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| | Arts Calendar / July 20 / Opera |
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 14:00, 19:00. Opera in one act to music by Umberto Giordano. Libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. Music Director: Anton Grishanin. Stage Director: Yury Muravitsky. Set Designer: Pyotr Okunev. Sung in Italian with Russian surtitles. Rosalina, a young and beautiful miller’s daughter, has suddenly changed her mind about marrying her sweetheart Colombello. The young man is in despair, the Miller and his wife are both anxious. They seek help from the Astrologer, the Priest and the Judge. The Astrologer proposes to cast a secret spell to get rid of the evil eye. The Priest suggests praying more and donating more to the church. The Judge insists on taking Rosalina to court. The bicker is interrupted by the young maid herself. In response to her mother’s pleas Rosalina explains herself. She heard a warbler in the woods. It was foretelling her happiness and prosperity. Shortly after she saw the hunting King and immediately fell in love. Now all she thinks about is him, not the rustic simpleton Colombello. All of a sudden a voice of the King’s Herald is heard: the King awaits his subjects with gifts. The Miller, his wife and Colombello decide to go and beg for help...
Boris Pokrovsky Chamber Stage  |
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 12:00, 19:00. Opera in five acts to music by Mikhail Glinka. Mariinsky Theatre production with participation of the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus & Orchestra. Decorations are restored from the 1904 version of the performance by Alexander Golovin and Konstantin Korovin. Choreography by Michel Fokine, 1917 production. Lighting Designer: Vladimir Lukasevich. Vladimir Odoyevsky called the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila a magnificent flower that had grown in Russian musical soil. Glinka’s score is laden with musical treats just like the tables at the princely feast in Act I. The composer’s imagination, given flight by the genius of Pushkin, came up with one superb melody after another, it created hitherto unknown chords and it suggested the original decisions as to the orchestration. Fully compensating for the losses that inevitably accompanied the literary masterpiece’s transformation into an opera libretto, Glinka produced an epic and magical fairytale opera about the fearless Ruslan and his faithful bride Lyudmila, about trials and temptations and about the battle between Light and Darkness.
Bolshoi Theater |
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