November, 12 2014 Serebrennikov and Pisarev represent the young generation… Vladimir Urin: Yes, they do, as well as Dima Belyanushkin, who stages "The Story of Kai and Gerda"; this is the second or third production that he stages in his life. He graduated from the department of stage direction at the Russian University of Theatre Arts. Still, children's theatre is a completely different story. Vladimir Urin: No, it is not. This is not a production for children; there is no such thing. This is wrong. There cannot be a "production for children". It can be addressed to children but if it is not interesting for adults to watch, it is not a production. A production is always designed for anyone; it can address a very wide audience. When I am talking about "The Story of Kai and Gerda", I mean that it will be a production that both children and families will watch. But it should be a piece of art, and serious art. Due to certain circumstances, the fairy-tale "Snow Queen" is very popular. W e consider this production to be a very important one. It stars Bolshoi's leading soloists, although it is staged by a young director. But we have Levental, one of the best set designers, working on it; he used to be the main set designer of this theatre for a long time. He is now working together with Dmitry. This is not some unimportant project. It is not like "Let us do something for children". No, it is impossible to have such kind of attitude. Mr. Urin, is there any premiere that you are looking forward to in particular? Vladimir Urin: I am always looking forward to premieres when they are staged by interesting production teams and when there is some unusual idea that can attract attention. I am always looking forward to those premieres and it seems to me that such productions allow the theatre to move forward and to progress. If we can have a win-win scenario and find an interpretation that is convincing today, in the 21st century, why not do it? Over the year and a half that you have worked at the Bolshoi Theatre… Vladimir Urin: Wait a second! July, August, September, October… a year and three months! OK, over the year and three months that you have worked at the Bolshoi Theatre… how much have you developed the kind of teamwork that you would like to see at the theatre? Vladimir Urin: I have not succeeded in doing it yet. I have just taken the first steps. At the moment I have the feeling that everything is running smoothly, as it should be running at a professional theatre, but from my point of view this is not what usually happens at theatres. Y ou have achieved the main goal - to distract attention from issues that have nothing to do with the creative process. The Bolshoi used to be associated with yellow press stories. Nowadays it is not. Vladimir Urin: I know why it is so. There is one method, and I have realized that it is something that should be used all the time, even though I hate giving interviews and I cannot stand to see myself on the TV screen all the time. But at the same time I do understand that this is a part of my job at the Bolshoi Theatre. There was no necessity to do the same when I was working at the Stanislavski Theatre. This is why I come to interviews, talk about different issues and explain different things; I am trying to answer any questions that journalists have about the Bolshoi Theatre the same day those questions appear. I can assure you that if the theatre management had had the same kind of attitude earlier, many of those questions, legends and myths in the mass media would not have appeared. For a video with the full version of the interview with Bolshoi Theatre's General Director Vladimir Urin please go to: .mir24.tv/video_news/1 1586759/11585936 The baroque music ensemble "Les Arts Florissants" performed in Moscow for the first time The French ensemble performed on the Bolshoi Theatre New Stage. This concert was a part of the Festival "Baroque. A Journey". The Festival was organized by the Bolshoi Theatre and is dedicated to baroque music. This style originated around 1600, when the piece "The Idea of Soul and Body" by Emilio de' Cavalieri premiered in Rome. Later it was called the first opera in the history of music. This epoch finished in 1750, the year of J.S. Bach's death. The history of baroque music is a century and a half long; the French artists chose the music of their fellow countryman Jean-Philippe Rameau and presented the program "Rameau - MaГ®tre Г  Danser". Photo: Damir Yusupov This was the first time that the baroque music ensemble "Les Arts Florissants" performed in Moscow, although it was founded in 1979 and became an expert in the authentic music and "beau dance" (this is what ballet was called in the court of Louis XIV, who became the godfather of the classical dance) long time ago. William Christie, the conductor, says: "The European audience loves baroque music very much. Dancing combined with opera singing has been practiced in France for many centuries. These are the origins of both opera and ballet". Maestro Christie brought two productions to Moscow: "La naissance d'Osiris" and "Daphnis et Eglé" by the French composer and organist Jean-Philippe Rameau, the author of "Treatise on Harmony". Christie discovered the music by Rameau for himself in the mid-60s, and it has been a part of his repertoire ever since. Artur Zakirov has been living in France for 10 years. He came there from Kazan. He changed the classical dance for the contemporary dance. Three years ago he returned to the origins and started dancing the baroque style. He explains: "It was dif ficult to go back to this kind of dancing because the style used to be completely dif ferent; there was a certain kind of plastique that does not exist anymore'. This is the kind of dancing that was popular in the court of Louis XIV; they were fond of the graceful and romantic pastoral world. The movements of arms and hands look simple; those movements came from fencing. Bulky costumes did not allow to raise arms high. Artur Zakirov adds: "Earlier there were only men who danced this kind of dances; it was considered that the baroque style originated from fencing". We still do not know whether there was a premiere of "Daphnis et Eglé", or whether there was only a dress rehearsal; the plot has a direct allusion to the affair of Louis and the famous Marquise de Pompadour, which made the queen discontent. Sophie Daneman, the director of the production, considers the baroque dancing to be timeless. She says: "Of course, ballet has changed and the modern dance has appeared. But the basic movements of feet and legs have remained the same in the classical dance. All ballet pas come from those movements. This dance looks like an ancient painting". Moscow is one of the few cities where the French artists presented their favorite productions - "La naissance d'Osiris" and "Daphnis et Eglé" - on the same evening. They demonstrated their commitment to the baroque epoch in the most vivid way. Newsletter

November, 12 2014 "Les Arts Florissants" granted the Moscow audience a chance to immerse into the baroque epoch For two days in a row the Moscow audience had a chance to immerse into the baroque epoch. This chance was granted by the famous French ensemble "Les Arts Florissants" that performed on the Bolshoi Theatre New Stage. The orchestra, conducted by William Christie, as well as the dancers and the opera singers, came to Moscow. According to the source 24 The World, they create the unique atmosphere of the times of Louis XIV. The 250th death anniversary of the outstanding composer Jean-Philippe Rameau is celebrated this year. The ensemble's tour is marking this date; the artists present two pieces from the French composer. The first one is the ballet "La naissance d'Osiris". This is a story about the Egyptian celebration Pamilie and the times of king Osiris's rule. The second ballet, "Daphnis et Eglé", is a story of a young man and a young woman who got to a temple of love and realized that they could not live without each other. The French ensemble was founded in 1979 and was the first collective to revive the baroque music. William Christie, the music director of the ensemble " Les Arts Florissants ", said: "I started creating various productions in my head when I was 10; I have always been interested in ways to combine music and drama. I have always been interested in ways to express music on the stage by means of visual art and the set, with the help of singers, other artists and stage direction. My career of a musician has been very rewarding; there have been a lot of occasions when I worked with theatre directors and took part in various productions". "Some orchestras cannot even think about it" W illiam Christie talks about working on the ballet "Rameau - MaГ®tre Г  Danser" Photo: Dmitry Lekai/Kommersant William Christie, one of the world's main specialist in baroque music, and his ensemble "Les Arts Florissants", visited Moscow again and presented the project "Rameau - MaГ®tre Г  Danser" to the music by Jean-Philippe Rameau on the Bolshoi Theatre New Stage. Two ballets - "Daphnis et Eglé" (a heroic pastoral about the deceptiveness of friendship between a man and a woman that has the final divertissement of the Graces, Games and Pleasures, 1753) and "La naissance d'Osiris" (an allegorical ballet marking the birth of the future Louis XVI, that has thunder, lightning, bagpipe, Jupiter and Cupid, 1754) turned out to be sophisticated and carefully free reconstructions for an orchestra, a choir, six singers and nine dancers. The music, the voices, the movements (choreographer - Françoise Denieau), the mise-en-scenes (director - Sophie Daneman), the costumes (Alain Blanchot) and the soft light in the style of Antoine Watteau, which almost substitutes the set (lighting designer - Christophe Naillet), were almost equally valuable. But neither the sophisticated grace of the choreography with some touches of Bournonville and Balanchine, nor the beauty of the costumes, could convince the audience that it was not the music performed by Christie and his musicians in a delicate, bright, expressive and illusionary manner, that was the main part of the performance. Julia Bederova talked with William Christie about theatre, Rameau and some other things. - I would like to start from talking about Rameau: what has changed in your perception and your understanding of his music since you started playing it, which happened quite a long time ago? - Over those years Rameau has become my best friend. Just like Handel or Bach. He is the musician who I can communicate with forever. In 1965 or 1966 I heard Janet Baker performing Rameau and my life changed. I was listening to her extraordinary voice in a breathtaking lyrical tragedy by Rameau and I told myself: this music is about the most important things in life, perhaps, this is what life itself is about. I was 17 years old and I wrote a letter to Baker; then I became a specialist in Rameau's music. If there is anything I am a specialist in, it is the music by Rameau; it seems to me that I devote most of my time to this composer. This just means that he turned out to be a much greater person than I realized in 1965. I think that if you ask a serious musician - I mean, even someone like Simon Rattle - they will not be so sure of it. But for us it is absolutely obvious that today Rameau is considered to be as important as Bach, Handel and Vivaldi; just like those composers, he is one of the greatest composers of the 18th century. - What is the most valuable and the most surprising thing about Rameau's music for you and for the audience nowadays? - I would say it is the language that he uses. In terms of harmonies he has nothing to do with either Bach or Hander. His musical language is very precise and very rich. I have always told my students that he was the most important person for dancers before Stravinsky; no one understood the movements of a human body as well as Rameau did and this is important not only for dancers, but also for musicians and singers. - Are Rameau's music and ballet scores in equally good condition and which ones are easier to decode? - In terms of notes we have no equivalents to the kinds of notes of Petipa's ballets, or works of other great choreographers of the 19th century; still, there is some notation that is rather detailed. Of course, this notation is not very much precise. But we have enough information to construct the ballets. Did I use it? Yes, I did, but it is important to understand what role an interpreter plays when it comes to Rameau's ballets. This programmed contribution is very important; the place that was designed for this contribution allows us to interpret the composer's idea. I am playing on a dangerous territory, but here is what I am trying to say: you know, several years ago they started to reconstruct ballet of Diaghliev's "Ballets Russes" and early ballets of Balanchine, and this is something that looks very strange to us. Honestly, I would prefer modern interpretations of ballet by Stravinsky. I am not sure that I would have been particularly happy to see ballets by Rameau (if we had had a chance to go back in time) the way they were performed. But we should still use authentic instruments in the dance, just like we use them when we play music or sing. - I would say that you are particularly sensitive to the theatre, and this is your distinctive feature. The balance of music and theatre in your productions is not only unique but also ideal; it seems like one comes from the other. This happens when you work with prominent artists, such as Sellars or Carsen, and when you work with your students, for example, Sophie Daneman. I could suppose that this sensitivity is rooted in the New York art of 1960s that you grew up on, as well as the synthetic nature of the French baroque. Does it sound naГЇve? - Not at all. I think there are people who are initially drawn to the theatre, who like the feeling of gesamtkunstverk, the dramatic feeling, the dramatic gesture, or the combination of movement and visuals. There are also colleagues who do not have this associatiativity and simply like to act and play by themselves, although it is hard to imagine something like that when it comes to opera. As for me, the connection with the word and the language is extremely important as well. The word is a very important ingredient in my music studies. The context of the musical theatre is ideal. There is musical theatre even in pieces that are not directly associated with it, for example, in Bach's Passionatas. Bach used everything that existed at that time, including the musical theatre. This is something that makes me so happy when I deal with musical theatre. I have a strong connection with Sellars, Carsen and Graham V ick, because they share this world with me. There are problems at the musical theatre, and those problems appear because very often directors do not work with conductors and vice versa. Sometimes they simply do not want to spend time with each other, sometimes it is hard to find time to rehearse together, and each of them lives in their own world, sometimes opera conductors do not like what they see on the stage and sometimes they simply do not want to see anything around them. But my happiest moments in life were at the theatre; this is one of the greatest inventions. There is one thing I insist on - I have to have good relations with the director, so that we can discuss ideas. In this case I can allow the director, be it Carsen or anyone else, to tell me: "I do not like those measures", or "Can we do this recetativo a bit faster?" or even "Maybe we need some other color here?". At the same time I can also tell the director: "I do not really like the way this couple is behaving on the stage. Can they come a little closer to me?" (sometimes singers' voices are not powerful Newsletter

November, 12 2014 enough), or "Why do you have to have movement here? The music is so solemn and elevated here. We do not need anything on the stage at this point! Stop. Let them stop and just sing. Let the singer behave the way he/she wants and not fulfill some tasks".

- Do you consider that baroque opera at traditional theatres should be staged only by baroque specialists? - This is the reality and I have to admit that my answer is no. If it is a good theatre that wants to appeal to its audience, naturally, it has to widen its repertoire. I staged productions in New York, at the Paris Opera, I also work at Glyndebourne and Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera). But this is one part of the answer. Another part is whether the traditional opera theatre can have an orchestra and a choir that baroque music requires. I worked with the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera: of course, they are used to singing Massenet, Mascagni, Verdi and Wagner. Are they as good as my orchestra and my choir? No, they are different. But they are interesting for me to work with; they make an effort and try to get to another aesthetic level, to come to a dif ferent interpretation, different from the one they are used to. Some orchestras cannot even think about it. You cannot ask orchestras in Vienna or Dresden to do what you need. When I come to Vienna, I work with my own orchestra. There are orchestras that are more flexible, and there are those that are passive. There are some things that modern orchestras simply cannot play. It is very difficult to perform a real French opera - this is not only the problem of the instruments but the pitch as well. The problem of the pitch will pose difficulties for singers. It is possible to use principles of authentic performance in traditional orchestras, it is true. It is possible to change phrasing and articulation, but there are some things that they will never be able to do or will never want to do. Everything comes from their minds. The style is not in their hands. It is in their heads. - Speaking about the heads, there is one more question. How can we explain the fact that the interest in the ancient music in 1960s and 1970s was rebellious in nature, while this music is the music of court ceremonies for the most part? - There is one simple idea: before the French revolution and modern times people were divided into those who had means and the right to listen to music by birth and by their social status and those who did not have those means and those rights. But this is a kind of simplification. This was not always true. Truth is, it was the court that was the main commissioner. But there was also the church and it came before the court. Who took their places later? People with money, the rich bourgeoisie in France and in Russia in the 19th century. In terms of music, it was more important for music in Russia than the court was. There are always people who are educated and can pay. But we should not forget that in the 17th and the 18th century music reached out to every human being on this planet. As for the Western world, there was no time when music was as important as it was in the 17th and the 18th century. Y ou woke up to music, brushed your teeth to music, went to church and got married to music and you were buried to music as well. As for the music that I love - Bach, Handel and Rameau - this is the music that could travel among people. The court or a rich bourgeois could commission a composer to write it but then it was published. Did Lully think only about court ceremonies when he wrote a lyrical tragedy for the court? No, he did not; he always thought about people outside the court who would make his music more popular. It is funny and interesting that both Schuman and Stravinsky had a more narrow and homogeneous audience than composers of the 17th and the 18th century. I am convinced about it. We will not be able to find a popular setting of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" for other instruments, or editions of simplified versions of Schuman's piano pieces, but such things appeared during the baroque era quite often. - Have you ever wanted to go back to the times when you were interested in Morton Feldman, Giacinto Scelsi and Bruno Maderna? Don't you miss modern music? - I love those years very much. Those were wonderful moments of my life. It was great to come to Scelsi's or Sylvano Bussotti's house in Rome and to communicate with those crazy British or wonderful American composers. But there also were times when it seemed to me that it was just hard work. And I did not like what I was doing. Then I looked at myself in the mirror and once asked myself a question: why don't I do what I really love and what I really want? Remember that you have only one life; what if you are an impatient person and are always in a hurry? I had such thoughts back then, and today I think that I was right. Although I miss my freedom. This is what makes us so interested in both early and modern music. Of course, it was the anti-
conservative approach. We did things not the way we were taught to do and created sound that had never been considered the right one. Initially we wanted to be dif ferent and this is very important. But today I can do all those things with the early music. When I came to France, people who determined the music policy were nothing like those people I grew up with in America and who treated the past with a lot of attention and care. Such people as Boulez and his followers were terrified of the past and hated everything that was connected with it. They considered that we could not take anything from the past and could not learn anything from the great music of the 17th century. They believed in the evolution theory so much! If Bach is good, Beethoven is better and Berlioz is even better than those two together, and so on. If violins were good in the 17th century, they became better in the 20th century. They also believed that the piano was better than the clavichord. Photo: Damir Yusupov - What is the baroque for you today - is it more about limits and staying faithful to the style, or rather the territory of freedom? - Obviously, the movement of the historically informed performance is a mentality, a discipline, an intellectual starting point; it is an idea that is much more sophisticated than just playing ancient instruments or studying theoretical notes of that time. People who play with me, can play the music of Mozart and the music of the 19th century composers, but the idea is to get as close to the composer's idea as possible, using everything that he used. Even in terms of appliances. But it does not mean that we simply copy. Usage of the instruments allows us to become a part of the aesthetic world that we make our contribution to. Of course, we do it dif ferently from students of the conservatoire, who know how to play their instruments and perform all pieces in the same manner and style, be it Bach or Boulez. - Is it true that all French baroque orchestras get as much financial aid as one symphony orchestra? - Or even less. - Isn't the situation changing? Is it necessary for you that it changes? - In France you can get from the cradle to the grave! To some extent we are even more abandoned than you used to be by your former government. There is the old expensive system of governmental assistance but there is too little money left for those who appeared too late, like our ensemble did. For example, I meet with young conservatoire students and they work very hard in order to get their first award and then prepare for their first audition to get to the regular orchestra. As soon as they get there the government will take care of them. Always. It will take care not only of their music but also of their health, pension and the rest. We are talking about a huge social structure that costs an enormous amount of money. The government gives and the government takes (I mean taxes and social benefits that you should pay for). I do not have an answer to your question. I would like the government to take care of me and of my musicians as well; I would love my musicians to have good lives. But there is the routine behind all of this, and bad music that you have to perform. So I Newsletter November, 12 2014 For their first performance the participants chose arias of composers who represent their native countries. Italian participants, students of the most famous opera academies (Mirella Freni Academy for Opera Singers and La Scala Academy) performed fragments from operas by Verdi, Puccini and Rossini. The chamber concert at the Embassy took place prior to a performance of the three schools' soloists that will take place at the Bolshoi Theatre on Sunday. The organizers promised: "The program will also include only most famous pieces". Svetlana Adyrkhaeva, a People's Artist of the USSR and Bolshoi Ballet's former prima ballerina, who is now working as Bolshoi Ballet's pedagogue- repetiteur, has been awarded the 2nd Grade Medal of the Order of Merit to the Fatherland by the Presidential Decree No.680 of October 25th 2014 for her contribution to the development of the Russian culture and art and her lasting and fruitful career. Svetlana Adyrkhaeva

For articles published 10 November 2014 National Post publishes a review of the National Ballet of Canada's Manon Lescaut and says about former Bolshoi ballerina Svetlana Lunkina that her "crisp Russian technique stands out." W riting about the same ballet, Toronto Star points out that "Lescaut's mistress was thrillingly danced by former Bolshoi star Svetlana Lunkina". The New York Times writes that "Alexei Ratmansky's new "Tanzsuite," created in June for the Semperoper Ballett here, is breathtakingly inventive, formally rigorous and gorgeously dancy". Il Giorno (Italy) writes that Mariafrancesca Garritano, aka Mary Garrett, will return to La Scala after being dismissed for her declarations about eating disorders among ballet dancers three years ago. She was then about to make her debut in a leading role in Excelsior at the Bolshoi Ballet. really do not know. When a person sees that their life has been programmed for many years to come, sometimes they lose excitement, desire to do something ambitious. Maybe this is why conductors of such orchestras should behave like lion tamers in order to make those people feel the surge of excitement, passion and desire to play music. We get money from the government as well and I am happy about it; the money from private sponsors and the regional government make up less than 25 percent of our budget. The rest we earn ourselves when we give concerts. - What kind of audience do you consider to be truly yours - sophisticated and well- educated, experienced or general that can allow you to earn the money you need? - I think you could answer this question yourself! Of course, I do believe in elitism. I absolutely believe in it! But I also believe that anyone has a chance to join the elite. When it comes to music, elite is people who can understand music. But it demands certain work and certain education. It also means that a person should be sophisticated in a way. I hate people who do not have this kind of understanding. But this has nothing to do with people's social status. You are talking about passion, you are talking about love, you are talking about people who decided that music can change and improve their lives and about people who make certain efforts in order to understand music. This has to do with their education. I think, the most important thing for me is that I make it possible for everyone to contact what I am doing. This means education. You know, when I come to you country, be it the Soviet Union or the new Russia, I see that there are people who serve music, I mean, serve it in a religious way. Because music is a kind of religion. You can find here people who have important qualities of listeners, who can comprehend and analyze what they hear. When I was here about 35-40 years ago, one woman from Gosconcert asked me to meet a young lady who had travelled for 48 hours from Siberia in order to listen to the concert. I was lucky back then; I was young and I met Alexei Lyubimov and Ivan Monighetti. Both of them were from the Conservatoire but I did not know they were dissidents! It took us a long time to understand it step by step. At that point we started to realize that music was an exceptionally important part of the social life. This is the way it works for me. This explains why I do not like spectators who, you know, wear high heels and are politically correct and polite. They do not make me happy; on the other hand, I do not object either. Of course, I need all of them, I need all kinds of spectators, including those who can pay money. In this case those who do not have money will also have a chance to visit my concerts. Perhaps this will be interesting for you: I have a home festival that is partially financed by the local government and partially - by American Philharmonic Halls. The most expensive tickets cost €18. - How many seats do you have? - Once we had 7,8 thousand people during one week! An opera concert took place at the Italian Embassy in Moscow The Bolshoi Theatre Young Artists Opera Program cooperates successfully with the world's largest academies for young singers. There are educational and theatre projects, master-classes and joined performances. The partnership with the La Scala Academy has been particularly fruitful. A concert starring young opera singers from the Bolshoi Theatre Young Artists Opera Program, the La Scala Academy and the Mirella Freni Academy for Opera Singers, took place at the Italian Embassy in Moscow. The concert was opened by the participants of the Bolshoi Theatre Young Artists Opera Program, who also took part in the international opera exchange program between Russia and Italy. Cesare Maria Ragaglini, Italian ambassador in Moscow, talks about this initiative: "We decided to introduce scholarships for the best young singers who study opera in Italy and in Russia. This is the first time we organize such a program but we have ambitious plans for the future". The scholarship program is designed for young singers; however, it is not possible to say that any of them are newcomers, since they all have a lot of experience. Still, they were rather nervous before this concert. Elena Obraztsova, the most honored guest, was in the audience. The performance of the young La Scala stars reminded her about her friend, the legendary Italian singer Renata Tebaldi: "Strange as it might be, but I met Renata at the Bolshoi Theatre. She gave concerts here and came to the production of "Carmen" where I performed. Later we met in Milan many times when I sang at La Scala". , 7 Bolshoi Theatre in the Internet