II International chamber opera festival
This year, The St. Petersburg Chamber Opera celebrates its 30th anniversary season. Founded and permanently led by People's Artist of Russia director Yuri Alexandrov, over the past years the theatre has taken a prominent place in the musical and drama life of Petersburg. The theatre’s performances have been warmly welcomed in many cities of Russia, the USA, Finland, Switzerland, Latvia and Estonia. They have repeatedly won most prestigious Russian awards including Golden Mask and Golden Spotlight.
Like it was in last year, The St. Petersburg Chamber Opera opens and finishes the International Festival of Chamber Opera with premieres. This time they are Les cloches de Corneville by Robert Planquette and Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni. Such a wide genre range, from romantic operetta to a veristic musical drama, sets a very special tone for the festival program, in which eminent opera companies represent a variety of styles, genres and directors’ interpretations.
The theater dedicates the Festival to its 30th anniversary.
Les cloches de Corneville has been praised for its fine melodies, rhythmic variety, good choral writing and complex orchestral colour. The work was translated into several languages and enjoyed numerous productions worldwide.
Cavalleria rusticana is about honor, love and jealousy. The emotional drama is presented by the composer in a naturalistic, truthful and powerful manner. The whole performance is as intensely expressive as its musical score.
The Warsaw Chamber Opera is a musical institution with more than 50-years of history. It was founded in 1961 by Stefan Sutkowski, who became its long-time managing and artistic director. The repertoire of the Chamber Opera is characterized by a huge variety of musical styles and forms of the performed works: from medieval mysteries, through early and late Baroque opera, classical opera, 18th-century mime, Rossini and Donizetti, to contemporary stage works.
The Warsaw Chamber Opera has organised many festivals, including the Mozart Festival, the Festival of Baroque Opera, Claudio Monteverdi Festival, Rossini Festival or the Festival of Polish Contemporary Opera. The flagship artistic project of the Warsaw Chamber Opera is the Mozart Festival which has featured in the Warsaw musical calendar for more than 25 years.
This is the first time Warsaw Chamber Opera participates in the International Chamber Opera Festival in St. Petersburg presenting Imeneo, one of the greatest operas by Handel. The performance is accompanied by Warsaw Chamber Opera’s ensemble of old (authentic) musical instruments.
For a quarter of century, the name Helikon has been associated with the musical theater founded in Moscow on April 10, 1990 that brings together young talents. Helikon Opera is led by its founder, People's Artist of Russia Dmitry Bertman.
La Finta Giardiniera has been part of Helikon Opera repertoire since 2006. The play has been performed in Baku, Tver, Voronezh, Tula, and even at Al Bustan festival in Lebanon.
A venturesome comedy by young Mozart with the light tint of a detective story… The sham garden-girl, the sham gardener, the sham killed hero, the sham killed heroine... All of that Mozart presents with vivacity, passion, and brilliant simplicity, but simplicity is, of course, only seeming. It feels like he would easily take part in this hazardous game, which his heroes play.
The diploma performance of Dmitry Bertman's graduates of Russian Academy of Theatrical Arts (RATA) was already welcomed in Baku, Voronezh, Tula, Serpukhov. From the 11th October 2006 it is in "Helikon-Opera's" repertoire.
EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF ART EUROPE presents three performances at the festival, Bluebeard's Castle by Béla Bartók performed by French artists and two baroque intermezzos, L'impresario delle Isole Canarie (The impresario from the Canary Islands), by Domenico Sarro and Pimpinone by Tomaso Albinoni, performed by Italian artists.
Bartok’s music immerses the audience into mystical secrets of an ancient castle, with the fear of the castle itself being the main "character" of the play, and seven symphonic sketches symbolizing the mysteries of the seven doors – Duke’s crimes.
Intermezzo also offer fun stories, lightness and elegance of baroque opera. In Baroque era intermezzo was a name for short musical and drama sketches performed in the intervals between the scenes of heroic operas. Gradually intermezzos became full-fledged performances, as pleasant unobtrusive music with a funny storyline began to be more and more popular with the audience. Today, this "opera for fun" attracts no less viewers that serious works. In the 21st century people want to laugh, too, don’t they?
Chamber Musical Theatre founded by B. A. Pokrovsky in 1972 is one of the most famous and internationally-known Russian musical theatres. From its earliest days, the theatre has been a true contemporary opera laboratory remaining an only theatre of its kind in Russia for many years.
At the festival, the theatre will present I quatro rusteghi (The Four Ruffians), by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, one of the most original opera composers of the 20th century. The composer’s talent was revealed most clearly in his comic operas, he successfully applied commedia dell'arte principles in modern opera becoming one of the few worthy successors of the of Italian opera buff tradition.
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari – one of the most original opera composers of the twentieth century. Clearly his talent is revealed in the comic operas, he became one of the few worthy successors of the traditions of the Italian opera-buffa.
