March, 7, 2014. Issue No. 249March 6 - the 100 anniversary of Kirill P. Kondrashin, a conductor, a pedagogue and a People's Artist of the USSR March 6 - "Carmen". New cast members. The famous Spanish singer Nancy Fabiola Herrera will perform at the Bolshoi for the first time; the singer successfully performs the role of Carmen at such theatres as the Metropolitan Opera, Paris National Opera, Royal Opera House, Arena di Verona, The Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona) and others. Alexei Pashiev will make his debut in the role of Escamillo, Alina Yarovaya - in the role of Frasquita and the Bolshoi Young Opera Artists Program soloist Bogdan Volkov - in the role of Remendado March 9 - debut in the ballet "Swan Lake". Denis Rodkin will perform the part of Prince Siegfried for the first timeBolshoi Theatre UK Cinema Ticket CompetitionQUIZ: Win Tickets to the ballet Marco Spada in Cinemas UK cinema distributor Picturehouse Entertainment is giving away TEN FREE TICKETS to the upcoming transmission of the Bolshoi Ballet's production of Marco Spada on Sunday 30 March 2014 in a participating UK cinema near you. This is your chance learn more about the Bolshoi Theatre and to win tickets to Pierre Lacotte's Marco Spada one of the biggest hits of the Bolshoi Ballet's 238 season which will be transmitted LIVE from the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre to nearly 600 cinemas around the world. The ballet - a colourful and lively romp with bandits, mixed up identities and lots of swash -buckling fun - is slated to feature a cast of some of the Bolshoi's biggest stars. You have until Saturday 22 March 2014 to send your answers to all four of our quiz questions and have a chance to win in our prize draw. QUIZ: On March 30 the ballet "Marco Spada" will be transmitted in the cinemas all over the world. Photo: Damir YusupovOpera "Carmen" at the Bolshoi. A scene from the first act. Photo: Damir YusupovMass media about the TheatreNewsletter more than men, is given to Nancy Fabiola Herrera. The Bolshoi could not have made a better choice; this is clear if we judge by the appearance of the singer alone. Herrera, this sensuous brunette, looks like she was born to perform the roles of self- confident seductresses. Her voice charms as much as her appearance; her mezzo-soprano does not have thunder-like force, but rather has deep velvet coloring. Nancy Fabiola Herrera A native of Venezuela, Herrera studied singing in the Canary Islands, where she spent her childhood, and at The Juilliard School, the famous American school that many world-renowned musicians graduated from. She sings at the Metropolitan Opera, which is the most prestigious opera theatre in the USA, rather often; she specializes in the roles of femmes fatales - there are tons of mezzo-soprano roles of this kind. The list includes the role of Giulietta, a courtesan, in "The Tales of Hoffman", the Bible villainess Dalila in "Samson and Delilah" and Maddalena, the assassin's sister, in "Rigoletto". Herrera has been singing the part of Carmen for many years. The singer has performed this part in Spain, Israel, Italy, England, France, Japan, Germany and even in Australia; her performances has always been a success. The singer has come up with her own interpretation of this role: according to her, Carmen charms not as much with her beauty, but rather with her self-confidence and strong internal force. "My Carmen is not sexy; she is a woman who knows who she is, how to use her body, gestures and personality in order to get what she wants", - Herrera says. The energy and charisma are so obvious, that when this free daughter of a gypsy-band shows herself, not a single person in the audience can take his eyes off her. There are no traditional Spanish attributes in the Bolshoi Theatre production of "Carmen", staged by David Pountney; there is no fan, castanets or a rose in the hair. The heroine runs around barefoot wearing only a shirt; the action is moved from the beginning of the 19 century to the end of the last century and takes place in the world of cheap bordellos, TV set trafficking, annoying commercials and pop-music. Carmen changes her lovers like a woman changes clothes, makes her jealous beaus go insane and takes the situation to the fatal finale, as she expresses the director's idea of freedom being an awful destructive force. She will drive the poor Jose nuts and he will kill her twice: at first he will smash her head against the wall, and then stab her with a knife. The guest singer can easily drive a man nuts: Herrera sings the part of Carmen with the intonations of a satisfied panther, in a way that is a bit lazy and a bit careless, playing with Jose like a cat would play with a mouse. How can the soldier withstand her, if from the very first note there are no doubts that the charming predator will win? Melodies class Bolshoi Theatre continues to surprise: the participants of the Young Artists Opera Program presented the "melodies" of French composers in a sophisticated chamber concert.The concert at the Beethoven Hall closed the series of master-classes that were organized by Irina Kataeva-Emar. The Russian pianist, who became a Frenchwoman, turned out to be the ideal guide for French culture in Russia. The genre of melodies, which was introduced by Berlioz, and has been cultivated by composers until nowadays, implies close ties between music and words. In the concert the audience could hear how the tradition developed from Debussy to Ravel and how it has divided lately, so that one part of it ended up in the music by Messiaen, and the second one - in the pieces by Poulenc. Irina Kataeva-Emar not only taught the young artists and played part of the program on the piano, but also gave the audience a detailed commentary about the history of the genre and its heroes; moreover, she provided an example of authentic perception: if someone in the audience did not understand some details of the plot and emotions, he could easily guess those by looking at the pianist's facial expressions. March, 72014Newsletter only for recordings". She tries not to perform the Russian repertoire. Well, she sang Glinka and Tchaikovsky, but it is very much different from singing Rimsky-Korsakov. - Glinka's vocal music is similar to the Italian school. What about Tchaikovsky? - The same. He has a lot of drama, but it is Italian drama. As for Rimsky-Korsakov, he is absolutely Russian. - Do you consider yourself to be a representative of the Russian vocal school? - Unfortunately, I do not. I love the French and the Italian music very much. Singing the German music is no problem for me. But singing Russian music always is a kind of super task; it always means overcoming some challenges, including the ones connected with the pronunciation. Russian words often have letters "Р«" and "РЃ". The German language has "ü", and the French has "oe", but these almost are meant to be sung. It is different with the Russian language. Singing for us is the most difficult, almost all singers talk about it. - Who do you consider yourself to be in terms of your national identity? - An Armenian, of course. Although I was born in Russia and I do not speak a word of Armenian, I cannot consider myself to be Russia. But I can say that I am a Russian citizen and a patriot of Russia. - Everybody acknowledges that the Russian opera is one of the greatest in the world. But there are only 3-4 operas that are staged at foreign theatres regularly. Is the language the main challenge? - The language and the technical difficulty. - Wagner is difficult as well; nevertheless, his operas are staged everywhere. - Yes, they are. In order to understand Russians, one has to speak Russian well; foreigners cannot do that. It always sounds funny when they perform Russian operas. But today more and more Russian operas are being staged in the best opera theatres, thanks to Dmitry Chernyakov. Perhaps, in 5-10 years our opera will go to a new level. - Do you see any prerequisites for this? - Yes, I do. Today one Russian opera per season is staged or performed at European theatres. This is good. - Why did your name disappear from "The Tsar's Bride" playbill at the Bolshoi Theatre? - I had to sacrifice this performance: I was so into rehearsal process that I fell sick right before the premiere. It was very difficult to cope with it, I mean, psychologically, but I understood that I should not kill myself over one performance. - How did the theatre react? Did they yell at you or something? - No, they did not; all of us were crying. I came to the last performance. I felt so bad about not being able to be on the stage. The Bolshoi vice director was sitting next to me; he kept telling me: "That's OK, you will sing this part". - When will you? - I will sing in May for sure. - What have you prepared for the concert at the House of Music? - Four arias by Rimsky-Korsakov: two from "The Snow Maiden", and two from "The Tsar's Bride". All four are very much different. The first one is the first aria of the Snow Maden, where the singer is supposed to demonstrate her youth and her charming voice. The second one is from the melting scene; there you are supposed to be lyrical and to show the beauty of love. The third one is the first aria of Marfa; this is that difficult cantilena I was talking about. The fourth one is the aria from her madness scene, where you need to become a dramatic actress. - You work in-house at the Bolshoi Theatre. Do you go there like to an office? Is Makvala Kasrashvili (Director of the Bolshoi Opera - editor's note) strict about discipline? - We have magnet ID cards; I guess this is the only way they watch our presence at the theatre. The Bolshoi is getting younger; I see my peers everywhere. So I cannot say that we go there like going to an office; we rather go there to have fun. - What can you say about Tugan Sokhiev being appointed at the Bolshoi? - We set great hopes on him. 90% of my colleagues are waiting for a miracle. Only two weeks ago I talked to Valery Gergiev, and this is the first thing that he told me: "Anna, dear, my congratulations on getting a wonderful artistic director". Vladimir Spivakov told me the same - word by word.Unlike the opera's previous staging, created in 1966 and performed until 2012, Pevsner's truly brings the story to life - too much to life, perhaps, in the oprichniks' raucous party hosted by Gryaznoi, though the shenanigans there probably differed little in spirit from what has been reported of holiday parties of the current Russian elite at ski resorts of the French Alps. "The Tsar's Bride" is rivaled only by "The Invisible City of Kitezh" as the most musically enchanting of all Rimsky-Korsakov's 15 operas. And musically speaking, the newly revamped production proved quite impressive at its opening night performance week before last. Presiding in the pit was Gennady Rozhdestvensky, the 82-year-old dean of Russian conductors, who, despite his familiar choice of rather leisurely tempos, gave the score an authoritative reading and created an orchestral "atmosphere" of a sort that marked it as the work of a true master of the podium. The Bolshoi's orchestra treated the ears to playing of uncommon brilliance and accuracy. The Bolshoi somewhat surprisingly handed the role of Marfa on opening night to Ukrainian newcomer Olga Kulchinskaya, a member since last year of the theater's Young Opera Artists Program. But it could hardly have made a better choice. Her pure and expressive soprano, combined with a winning stage manner and appearance, proved a near-perfect fit for the role. Equally impressive was Agunda Kulayeva, a member of the Novaya Opera troupe since 2005, whose full, rich mezzo-soprano voice and considerable acting skills superbly met the many challenges to be found in the role of Lyubasha. For Marfa's father, Vassily Sobakin, the Bolshoi turned to veteran bass Vladimir Matorin, who, in his 66th year, still retains a marvelously resonant voice and a commanding stage presence. The other male members of the cast on opening night ranged from adequate to outstanding, with particularly fine performances delivered by tenor Roman Shulakov, as a clear-voiced, sympathetic Ivan Lykov, and tenor Marat Gali, in a nicely etched portrayal of the loathsome Bomelius. Anna Aglatova talks about the hopes that are set on Tugan Sokhiev, the art of saying "I do not want" and explains, why we should not argue with Wikipedia The Bolshoi Theatre soloist Anna Aglatova, who refused to participate in the premiere of "The Tsar's Bride" the last minute, will sing the part of Marfa - two of her arias, to be exact - in the concert version of the opera that will be performed at the House of Music together with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, conducted by Vladimir Spivakov. Between the rehearsals the singer talked to the "Izvestia" reporter. - What kind of relationship do you have with Rimsky-Korsakov? - It is complicated. It is rare that singers have a good relationship with the Russian music, especially with Rimsky-Korsakov, because vocalists are very uncomfortable with his cantilena. - How is it different from the Italian cantilena they feel comfortable with? - The Italian music is so tender, simple and easy to understand; it seems to me that you do not have to really think about anything when you sing it. You just need to open your mouth and everything will work out. As for the Russian music, you need to have good technique, to be in good health, to have had enough sleep and food. It is so difficult that I know some singers who refuse to sing it at all. I mean, Russian singers. - For example? - Anna Netrebko. I know that she made a condition: "I will sing the Russian music March, 72014Newsletter - This is interesting: their assessments rarely are the same. - When it comes to real talent, I guess, everyone agrees. - How did you survive the difficult period in the history of the Bolshoi, I mean, the year of 2013? Did you remain aloof? - I cannot say that I remained aloof, but I did isolate myself from discussions as much as I could. There are people who support Sergei Filin. There are people who have been against Nikolay Tsiskaridze all their lives and attack him at the earliest opportunity. When you get into such a machine as the Bolshoi Theatre, you need to understand that it will be either a meat grinder or a "Ferrari". If you get involved in all rumors and intrigues, after some time you will also disappear. As many of my colleagues, I cried and worried a little; then we decided that it would be much better if everyone kept his feelings and emotions to himself. I did not feel bad about the theatre having thrown mud at it in the yellow press. I understood that it was everyday life. The same this is happening to Yevgeny Plushenko. I do not consider that a person should organize a live broadcast of the The Bolshoi Theatre in the InternetDavid Hallberg as the bandit Marco Spada Analysis of articles published March 5 2014 The New York Times reviews the film screening of Alexei Ratmansky's Lost Illusions danced by the Bolshoi Ballet saying it is not Ratmansky's best work but that by Vladislav Lantratov danced the role of Lucien with real charm. The Wall Street Journal also reviews the film screening of Alexei Ratmansky's Lost Illusions danced by the Bolshoi Ballet saying that the pace is fast and breathless. The article says the two intermission segments are hosted by the Bolshoi's "personable" Ms Katerina Novikova who introduces the ballet, chats with some of those connected to the production, and provides historical information - and that her commentary rewards careful listening for anyone eager to grasp the history within this historical March, 72014Newsletter 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 The Times (UK) reports about the Russia-UK Year of Culture saying the timing is not good because the situation in the Ukraine means that the relations between the two countries are not good at the moment but that the organizers on both sides had nonetheless decided to go ahead with the event. Die Tagespiegel reports on a concert of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester conducted by Tugan Sokhiev mentioning that he was also recently appointed as the new music director of the Bolshoi. The review says the audience was charmed by the performance of the artists and demanded an encore. Yekaterinburg mass media: The three-act ballet "The Nutcracker" to the music by P. Tchaikovsky, choreographed by Vassily Vainonen, premiered at the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre. The production was staged by ballet-masters from Saint Petersburg; the costumes In briefEkaterina Ruzhiyova, the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre press officer, shared her impressions: "The audience was enthusiastic about every scene. When the curtain opened and it started to "snow", people in the audience gave a round of applause. It really was a very beautiful and magic scene; the Stalbaum House looked so spectacular in this "snow". Children did not act, but rather lived on the stage; one could feel it. The spectators yelled "Bravo!" and did not let the artists leave for a long time". This production has classical choreography but looks modern thanks to the set by Alyona Pikalova and the costumes by Elena Zaitceva; both designers come from the Bolshoi Theatre. Fat mice look funny on the stage and scary at the same time; Snowflakes look quite extraordinary. 24 corps de ballet dancers, who perform the snowflake dance and wear elastic leotards with stains of graphite color. The snowfall is created with the help of a projector; it gives some magic feeling to the production. The set is located on the stage in such a way as to reproduce a classical production. The stage of the Yekaterinburg Theatre is smaller than that of the Mariinsky, but because the set is located in a very rational way, it does not feel cramped. |
Main Stage
1 Teatralnaya ploschad (1 Theatre Square), Moscow, Russia
New Stage
Bol'shaya Dmitrovka Street, 4/2, Moscow, Russia