Mikhailovsky Classical Ballet and Opera Theatre
In 2001, the Mikhailovsky Theatre got its original name back. Year 2007 witnessed the revival of the Mikhailovsky Theatre; its magnificence came back to Arts Square. Nowadays, the Theatre both keeps traditions and introduces innovations. General Director of the Theatre Vladimir Kekhman initiated and sponsored the repair works in the building. Under Vladimir Kekhman a constellation of famous artists appeared in the theatre: Elena Obraztsova became the head of the Mikhailovsky Opera, Farukh Ruzimatov took the lead of the Mikhailovsky Ballet Company. In May 2009, Mikhail Messerer, the outstanding ballet repetiteur, took the position of Ballet Mater in Chief. In June 2009, the Mikhailovsky Theatre started its cooperation with Peter Feranec who was later appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Theatre. Famous ballet repetiteurs such as Nikita Dolgushin, Alla Osipenko, Evgeny Popov, and Svetlana Efremova among many others are responsible for the quality of the current repertoire. The priorities of the repertoire policy of the Mikhailovsky Theatre are classical masterpieces of Russian and European musical theatre. The Mikhailovsky Theatre maintains the policy of introducing the public to the major opera and ballet works of the 19th and 20th century. Special attention is paid to expanding children repertoire. The first performance on the stage of the Emperor the Musorgsky Theatre, just built by the architect A.Brullov, took place 08 November 1833. But The Great October Revolution changed the fortune of the theatre a lot. After the French troupe leaving the Mikhailovsky stage, the problem of forming the own theatre troupe. Under the initiative of A.V.Lunacharsky the theatre was to be the second opera theatre in Petrograd. "Born by revolution"-this title was the characteristics of a new opera troupe for a long time which really became forming in 4 months after the establishment of the Soviet power. But a new theatre was born. What happened in nearest years was great. A young theatre gained its own image, its aesthetic credo very soon. The concentration on entertaining and comical material was reflected in a new title that was gained by the theatre in 1920. The state Academic theatre of comical opera. But the title was changed again very soon; since 1921 the theatre got the name of Maly Academic Theatre, and since 1926 - Leningrad Academic Maly Opera Theatre (Malegot for short). S. Gaudasinsky, directed the theatre since 1981, could restore the traditions of "the theatre a singer and actor", which Malegot was famous for in the period of its coming-to-be. The everyday rehearsal work was directed by a producer to working out vocal speech by actors. The repertoire politics of the theatre was also changed. The main strategic task was to revive the opera theatre of Russian classics at the stage of Maly theatre. One by one the opera masterpieces of Russian composer came back into the repertoire: Musorgsky‘s "Boris Godunov" and "Khovanshina", Chaikovsky‘s "Eugeny Onegin" and "Queen of Spades", Rimsky-Korsakov‘s "Golden Cockerel" and "A tale about Tsar Saltan", Borodin‘s "Grand Duke Igor". Russian opera became an aesthetic credo of the theatre. The range of the task made the theatre to change its name once again because the title "Maly" was not suitable for the theatre stage ideas any more. Since 1989 Malegot became Saint-Petersburg Academic Mussorgsky Opera and Ballet Theatre. The name of Musorgsky was not accidental. The staging of "Boris Godunov" was the greatest and the most important success of the theatre, promoting the renewing of Russian repertoire. At the same time together with Russian classics the European opera including its modern samples (M.Landovky‘s "Madman" and K.Michem‘s "Tartuf") and even operetta continue living at opera stage (one of the last works of I.Strausss - "The Bat" - is a light sample of creative diapason of the troupe). Even the most popular opera compositions, such as Verdi‘s "Traviata" get here new sounding and freshness. |
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