Direct speech

Mikhail PIOTROVSKY, Director of the State Hermitage: “Some say that you can’t live in a museum city, but we explain that not only can you live in it, the economy of a museum city is healthier than the economy of industrial cities. I think that just in Pskov this model can show its effectiveness. Here, with all the problems that we know about, good solutions are found, and monuments are being restored and revived. On July 20, I visited the Mirozhsky Monastery, again I saw unique frescoes. I watch them clear and open. It's just a great thing."

According to the PAI, July 21.

Yuri LAPTEV, director of the production of the opera The Maid of Pskov in the Pskov Kremlin: The Maid of Pskov in the Pskov Kremlin is the largest production in contemporary opera practice. This is also the most problematic production, but time has shown that, if you try, all difficulties can be turned into virtues. There are no backstage, nowhere to hide, so strict discipline is needed so that the action on the stage does not collapse. The musical director of the production, the orchestra and soloists have a hard time. Not everything is audible, there are sound gaps. Overcoming all this is the main task. There is a difficulty in weather conditions, it is very hot, historical costumes are heavy.”

According to the PAI, July 21.

Vladimir SARABYANOV, art critic, restorer of frescoes in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior of the Mirozh Monastery: “The Church at the present stage is not ready to provide all the necessary conditions for the storage of icons. There are many icons in museums. I do not think that they should be massively transferred to the church and used as purely religious objects. Icons concentrated in museums are ancient monuments. These are not complex ensembles, but single monuments. But I think it would be wiser to organize their display in museums in such a way that they would be available for liturgical acts. That is, it was possible to perform prayers near them right in the museum. ... Now a lot of monuments are in an abandoned, mothballed state. For example, in Veliky Novgorod there are about a dozen churches that have not completed restoration work. And this means that the temples, in which the frescoes of the XII-XIV centuries have been preserved, are not accessible to people. There are one and a half hundred such monuments all over Russia. This is very little for such a large country. And in fact, a rich state that allows grand gestures should turn to its origins and keep rare, few preserved monuments like the apple of its eye.”

According to the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, July 20.

Vadim RADUN, Honored Artist of Russia, director of the Pskov Academic Drama Theater. A. S. Pushkin: “I congratulate our city on finding so many funds to make such a performance. But I cannot say that the production of The Maid of Pskov is an example of an aesthetic work of art. I am happy for those who did all this, and I am very sorry that not everything has been done. I didn't see anything, I didn't hear anything. There was a rag in front of me. It turned out to be a split screen, on which I saw the conductor, then someone else came out... But getting a sense of the space - of all this beauty in which I have been living for 22 years - is still happiness, and it requires a very serious decision . The viewer should not stand up to see what is going on ahead. It is not clear why and where the spectator was. Yesterday for some reason I was scolded for this. The woman who met me said that she had not seen or heard anything. And what about me? I also left because I didn’t see anything.”

According to the PLN, July 23.

Yuri STREKALOVSKY, art director of the Vinyl blues club: “It's good that all this happened and it's good when budget money is spent on art. Moreover, Pskov sounded throughout the country. Excellent TV picture, news on all channels. This is a good example of how artists and managers need to work together. In general, even if I had not been there, I would have liked it. I already liked what was done and what happened. What I did not like at all and this is a serious moment is the organization of the auditorium, which was built in such a way that 95% of those present could not see anything but the screen, and to come to watch the production on the screen is already no good. When the performance is on stage, the scenery changes. The first act takes place in the Kremlin, and the third - in the forest. And here, since they could not change the scenery, they made two scenes side by side. And that scene that was a forest, it was simply not visible. So, it was assumed that people would look at the screen. Personally, I wanted to see a large-scale action in the open air. But it was difficult to do so. I tried, and those who were sitting in their seats, they had no chance to see it. Hence the conclusion that perhaps 4,000 people were supposed to come to listen to the opera on the speakers and watch the screen. Maybe they were invited to create a good television picture. Then it's embarrassing."

According to the PLN, July 23.