New season in Kazan Opera Theatre: Béjart’s performances and long-awaited operetta
The regular season in the Kazan Opera Theatre has recently opened, and traditionally — with a premiere. This time, the premiere is not usual — an operetta, a genre so beloved by most part of the audience but not very often presented on posters of the Kazan Opera Theatre. Anyway, the last premiere of this difficult light genre took place fifteen years ago. It was 'Die Fledermaus' (The Bat). The correspondent of Realnoe Vremya attended the introductory press-conference.
We have been waiting for this for fifteen years
In a pink hall of the Opera and Ballet Tatar Theatre named after Musa Jalil it was held a pre-season opening press conference. The big plans of the Theatre do not depend on the crisis — premieres, festivals and other interesting projects are waiting for the theater lovers this season.
This time, the theatre has returned to the 'golden fund', again choosing the 'Die Fledermaus' by Johann Strauss. The tickets for the new play were sold out just in one day.
'Usually, famous directors are working here. It is Yury Aleksandrov, Mikhail Pandzhavidze, Yefim Maizel, Marco Boemi and others. These people are known in Russian and European musical space. This time we have departed from the rules and gave an opportunity to create a performance to the young production group. Sometimes it is useful to depart from the rules and allow a certain degree of risk. The operetta genre is popular among the audience. When in Kazan there brought combination company performances of the operetta, the quality of which leaves much to be desired, they are still attended. We gave the young directors an opportunity not just to deliver performance, we have oriented them for success,' said about the new project the theater director Raufal Mukhametzyanov.
The director of a new play is Anastasiya Udalova, she is not new in the Kazan Opera Theatre and often assisted the famous opera director Yury Aleksandrov. The 'Die Fledermaus' is the first independent work of Udalova in Kazan.
The music director and the director of the performance is a Kazakhstani Nurzhan Beibusinov. He has long been cooperating with the Kazan Theatre, he has studied from chief conductor of the Kazan Opera Renat Salavatov. The scenography of the performance and costumes are made by the artists from Kazakhstan Sofia Tasmagombetova and Peval Dragunov. So we can say that a new performance is partly a co-production of Tatarstan and Kazakhstan.
By the way, it is appropriate to recall that the long-standing chief director of the Kazan Opera Theatre Niyaz Dautov, who headed the theater in the last quarter of the last century, when he was a singer he became famous for the work in operetta, singing the role of Edwin in the film adaptation of 'Silva'.
'Perhaps, we will see the performances of Béjart'
The second premiere will be shown on 1 and 2 February, traditionally at the opening of the Chaliapin Festival. It will be 'The Queen of Spades' by Tchaikovsky, a director of the St.-Petersburg Yury Aleksandrov will soon start the work on the performance. The art director of the future premiere — Viktor Gerasimenko.
The Shalyapin's Festival next year promises to be impressive, it will be held within twenty days. In addition to the premiere of 'The Queen of Spades', one of his peculiarities — a concert performance of 'Manon Lescaut' by Puccini. We can assume that if everything matches, in this performance the audience will hear Albina Shagimuratova. Anyway, the singer has repeatedly said that she would like to play the role of Manon.
The festival of classical ballet named after Rudolf Nuriyev this season has a jubilee — it will be held in Kazan for the thirtieth time. There also will be a premiere — this time Sergey Prokofiev's ballet 'Romeo and Juliet' in a new production. Besides, if finances permit, the troupe of Maurice Béjart will come to Kazan, and it will be a real sensation.
The journalists tried to find out the details of the project 'The Wind of Change', the festival of Tatar song, which will be held this year on the basis of the Opera Theatre. The concerts are scheduled on 5 and 6 November. Raufal Mukhametzyanov, who is the producer general of the project, was concise and kept the suspense, telling just that he is involved in this project by the direct orders of the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov.
On the plus side, the director of the Theatre shared another ambitious plan. 'Reseda Akhiyarova has almost finished the work on the opera, dedicated to the ruler Söyembikä, with its premiere we will start the season next year,' said Raufal Mukhametzyanov. Well, if the repertoire of the theatre has a performance 'Boris Godunov', why not to have the play about the legendary and mysterious ruler who left a trace in the history of the Tatar people?