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Bolshoi Theater to usher in new season by rolling out nine premieres

The Bolshoi’s ballet company will open its new season in Moscow on September 17 with Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake
Bolshoi Theater in Moscow Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS
Bolshoi Theater in Moscow
© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. Moscow's Bolshoi Theater will open its 246th season on Monday with two operas: Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades, directed by Rimas Tuminas, will be performed on the Historical Stage and Georges Bizet’s Pearl Fishers by Vladislavs Nastavshevs will be presented on the Chamber Stage, the theater’s Director General Vladimir Urin told TASS.

The Bolshoi’s ballet company is currently in Samara, participating in the ‘Shostakovich. The 20th Century’ festival, and will open its new season in Moscow on September 17 with Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, created by Yury Grigorovich.

"All in all, nine premieres are planned for the Bolshoi’s Historical, New and Chamber stages," Urin specified. "The 246th season will see the great opera Khovanshchina by Modest Mussorgsky return to the Historical Stage, which will be produced by one of the most interesting directors of our time, Simon McBurney, together with The Bolshoi’s Music Director and Principal Conductor Tugan Sokhiev," Urin noted. "Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin will be performed as part of our cooperation agreements with New York City’s Metropolitan Opera," he added.

According to Urin, head of the St. Petersburg State Youth Theater on the Fontanka Semen Spivak will make his musical theater debut by directing Mozart’s Don Giovanni on the Bolshoi’s New Stage. The production will be conducted by Tugan Sokhiev.

When speaking about premieres on the Chamber Stage, Urin listed Sergey Prokofiev’s opera Maddalena and Maurice Ravel’s L'heure Espagnole, which both will be directed by Vladislavs Nastavshevs. The Bolshoi’s director general paid particular attention to Antonio Salieri’s Falstaff, a production by young director Alexander Khukhlin. "Director Roman Feodori, who comes from Krasnoyarsk, will produce Gaetano Donizetti’s opera Linda di Chamounix on the same stage," Urin added.

"I would also like to mention some productions in our current repertoire," he went on to say. "In particular, a Tosca production that will star Anna Netrebko and have Placido Domingo as its conductor is planned for October. In November, Traviata will be performed, starring Placido Domingo and Albina Shagimuratova," Urin said.

As for ballet premieres, Urin highlighted The Master and Margarita by Edward Clug. The world premiere of the ballet, based on music by Alfred Schnittke, was initially scheduled for the previous season but it had to be rescheduled to the new one due to the pandemic, Urin explained. "We do hope that after being put off twice due to the coronavirus pandemic, the long-announced project consisting of three one-act ballets by young choreographers (Vyacheslav Samodurov’s Dancemania based on Yuri Krasavin’s music, Artemy Belyakov’s Four Seasons based on music by Alexander Glazunov and Anton Pimonov’s Made at the Bolshoi based on Anatoly Korolev’s music) will finally be brought to the stage," the Bolshoi’s chief said.

"Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is working on another world premiere for the Bolshoi, the original ballet The Art of Fugue to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, which is scheduled for April 22," the Bolshoi Theater’s director general noted.