Bolshoi and Met Opera to stage three performances with Anna Netrebko in star role

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. For the first time, the Bolshoi Theater and New York’s Metropolitan Opera (the Met) will stage a joint production of three operas Aida, Salome and Lohengrin, with the world’s most popular soprano Anna Netrebko as the leading actress. The project was announced at Monday’s press conference, on October 9, and the performances are slated to take place between 2019 and 2022.

The press conference was held by Bolshoi’s director Vladimir Urin and his American colleague, Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb. The troupes of the two legendary theaters will join their creative forces and technical resources to work on new productions, which will then be performed by the Bolshoi troupe in Moscow and the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.

"I am immensely pleased that our plans for cooperation, which we have been discussing for a year, will finally come to life, as a result of which opera masterpieces will be shown on the New York and Moscow stages," Urin said.

"The Metropolitan Opera is rightfully considered to be one of the greatest musical theaters in the world, and joint creative projects with the Met have long been our dream," he added.

Gelb was also full of praise for the upcoming project.

"The Bolshoi Theater’s technical abilities have recently been refreshed. Moreover, real professionals work at the theater, and its workshops are among the best in the world, Gelb said. "We are very pleased with the cooperation of such a renowned theater as the Bolshoi and the fact that we can use the resources that are available in both theaters," Gelb announced.

He added that the co-productions are quite a new phenomenon in the opera world, and that it has both artistic and economic advantages. Gelb added that the productions are also attractive to world-renowned singers, since they get the opportunity to work with several theaters at once.

Despite the fact that the theaters are not ready to disclose the projects’ full cast, it is already known that Aida will be staged by Tony Award winner, US director Michael Mayer. In turn, Salome will be directed by German director Claus Guth, and the production of the opera Lohengrin will be put on by English director Phelim McDermott.

Anna Netrebko will be involved in all three productions and will grace both stages of the Bolshoi Theater and the Met. In Aida and Salome, she will perform the title roles, and the role of Elsa in Lohengrin.

The shows in New York will be conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who will occupy the post of musical director of the Met at the beginning of the 2020-2021 season, while the Moscow performances of Aida and Salome will be conducted by Bolshoi’s chief conductor Tugan Sokhiyev.