July,8 , 2014. Issue No. 3

July 12 - July 27 - the Bolshoi Theatre guest performances in New York

July 18 and 20 - Elena Mosuc will make her debut at the Bolshoi Theatre. The singer will perform the part of Violetta Valéry in the opera "La Traviata" Historic Stage - La Traviata. Opera in two acts New Stage - rehearsal day The Bolshoi Theatre guest performances in New York On July 16th Vassily S. Vorokhobko, the Bolshoi Ballet artist, the Honored Artist of Russia and ballet master-repetiteur passed away. Harold Clarkson, Nigel Redden and David Hallberg after the first guest performance of "Swan Lake" at the David H. Koch Theatre. Photo: Katerina Novikova Newsletter

the Bolshoi, admitted to ITAR-T ASS: "I was proud of my student Svetlana Zakharova again; she has become the ballet world's brightest star". She was positive about David Hallberg as well; she called him a wonderful dancer. Semenyaka mentioned: "I am sure that the Bolshoi Theatre is very lucky to have such a wonderful dancer. He also says that the Bolshoi Theatre is now his home; he wants to be an integral part of the company and to dance like Russian dancers". After this Russian-American performance the Bolshoi Ballet artistic director Sergei Filin could not hide how proud he was of his artists. In his interview with ITAR-T ASS Mr. Filin said: "We have brought to New York our best ballet productions that form the basis of the Bolshoi Theatre repertoire". He pointed out that the program of the tour included three productions: "Swan Lake" and "Spartacus", both choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich, and "Don Quixote", a ballet that is popular all over the world and that was staged in Moscow many years ago for the first time. The Bolshoi Ballet tour in New Y ork will continue

until July 27. Besides those soloists, mentioned above, the casts of the guest performances star Maria Alexandrova, Ekaterina Krysanova, Ekaterina Shipulina, Olga Smirnova, Anna Nikulina, Semyon Chudin, Artem Ovcharenko, Mikhail Lobukhin, Denis Rodkin, Alexander Volchkov and Denis Medvedev. As ITAR-T ASS was informed by the Lincoln Center Festival organizers, the tickets to all guest performances of the Bolshoi Ballet have been sold out. Last weekend the Bolshoi Theatre presented the concert version of the opera "The T sar's Bride", by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, which is not very well known in the West, in New York. On Tuesday the Bolshoi presented here its "trademark production" - the ballet "Swan Lake". The cast starred Svetlana Zakharova, the Bolshoi prima ballerina, and David Hallberg, the first American premier in the Bolshoi's recent history. American ballet fans were particularly looking forward to see the duet of Zakharova and Hallberg, who The New York Times called "the most princely male dancer ever produced by the United States". Local critics consider that Hallberg, who is also the ABT's soloist, now demonstrates a new dimension and amplitude that he has brought from Moscow. At the end of the performance the audience gave the artists a long ovation. The guest performances of the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet companies in New York are a part of the Lincoln Center Summer Festival, which is the main event in the city's cultural life. A rehearsal of "Swan Lake". Photo: Katerina Novikova Nigel Redden, the Lincoln Center Festival Director, came onstage before the dress- rehearsal of "Swan Lake". He wished the Russian artists a successful tour and mentioned, that the last time that the Bolshoi Theatre performed in New York was about ten years ago. Mr. Redden said: "The Bolshoi Ballet has not been in New York for long, for too long. I hope you know that tickets to all your guest performances have been sold out. People have missed the company, so they are trying to get the tickets no matter what". Mr. Redden also mentioned that this visit was taking place during a time when the relationships between the USA and Russia have worsened. The Lincoln Center Director considers that the importance of cultural exchanges increases. He said: "It is very important to demonstrate that people of art can work together even if they talk different languages". 340 people take part in the Bolshoi Ballet guest performances that will continue in

New York until July 27. "Swan Lake" will be performed in Manhattan seven times; then the New York audience will be presented with "Don Quixote" and "Spartacus". The New Y ork press mentions that such tour is a great event for any organization. Mass media sources consider: "The fact that the Bolshoi, which has recently survived a series of scandals, including the attack on its artistic director Sergei Filin, decided to do these guest performances, impresses more than anything else". Mr. Filin, who is still recovering from the consequences of the attack (the Bolshoi Theatre soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko was convicted for having organized it), is in New Y ork; he participated in the dress rehearsal of "Swan Lake". The Lincoln Center

Festival will last until August 16; it will close with the production "The Maids" based on the play by Jean Genet, starring Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert and presented by the Sydney Theatre Company. The Belgium dance company Rosas, headed by a famous modern choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, is performing at the Festival these days as well. Earlier the Houston Grand Opera presented a not very well known opera about the Holocaust "The Passenger", composed by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, a Soviet composer of Polish origin. Svetlana Zakharova will support the Kiev Choreographic School Following the initiative of the Bolshoi Theatre prima ballerina, a charity concert, starring the world ballet stars who have studied in Kiev at some point, just like

Svetlana Zakharova, will take at the Bolshoi Theatre on December 7 2014. All money raised will be donated to the School that needs reconstruction. The idea to support the Choreographic School appeared in November 2013 when Svetlana Zakharova visited Kiev. The ballerina said: "After one of the rehearsals we visited the choreographic school; the children prepared a concert for us. When I entered the building, there was the same smell, the same walls, the same doors and windows. I was told that the building had not been reconstructed for about 30 years. After the concert we had a meeting with the students; they asked a lot of questions. It was amazing. But then in private talks the children told me that in winter the temperature in the rehearsal rooms never rose about +8 C, there were drifts, the ceilings leaked and their feet always got cold. Unfortunately, no one cares what conditions they study in. So I had the idea to support those kids. There should be ballet in the Ukraine. Children are not guilty; they want to dance, they want to gain great success and to be educated people. They should study in clean and well-lit rooms; they should feel comfortable and warm". According to the ballerina, the world ballet stars that have studied at the Kiev Choreographic School - Sergei Polunin, Denis Matvienko, Alina Cojocaru, Leonid Sarafanov, Nina Zmievets, Ivan Purtov Alexander Zhembrovskyy and others - agreed to participate in the concert at once. Svetlana Zakharova said: "In the first part of the concert Sergei Polunin and I plan to dance the ballet "Marguerite and Armand", choreographed by Ashton; in the second part there will be a gala concert of ballet stars. I think, it will be a beautiful concert, because real stars - Artists that have the best positions in the best theatres in the world - will participate in it". Moscow mass media: On October 11 and 12 the opera "The Tsar's Bride" by N. Rimsky-Korsakov will premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage The opera is based on the piece by Lev Mey that describes the events, which took place during the rule of Ivan the Terrible. The action takes place in 1572 in Alexandrovskaya Sloboda. The world premiere of "The Tsar's Bride" took place in New York on July 12 and 13. The orchestra was conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky, the music director of the production. He considers that this is the piece that can bring the taste of the opera art back to the American audience. The Moscow audience will have a chance to enjoy a wonderful production in October. The drama "The Tsar's Bride" was written by Lev May in 1849; the opera was first performed only 50 years later. Today this opera, based on a true story, is a part of Mass media about the Theatre July, 1 8 2014 Newsletter

many theatres' repertoires. The first time that "The Tsar's Bride" was performed at the Bolshoi Theatre was almost a hundred years ago, in 1916. Fyodor Fyodorov created the most beautiful set for the 1955 production. This designer managed to convey the atmosphere of the 16 century and to really captivate the audience. The 2014 version

of "The Tsar's Bride" was directed by Julia Pevzner; the set was designed by Alyona Pikalova. In order to make the production more authentic, the production team studied many historic documents. Those, who come to the Bolshoi Theatre on October 11 or 12, will learn how much the modern masters managed to modernize

this opera. Australian newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph Sydney report that nominees for the annual theatre award Helpmann (Australia's answer to Broadway's Tony Awards) have been announced; the list of the nominees includes the Bolshoi Theatre! The ballet "The Bright Stream", that was presented to the Australian audience at the Queensland Performance Arts Centre in Brisbane at the beginning of June 2013, has been nominated for this award. The ballet "The Bright Stream". Photo: Damir Yusupov

On the Bolshoi Theatre official pages in the social networks we have also published sad news: On July 16th Vassily S. Vorokhobko, the Bolshoi Ballet artist, an Honored Artist of Russia and ballet master-repetiteur passed away

The last respects to Vassily Vorokhobko will be paid at The Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church at Sivtsev Vrazhek on Friday, July 18th, at 11 a.m. Adress: Moscow, 1st Truzhenikov pereulok 8, building 3 How to get there: subway station "Kievskaya" or "Frunzenskaya", "Park Kultury", buses No. 64. 132 to the bus stop "Burdenko Street". It is more convenient to get there from subway station "Kievskaya": cross the pedestrian bridge to the other side of the river, and you will see the church on the right hand side. T ravel directions: .hramkresta.ru/?p=195 Bolshoi Theatre in the Internet V. V orokhobko as Count Nurin ("The Hussar Ballad")

Analysis of articles, published on July 16 The New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay reviews the Bolshoi Ballet's opening night of Swan Lake with the headline The Lake is Frozen in Time and writing "Most of the dancers are excellent, with virtues lacking in most Western dancers. And yet on Tuesday's opening night at the David H. Koch Theater, those merits couldn't save the company from making "Swan Lake" a bore". Classicalite publishes an article about the upcoming Bolshoi tour in New Y ork and also a video of the Bolshoi's Don Quixote online for its readers. The Wall Street Journal reviews the Bolshoi Opera's performance of The Tsar's Bride in New York writing "the Bolshoi brought no sets and costumes from Moscow, but its concert performance of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tsar's Bride" (1899) at A very Fisher Hall on Sunday afternoon was still a grand affair". The Saratoga Wire announces that the Bolshoi Ballet will come to SP AC after its New Y ork City tour. CNN reports about the ongoing controversy over the image of the naked Apollo on the roof of the Bolshoi Theatre that is on the 100 Ruble Note. July, 1 8 2014 Newsletter

July, 1 8 2014