlin Palace; however, the set at the Bolshoi was quite interesting. The stage was covered with wooden beamless plate structures, with the red light shining on them in the final auto- da-fe scene, the orchestra pit was raised and additional rows of chairs were put in its place, the orchestra and the choir were placed on a kind of a platform. All of these October, 1 2014 Newsletter

Finally , the orchestra. Sokhiev understands that Tchaikovsky composed one fragment of his opera after another, "not even observing the chronological order as he returned to certain scenes", and those fragments should be somehow put together. This is why he did not even allow the audience to applaud a lot, so that the emotional machine would not stop. He changed the character of the music and helped us visualize a dif ferent scene. The orchestra did a very good job. (For example, the scene "The area near the battle

field" with the burning English camp in the distance in the beginning of the 3 act or

the orchestra fragment before the meeting of Joan and Lionel in the 4 act were very memorable). The woodwinds were stunning. Most importantly, the orchestra never competed with the vocalists. Sokhiev made the orchestra, this gigantic instrument, demonstrate its full force only where it was necessary - in big pathos scenes - and he was able to tame it with one beautiful gesture. This came as a surprise, since he seemed such a quiet cutie. But it also should be said that the young maestro was lucky with the orchestra. This is probably the only collective that can be characterized, using the rude word "hardened"… The stage was the only thing that was embarrassing; it had the color of clotted blood, the singers stood next to each other like soldiers. It almost seemed like an official concert for the government in some 1972. It seems that given the technology which the Bolshoi has today, the production team could have accomplished something a bit more creative. Sokhiev is now going to work on the repertoire productions, "La Boheme" and "La

T raviata". His next premiere will be only on July 15; it will be the opera "Carmen" (director - Alexei Borodin). The conductor's contract with the Bolshoi Theatre expires

on January 31 2018. The Bolshoi's other premieres of 2014 include the production for children "The Story of Kai and Gerda" by Sergei Banevich and "Rigoletto" (the production will be brought to the Bolshoi from Aix-en-Provence Festival). Both productions will premiere on the New Stage. No sensations have been planned so far. Mr. Urin, who has been in charge of the main and the most scandalous theatre for almost a year, is very careful. He says it is impossible to have 40 productions in the repertoire: "Today there are so many productions in the Bolshoi's repertoire, that there is not enough time to perform all of them during one season". He physically cannot bear them. "Perhaps, we will not take some of them away from the repertoire, but will simply not perform them for a season or two". When asked, whether the new premieres will be successful (many of them were planned by the previous management), he likes to repeat: "It is impossible to give any guarantees". The heroine named Joan: now on the opera stage The Bolshoi Theatre presented the first premiere of the season, the concert version of the opera "The Maid of Orleans" by P. Tchaikovsky. Tugan Sokhiev, who was appointed the Bolshoi's music director in February, made his debut with this production.
"The Maid of Orleans" is an opera by P. Tchaikovsky in 4 acts; the composer also wrote the libretto, based on the drama by Schiller, translated by Zhukovsky. This is not a box-of fice hit - probably, due to the fact that this opera is close to the grand oratorio style; therefore, performing the concert version of this piece is probably the best solution. The list of characters includes the King of France Charles VII and his lover Agnes Sorel, minstrels and fools, executioners, gypsies and soldiers. However, up to the present day the famous French heroine, who fought against the English aggressors during the Hundred Years' War and whose mystical heroic deed was not understood even by her closest relatives (her father Thibaut accuses his daughter Joan of witchcraft), appeared on the Bolshoi's stage only once. Almost a quarter of a century ago the great Boris Pokrovsky staged this opera. At that time the cast starred the wonderful Makvala Kasrashvili. This time Anna Smirnova, the graduate of the Moscow Conservatoire, who started her successful career at the best opera theatres of the world in 2007 (at first she performed at La Scala, and then - at other famous theatres, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York), made her debut at the Bolshoi with this role. The singer has a spectacular orotund voice that suits this role, which demands a unique voice range and a rich timbre, very well. This was the first (!) Russian part in Anna's repertoire, and she did not make it very diverse from the emotional point of view. She created the image of some warriorress and Valkyrie, who does not surrender to love and passion. But Joan is head over heels in love with her enemy, a Burgundian knight Lionel, and this romantic story makes the opera even more tragic. By the way, Igor Golovatenko (baritone) demonstrated an absolutely wonderful performance of in his role of Lionel. Other soloists made some vocal mistakes and did not demonstrate outstanding acting either. The work that T ugan Sokhiev did with the choir was very impressive; it was a rare occasion when one could understand every word of what they were saying. What the conductor did with the orchestra was very impressive as well; it had a powerful and beautiful sound. It is a shame, though, that the brass instruments sometimes disturbed the orchestra's wonderful performance. At the end of the three-hour production Tugan Sokhiev looked rather more tired than happy. Nevertheless, there was an air of success and the anticipation of a new creative life at the Bolshoi Theatre. Maestro Sokhiev will conduct the orchestra again in November, when the audience will be presented with the opera "La Boheme" by G. Puccini. In January he will conduct "La Traviata" by Verdi, and in the end of the season, in July, he will present the premiere of the main opera hit, "Carmen". Direct speech T ugan Sokhiev, the Bolshoi Theatre's music director - When a new person comes to a collective, others are always suspicious. Some time should pass, and then we will start to understand and to trust each other. "The Maid of Orleans" was my choice. I have dreamed of performing this wonderful opera for a long time. I love Tchaikovsky's music a lot and treat his scores very reverently. I tried to feel and to understand his admiration of Joan of Arc. I hope this production will give the right start… For example, there are a hundred people in the orchestra, and each of them can have his/her own opinion on how to interpret this or that musical phrase. The conductor is the person who brings everything to a common standard. I consider that the conductor is fully responsible for the production from the very first note to the very last one. Y uri Lyubimov: I dream of a memorial IT AR-T ASS/Alexandra Mudrats Y uri L yubimov, the director and the founder of the Taganka Theatre, celebrated his 97 birthday on September 30. He says that he has been working for 84 years; he has spent 80 years of his life at the theatre. He fought in two wars and survived the Leningrad blockade. He was a famous actor and managed to create a theatre which is studied in many countries. He also knows what forced immigration is like. He has worked all over the world, but he has always based his work on the Russian classics. He was one of the first to return to his motherland. He left the Taganka Theatre, which he founded, because of a conflict with his company that took place during a guest performance in Prague in 201 1. He then staged several productions at other Moscow theatres. Maestro gave an interview to ITAR-T ASS before his birthday. - Mr. L yubimov, where will you celebrate your birthday and how are you in general? - I will celebrate it at home, with my family. Thank God, I am fine. I spent the whole summer in Moscow and I had some serious treatment. I kept a diet and did physical exercises. /…/ Mass media about the Theatre October, 1 2014 Newsletter

I am also very grateful to the Bolshoi Theatre that supported me during the hard times; the theatre invited me to stage the opera "Prince Igor", which remains in the repertoire. "The School for Wives", based on my libretto and staged at the Novaya Opera, is my last production. It was performed twice. The audience gave it a very warm welcome; they were applauding for 20 minutes. - Mr. L yubimov, do you have any plans for new productions? - I still read and think a lot, but I do not write scripts anymore and neither do I plan any new productions. An Embarrassment of Ballet Riches T ext: Jennifer Stahl The Bolshoi Ballet is all about making a big splash. So it's no surprise that just as bunheads everywhere have begun clearing their schedules on October 1 for the epic 20-hour World Ballet Day livestream, the Bolshoi's stealing a bit of pre-game thunder. .dancemagazine.com/blogs/dance-glance/6057 Five international ballet companies to participate in World Ballet Day Live T ext: Gilly Lloyd A unique event in the history of ballet takes place on October 1st - W orld Ballet Day Live - 20 hours of continuous online live streaming from the rehearsal rooms of five of the world's greatest ballet companies. World Ballet Day Live is an extension of Royal Ballet Live, a nine-hour online event which took place in 2012, and which drew an audience of over 200,000 viewers to The Royal Ballet website on the day, and 2.5 million subsequent viewings of edited material on YouT ube. Link to the article: .artspreview.net/?p=2244

T oday, on October 1 2014 - the first ever live broadcast from behind the scenes: five world-famous ballet companies - step by step, during the whole day! The broadcast starts at 6 a.m. (Moscow time) .youtube.com/watch?v=Dxvs_u0V_10 .youtube.com/watch?v=jVCcq3JPumc&list=UUUimBc08CcsoCvP_WlYJl0Q Ballet lovers all over the world get ready for the long-awaited #WorldBalletDay as they upload videos of themselves trying to perform a pirouette; the Bolshoi Theatre stars got ready for this even as well. Svetlana Zakharova, Maria Alexandrova, Artem Ovcharenko and Denis Rodkin shared their expectations of the live broadcast from behind the scenes at the Bolshoi Theatre: Svetlana Zakharova: Right now we are rehearsing the ballet "A Legend of Love"; during the broadcast we will show a small fragment of my rehearsal for this ballet, which will take about half an hour. Normally I rehearse for much more time, about 4 hours, sometimes 5 or 6 hours. But our project is called "World Ballet Day", and not "A Day of One Ballerina" (smiles).
I like the idea to show what happens backstage. People are always interested in something that they cannot see. For us it is a great chance to show how difficult the profession of a ballerina is. Bolshoi Theatre in the Internet People see us on the stage wearing beautiful costumes and make-up, when all movements have already been trained; however, no one can imagine how much ef fort should be spent in order to achieve such results. When I am on the stage, my goal is not to let people see how much effort has been put into this; but in the rehearsal room you see all this work, the efforts and the energy that ballerinas spend to give this feeling of lightness and a gravity-free state. Personally, I will watch the recording of this broadcast with pleasure; I am very curious about how the whole thing will work out! Maria Alexandrova: I think, everything will happen just as it usually happens at the theatre. We did not make any special preparations for this day, because we wanted to show the natural process of rehearsing a production. Well, I thought I would pay a little more attention to my appearance on this day (laughs). T o be honest, I do not think I will have time to follow the live broadcasts of other companies, because this is the busiest time for us - you know, the start of the new season, the preparation for the new productions. But I will definitely watch the recording later, when I have time. I am sure there will be a lot of nice, funny and interesting moments! Artem Ovcharenko: A production that you see on the stage is a ready product; but just like it happens with an unusual tasty dish, we always want to know how to make it and which ingredients to use. Many people will want to get a recipe and even to get to the kitchen where this culinary masterpiece was cooked. This is only natural for a human being: if something amazes us, we always want to know how it is created, be it a new dish, an unusual way to wear a tie or a work of art. Now everyone gets a chance to get to the Bolshoi Theatre's "kitchen"; moreover, people do not even have to leave their homes in order to do it. I am happy to share one more part of my life with the audience; I mean, I spend the biggest part of my life here, behind the stage. Many people consider that guys who do ballet, do not have not a very masculine job, and that ballerinas starve and eat only pollen, like some fairies. We are going to show you the whole truth. I think, many people will be very surprised! Being an artist, I am curious to take a look at what is happening behind the scenes at other theatres. However, I am convinced that the Bolshoi Theatre has a lot to share with the audience. People are waiting for us to tell them all the truth about what happens behind the scenes, and this is exactly what we are going to do! Denis Rodkin : I am very curious about this project. I cannot even imagine what it can be like. This is something that has never happened before, so I am interested in the process itself.

On October 1 we show the real "kitchen"; people can see us working, warming up every morning and rehearsing (sometimes it is very difficult and sometimes we even do not want to do it). And then the audience can enjoy our effortless performance on the stage. October, 1 2014 Newsletter

October, 1 2014 Many people think that our job is a very easy one. Many of them think: "Well, they are not doing anything special on the stage… they dance a bit and jerk their legs, that is all". But in reality it is a very hard job, and we would like people to realize that. Do not miss the live broadcast from behind the scenes at the Bolshoi Theatre

on October 1, from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. on our YouT ube channel. This is only happening once!

For articles published 29 September 2014 The Epoch reports on La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera in New York saying that Russian soprano Ekaterina Scherbachenko, winner of the 2009 BBC Cardif f Singer of the World competition and member of the Bolshoi Theatre, was a moving Mimi. The Straits Times publishes an interview with Vadim Report who says he is passionate about every piece he plays. The article mentions that Repin is married to Bolshoi Ballet prima Svetlana Zakharova. Die Welt reports that the Berlin Musikfest was especially successful and the conductors included Tugan Sokhiev.
In brief The theatre-lovers of Vladivostok and the Primorsky region will soon see the full- length production of the opera "Boris Godunov". So far the concert version of the opera was presented at the Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theatre during the festival "Choir Bridge: Moscow-Vladivostok", which started this week. Mikhail Kazakov, the Honored Artist of Russia, performed the main role. The Bolshoi Theatre's soloist shared his impressions about working in Vladivostok. "I am very happy with the fact that I came here and saw the Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theatre myself; people in Moscow talk a lot about your theatre. It is great that people devote so much attention to art and build opera theatres in such remote regions of our country. The theatre is very modern and the acoustics are wonderful; it has been a pleasure to perform on such a stage", - Mikhail Kazakov said. The orchestra was conducted by the theatre's artistic director Anton Lubchenko. He praised the theatre's choir: "We have presented the concert version of this opera. It often happens that at first the concert version is presented and then the full production is staged. "Boris Godunov" will appear in the repertoire of our theatre a little later. The theatre's choir is working at an incredible speed and is learning a great number of various pieces and productions; it is doing a great job". /…/ The National Philharmonic of Russia, conducted by Vladimir Spivakov, opened the

77 season of the Buryat State Philharmonic in Ulan-Ude on Friday. This concert was the first event of the festival "Vladimir Spivakov invites…". Vasily Ladyuk (baritone), the leading soloist of the Novaya Opera and the permanent guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre, and Pavel Chervinsky (bass), the artist of the Bolshoi Theatre Young Artists Opera Program, performed pieces by Rossini, Mozart, Bizet, V erdi and other composers together with the orchestra.

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