(Nikolai Kazansky) was not as dangerous as the Queen's demoniac world. The gang of robbers was yelling scary songs, while Gerda helped the awkward and naГЇve Little Robber Girl (Xenia Vyaznikova) to understand what love was. There was the Reindeer as well. It was white and sang in its tender bass voice from behind the stage (Alexander Miminoshvili). As we know, it was this Reindeer that helped Gerda find Kai. Love triumphed. This is the lesson that Andersen's fairy tale teaches; this production also teaches that "there should be joy in every house", as the quintet (Kai, Gerda, the Grandmother, the Lamplighter and the Little Robber Girl) sang in the finale. The orchestra, conducted by Anton Grishanin, did its best; it demonstrated beautiful timbres of instruments, rich melodies and rhythmic drive. But for the orchestra, there would have been no musical fairy tale for sure. As we approach the New Y ear, the Bolshoi Theatre presents the story of Kai and Gerda The production that premiered on the Bolshoi Theatre New Stage takes the audience to the world of the Snow Queen. The theatre presents the opera "The Story of Kai and Gerda", composed by the modern opera classic Sergei Banevich. Kai and Gerda are not a brother and a sister; their friendship gradually develops into first love. The Snow Queen is also a bit different from the characters, created by Andersen and Shvarts. Svetlana Shilova (the Snow Queen) told the TV channel "Moscow 24": "Our Snow Queen symbolizes cold; she is a kind of an infernal creature. She takes the warmth of human souls and throws away the "used" material. At the same time, she is rather attractive". "The Story of Kai and Gerda" was first staged at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1980; the opera has been performed there successfully for 30 years. The Moscow version of the opera is slightly different from the classical one, because the composer wrote several new numbers for this production. For example, there is the dance with the magic mirror that the original version did not have. The sharp pieces of this mirror later flew around the world, and one of those pieces stabbed Kai in the heart. "The Story of Kai and Gerda" was staged at the Bolshoi Theatre by a young production team. Dmitry Belyanushkin, the stage director, graduated from GITIS only two years ago; however, he has already staged one opera production at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre. "The Story of Kai and Gerda" is a production for the whole family. The opera will be performed on December 27th, 28th, 30th and 31st and on January 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th. Photo: m24.ru/Y ulia Ivanko /…/ The opera "The Story of Kai and Gerda", based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, premiered on the Bolshoi Theatre New Stage. The music for this story about the Snow Queen was composed by Sergei Banevich. "Novye Izvestia" considers that the production team approached the task with due diligence. The set represents the rocks where the ugly trolls of the same gray color live and the palace of the Snow Queen, covered with shining icicles, where ghosts of frozen children are trying to make the word "eternity" from small pieces of ice. According to the edition, the director managed to "…to grab Andersen's main idea. An idyll has to be able to protect itself, happiness is not possible to get for free, and the worst thing is when no one loves you and you do not need other people". /…/ R esu lt s o f th e S eco nd In te rn atio nal F estiv al o f M od ern C hore o g ra p hy "Context. Diana Vishneva" Russian and foreign companies performed during the Festival; films about d an ce were dem onstr a te d an d le ctu re s on modern ch ore o gra p hy were organized The Festival had three venues: foreign companies performed on the main stage of the Mossoviet Theatre, Russian choreographers-beginners presented their works at the "Stanislavsky" Electrotheatre ("Workshops of Choreographers" took place there) December, 4 2014 Mass media about the Theatre A new Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bolshoi Board of Trustees will be elected Alexander Budberg has held this position for the last six years. As the Bolshoi Theatre General Director Vladimir Urin told T ASS on Tuesday, a new Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bolshoi Board of Trustees would be elected. According to Mr. Urin, "the new Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bolshoi Board of Trustees is being chosen at the moment". Mr. Urin also explained: "According to the provision about the Executive Committee, when the term of the Chairman finishes (this is a two-years term), the new Chairman should be elected. The members of the Executive Committee were offered to suggest a new candidacy for this position. Several candidacies, including Alexander P. Budberg, were suggested". The Bolshoi Theatre General Director also mentioned that "before Mr. Budberg's candidacy was included in the list for voting, he had been asked whether he had agreed to continue doing this job. Mr. Budberg withdrew from the elections". Mr. Urin said that the absent voting was in progress. He added: "The meeting of the Board of Trustees will take place on December 4th; the results of the elections will be confirmed and we will announce the new Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bolshoi Board of Trustees". Mr. Urin concluded: "I have to say that Alexander P. Budberg is a person that cares about the Bolshoi a lot and loves the Bolshoi very much. I am very grateful to him; when he was a member of the Board of Trustees and then the Chairman of the Executive Committee he did a lot for the Board of Trustees, attracting the new trustees and solving important organizational and financial issues at the theatre". The Bolshoi Theatre Board of Trustees was founded in 2001; the most prominent representatives of the Russian political elite and business communities have been its members ever since. Alexander Zhukov, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma is the Chairman of the Board; Mikhail Shvydkoy, the Special Envoy to the President of the Russian Federation for international cultural cooperation is the Vice- Chairman. For articles published 2 December 2014 The Japanese edition Mainichi newspaper reports about the Bolshoi Ballet's tour of Japan saying the Bolshoi Ballet has a very prestigious tradition and has been warmly welcomed by the Japanese audiences. The New York Times reviews the production of The Nutcracker in New York by the Moscow Ballet. The newspaper says: "in the summer, there was a visit by the Bolshoi Ballet, robust but plagued by scandal and a reactionary repertory. The newspaper also mentions the visits of the Mikhailovsky Ballet and the Mariinsky Ballet which will visit New York in January. The New York Daily News writes that the Ovation TV will host a Battle of the Nutcrackers competition starting Dec. 15. Four ballets will be shown that week, including one by the Bolshoi. Ovation will name the winner on Dec. 22. Local edition Cumbria Live (UK) reports that the Rheged centre is celebrating its first year of screening live performances including performances from the Bolshoi Ballet and that local audiences tell them how much they value these performances. The Japanese edition of the RUVR.RU publishes an article about the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the National Buryat Opera and Ballet theater in the capital Ulan-Ude. The artistic director of the theatre is former Bolshoi Ballet soloist Morihiro Iwata (Iwata, Morihiro). The anniversary gala performance included artists from the Bolshoi Theatre. Newsletter

and the demonstration of films about dance, as well as lectures on modern choreography, organized in cooperation with the intellectual club "418", took place at the Documentary Film Center. The dance company "Gauthier Dance" (Germany) and the company Netherlands Dance Theatre 2 performed at the festival; it was also the first time that the dance company "Ate9 Dance Company" (USA) performed in Russia. The list of participants of the final "Vishneva Gala" included Angelin Preljoçaj's dance company "Ballet P re lj o ca j" (F ra n ce ), th e co m pany "C odarts R otte rd am " (th e N eth erla nds), participants of "Context-2013" Vladimir Varnava and Konstantin Keikhel, who p re se nte d th eir new w ork s, and th e co m pany "N anin e Lin nin g H eid elb erg " (Germany), which made its debut in Russia. Four Russian participants took part in the "Workshop of Choreogrpahers": the head of the modern dance center "ByeBye Ballet" Lilia Burdinskaya, the Bolshoi Ballet's leading soloist Andrei Merkuriev, the Boris Eifman Ballet's soloist Elena Kuzmina and an artist and pedagogue of the Theatre-Studio of modern choreography Ekaterina Kislova. All choreographers were awarded the diplomas of participants; Lilia Burdinskaya and Andrei Merkuriev also received certificates for internships with leading foreign choreographers. Diana Vishneva performed in three productions: - "The Old Man and Me", choreographed by Hans van Manen; partner - Erik Gauthier (this was the first time Diana Vishneva performed in this production) - "T ué", choreographed by Marco Goecke (this was the first time the ballerina performed in this production as well) - "Subject to Change", choreographed by Sol LeГіn & Paul Lightfoot; partner - Andrei Merkuriev, the Bolshoi Ballet soloist. /…/ Elchin Azizov, the first Azerbaijani artist at the Bolshoi Theatre, performed in Baku When any of our fellow countrymen win a competition of talented masters, become the best of the best and are invited to the best collectives of the world, this makes us incredibly happy. W e are also very excited when some of them come to Baku in order to perform for their country men. The audience was very happy to vis it the performance of the opera "La Traviata", presented at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre on Sunday. They were about to hear the performance of Elchin Azizov, who is now the Bolshoi Theatre's soloist. Over the years at the Bolshoi this vocalist has performed the most difficult parts of the classical repertoire, which brought him recognition and fame. The list of these parts include Ibn-Hakia in "Iolanta" by P. T chaikovsky, Escamillo in "Carmen" by G. Bizet, Leandro in "The Love for Three Oranges" by S. Prokofiev, Dr. Falke in "Die Fledermaus" by I. Strauss, Grigory Gryaznoy in "The Tsar's Bride" by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, Tomsky, Zlatogor in "The Queen of Spades" by P. Tchaikovsky, Shchelkalov in "Boris Godunov" by M. Mussorgsky, Giorgio Germont in "La Traviata" by G. Verdi, Rodrigo in "Don Carlo" by G. Verdi, and the powerful and important part of Igor Svyatoslavich in "Prince Igor" by A. Borodin. Many professionals discussed and wrote about his performance of this part. /…/ December, 4 2014 Newsletter

+ 7 Email: pr@bolshoi.ru

Chelyabinsk mass media: A significant cultural event will take place on December 12th in Ozersk: the world star Vladimir Spivakov will perform at the Theatre of Drama and Comedy "Nash Dom" (lit. "Our Home") together with his symphony orchestra "Virtuosos of Moscow". The program will include pieces by Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Piazzolla, as well as vocal pieces, performed by the Bolshoi Theatre's soloist Anna Aglatova (soprano). /…/ December, 4 2014 Bolshoi Theatre in the Internet
In brief