March, 20, 2014. Issue No. 257March 19 - the birthday of Vladimi G. Urin, the Bolshoi Theatre General Director. Our most sincere congratulations! March 20 - the ballet "Lady of the Camellias" will premiere on the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage March 30 - the ballet "Marco Spada" will be broadcast in cinemas around the world"Lady of the Camellias" at the Bolshoi TheatreJohn Neumeier: "I should have learned Russian" On March 20 charming ladies in luxurious dresses with crinolines and gallants in elegant tail-coats will step onto the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage. The tragic love story The Bolshoi Theatre premier Ruslan Skvortsov is trying on the costume of Des Grieux. Photo: Sergei MikheevMarguerite has 13 dresses in this production. The Bolshoi Theatre prima Evgenia Obraztsova at a fitting. Photo: Sergei MikheevNewsletter - The dancers are too different. Do you accept some improvisation and different interpretations? - Of course. But if an actor plays the part of Hamlet, he still has to say the "To be or not to be" monologue, and an actress, who plays the part of Nina Zarechnaya, - her monologue about men and lions, eagles and partridges. It is necessary to respect the text, both verbal and dance. Of course, it can be pronounced in different ways. When it comes to the theatre, interpretation is what attracts people. The more talented a director is, the brighter his individuality shows in the text of a ballet. A rehearsal. Photo: Elena Fetisova - How did "Lady of the Camellias" appear three and a half decades ago? - Surprising as it might be, it all started with Shakespeare. At John Cranko's funeral I saw what his bereaved Stuttgart Ballet prima Marcia Haydée felt. She was Cranko's muse and inspired him; he made her a wonderful ballerina. That day I promised Marcia that I would provide any support that she might have needed. Sometime later she became the head of the Stuttgart Ballet and asked me to stage a new production for the company that would also have a part for her. I chose "Antony and Cleopatra" by Shakespeare. It seemed to me, that the role of the Egyptian tsarina suited Marcia's tragic spirit the best. But then I started having troubles with the music. I could not decide whether to use Egyptian or Roman music for this piece that would be set at a certain historic period. One evening we met at a restaurant after the performance; Marcia looked exhausted and even sick. I looked at her and understood at once: she had to dance the part of Marguerite Gautier, and I had to choreograph "Lady of the Camellias" immediately. - Why did you choose the music by Chopin? - Of course, at first I thought I would use "La Traviata" by Verdi, and just create a new ballet score. We even started working on it, but to me all the melodies sounded secondary. There was less and less time left. A pianist and a conductor I knew, a very young man, came over. I asked him: "Listen, what music would you choose for "Lady of the Camellias"?" He answered almost without thinking: "Chopin or Berlioz". It was like a moment of enlightenment for me. Over the next few days we put together the main musical episodes for this story. - Most of those, who interpret "Lady of the Camellias" in one way or another, based themselves on the play. But you chose the novel. Why? - I was inspired by the novel by Dumas fils, where the action does not unfold gradually. Unlike the play, it has a poetic story that is being told from different points of view. There is one more thing. In the novel the main character gives Marguerite the book about Manon Lescaut, and it is like the ghost of this 18 century courtesan follows the 19 century courtesan. At times Marguerite compares herself to Manon and writes about her in her diary. He notes, memories that Armand has about her and the story told by his father are those different point of views that focus on different time periods. In the ballet we can "talk" only in the present. There are no movements and gestures, which would explain, that the action took place yesterday or will take place tomorrow. I tried to find a way to show those different time periods as fully as it was possible and to present Marguerite and Armand through their reflections in another couple and in another time period. In the ballet they meet at the variety theatre in Paris for the first time and watch the performance about Manon and des Grieux. So I draw a kind of parallel between those characters.A rehearsal. Photo: Elena Fetisova - Do you consider the story of a dying courtesan from the 19 century to be still relevant today? - Of course. We have the story of a woman, who is terminally ill (it is not important, whether she has tuberculosis or AIDS), and who clings to life by all means, using her charms and the power of seduction. But suddenly it turns out that everything she considered to be most important in life is less important for her than the sincere love of a man. In this regard the story is absolutely timeless; it does not have a country of origin either. /…/ Nijinsky for the lifetime - Why did you leave America, your motherland? I heard it was a kind of protest against the Vietnam War… - It is good that you have asked about it; I am worried that someone would write this version down when I am not around anymore. I left a year before the USA started the war campaign in Vietnam. I wanted to study in Europe, to continue my education. I was really passionate about the dance. When I first got to a ballet performance, being a little boy, I understood it was my vocation; so I was the victim of ballet. In my childhood I lived in a tiny American city, which did not even have a regular theatre company. But it had a library; at the age of eleven I read those few books that were there to tatters. One of those books struck me. The book about Vaslav Nijinsky had not only his creative biography, but also descriptions of his youth, difficult times, painful decisions and insults. It blew my mind; I am still trying to unravel the mystery of Nijinsky. The exhibition "Vaclav Nijinsky and John Neumeier"; Saint Petersburg, 2012 - On March 12 it was his 125 anniversary. You are the perfect person to talk to about this star of Diaghilev's "Ballets Russes". Your collection in Hamburg has rare materials connected with Diaghilev's enterprise and his favorite dancer's personality. How did it start? - I was interested in the tragic inner life of this person and artist and I was putting together from his things, pieces, ideas and notes. This is part of the reason why I March, 202014The Bolshoi Theatre artists will get a comfortable temperature and additional vacation Photo: Izvestia/Kristina Zaitseva The Bolshoi Theatre is about to present the final draft of the collective labor agreement; the Bolshoi staff hopes that this agreement will help to improve social atmosphere at the theatre. The Bolshoi Theatre General Director Vladimir Urin told "Izvestia": - The methodical work is being carried out; most likely, it will be completed in mid- April. The main points have already been negotiated; we just need to agree on the details of the labor routine. Earlier Mr. Urin supposed that the agreement would have been accepted in the end of March. The previous draft, which was elaborated when Anatoly Iksanov acted as the Bolshoi General Director, has never been signed: at the last moment the artists opposed the document, because they were outraged by the fact that it did not take into account the special aspects of working at the theatre. The final draft of the new project, which became available to "Izvestia", is still to be written, but even now one can see that the document has many interesting points; one part will give more confidence to the artists, while another one will make the life of the theatre administration easier. The agreement will be signed for three years. It is specified in the text that it will have force even in the case that the least probable events, such as liquidation of the Bolshoi Theatre, shall happen. General and special privileges have been covered for the artists and the technical staff. According to the new agreement, the artists will have 28 additional days of paid vacation (besides the regular 28 days of vacation); however, the theatre reserves the right to take those away "in case of labor discipline violation". The administration has obligated itself to coordinate issues of media recordings royalties with heads of creative teams. Now the artists will have the right not to perform if the temperature is lower +19В°C (66.2 F); it is stated in the agreement that such performances shall be possible only with the consent of the musicians and the dancers. One of the artists' main victories is the fact that now the theatre management will be obliged to include them as members of the commissions that distribute the Presidential Grant. The 375 mln rubles (apporx. $10.4 mln) that are allocated to the theatre annually has always caused arguments and mistrust in the company. Izvestia's informant in the company said: - We consider that not only the management, but also the theatre workers should decide what to do with the grant money. We would not like a second "Filin case". The informant also hinted that distribution of bonuses was one of the main reasons for the conflict between the Bolshoi Ballet artistic director and Pavel Dmitrichenko. The agreement does not provide for "golden parachutes" to be granted for the Bolshoi stars that are fired, even though many thought about introducing those after the conflict between the previous Bolshoi management and Nikolai Tsiskaridze. As Vladimir Urin informed "Izvestia", it is impossible to provide such a form of support at a state budgetary institution. However, the agreement does provide for the munificent reward for members of the technical and the administrative staff that leave the theatre: in the case of retirement or dismissal, each of them will be paid material assistance in the amount of six monthly wages. Newsletter started collecting everything that was connected with him. At first, before I became a collector, I had been trying to reconstruct the world of theatre from books. Then I started buying sketches; I have Bakst and Benois, Nijinsky's drawings, portraits of the dancer, painted by Amedeo Modigliani, Gustav Klimt and Jean Cocteau, costumes from ballets of Diaghilev's era and photographs. I have been collecting all of those for many decades and paid for everything with my own money, so I was often in the red. Today all parts of my collection have historic value, and I would not like them to be sold in an auction, like it was done to Marguerite Gautier's belongings in "Lady of the Camellias". The exhibits should be all together, so it is possible to study and compare them. Perhaps, it is great and even posh to hang drawings by Nijinsky on a wall in your house, but this will not help anyone really understand his personality and the time when he lived. I did not invest capital into this collection to get some profit in future. Here I have a part of my destiny, work and life. - You said you were expecting to get a separate building from the Hamburg government that you could use as a museum. - I am still expecting to get it. This issue is constantly being discussed, but it is only words. The exhibition still is in my house. Do you know what I regret most about being 75? I regret that I have not learned Russian. I could have bought the diaries of Vaclav Nijinsky, I had them in my hands and looked at every page, I mean, at every single page, but then I decided I would have never been able to read them, and so there was no use to have them. This was the silliest decision I have ever made in my entire life. A novel in verse - If I ask you, what you are working on now, you will gracefully evade this issue, as you always do. But I do know that you plan to stage the ballet "Tatiana"; in the beginning of the next season it will be staged at the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre. - It is hard to talk about a piece as you start working on it. You risk losing a lot of what is already inside of you. I can say that Lera Auerbach has been commissioned to write the music; she is a very talented young composer. The score is not ready yet. Then, "Eugene Onegin" is a very special novel for Russians, so I am a bit worried. I would not be able to stage it precisely the way Pushkin wrote it. I can create the ballet "Tatiana", based on the Pushkin novel, from the point of view of a boy who was born in America, now is much older, lives in Germany and has devoted his whole life to ballet. The main episode for me is Tatiana's Dream; this is the centerpiece of "Eugene Onegin". I also like Lensky, although your colleagues say that Pushkin is treating him ironically. Onegin doubts whether he lives the right life even before his uncle dies. He understands that his life lacks something. When Onegin meets Lenksy, he sees in Lensky what he lacks himself. Onegin never devotes himself completely to anything, but Lensky does - he is devoted to poetry and to Olga, who is not worth the sacrifice of his love. I mean his psyche - he is able to devote himself to something completely. Even when it comes to that silly duel, when he really does sacrifice himself.Mass media about the Theatre March, 202014Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 170 years ago Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born. He was a naval officer and a member of the creative union "The Mighty Handfull"; the composer went down in te history of the Russian music as an author of 15 operas, 3 symphonies, cantatas and many other pieces. Rimsky-Korsakov is considered to be a representative of the patriotic movement in the Russian opera music. Irina Kostenko, the director of the Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov memorial museum-flat in Saint Petersburg, says that she marks this date every year: - Rimsky-Korsakov really was a unique person; he had a unique talent and was incredibly prolific. He lived for 64 years, but what he did would have been enough for several creative biographies. He graduated from the Sea Cadet Corps; entering the naval profession was a tradition in his family. Later he became a pedagogue, a theorist, a composer, a conductor and an editor. We know that in 1905 he supported students who went on strike, and was fired from the Conservatory for that. Together with him many leading pedagogues left the Conservatory as a mark of protest; the Newsletter Perhaps, such smart-money is a compensation for having no chances to get anything from the Presidential grant: according to the law, it is to be distributed among the artists only. All theatre employees are promised to be paid 40% overtime for working after 10 p.m.; subsidized sanatoria and holiday-homes vouchers to Anapa or Sosnovy Bor will be provided every other year. They will also have the right to choose the alternative for The Bank of Moscow, where salaries are traditionally deposited into accounts. They will also be provided a continental breakfast during business trips and tours. In return the administration has reserved the right to fire employees that concealed health problems, which prevent them from fulfillment of their official responsibilities; it has also made the trade union promise to refrain from strikes to the maximum. The collective agreement became the matter of prime concern after the series of inside-the-theatre dramas last season. On May 17 2013 a meeting of representatives of several trade union committees that exist at the theatre took place. It was then that the Bolshoi Theatre employees decided to unite in order to elaborate new labor rules that would be universal for everyone. The provisions of the agreement will apply to each of the 3100 employees of the largest theatre of the country; they use their rights to develop the document through the compact group of delegates that have been chosen specifically for this. Ten commissioners, including Vladimir Urin, who has also appointed the others, represent the theatre administration; ten more commissioners represent the employees. Among those ten representatives of the employees there are five technical workers and five artists - one from the opera and ballet companies, the orchestra, the choir and the supernumeraries group. The director Elena Balaeva protects the rights of the opera collective; the violinist Kirill Filatov has been chosen to represent the orchestra; the prima ballerina Maria Alexandrova represents the ballet company. Her colleagues consider that she will take the position of the trade union chair (Pavel Dmitrichenko, who was given a jail sentence, had this position earlier; March, 202014Newsletter The Moscow musicologist and the music critic of "Trud" newspaper Sergei Biryukov talked about Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian music in his interview with Radio Svoboda: - Rimsky-Korsakov was a very sensible person; at the same time, he was very gifted and inspired. Certainly, "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya" is a very patriotic opera, and there is no need to explain anything about - The music of this author has outlived its creator; Rimsky-Korsakov is a composer whose pieces are popular and are performed regularly. Are there any unknown pieces, or is his musical heritage being used to the fullest?
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