Mirage in the steppe

The Opera and Ballet Theater in the middle of the vast steppes of nomads was opened in 1952. The connection of the Stalin Empire with the local color in the form of a yurt was in terms of reference. “The theater has been built, now it is necessary to complete the city to it,” the inhabitants of Ulan-Ude said in those days. Until now, this palace, which, moreover, has recently been richly restored, remains the main city -forming fairy tale. And in it they decided to organize a new fairy -tale adventure - to put the opera of Mozart, "All women do this."

In fact, it is not so much fabulous as some kind of creepy-Platonian. Mirage in the steppe. There is nothing to build Mozart from, one enthusiasm - and that’s all. There is not even a staffed orchestra. Local soloists for the last time sang Mozart in 1962.

True, there is an incredibly energetic German director and producer Hans-Joachim Fry, who had already released a couple of years ago in Ulan-Ude “Flying Dutchman” (foreign cultural figures who loved the Russian province, the theme of a separate study, my material is already accumulating). I think that a clash with this alien, simple and pure matter excites his blood and social sensuality, such as, for example, Simon Rattlu and Roiston Maldum, who had been dancing with the Berlin Dancing of the Spring of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with teenagers from the Berlin sleeping areas.

Fry brought with him a cheerful Belgian choreographer Mark Bogarts, who was put up with ten young men and girls from the choir so that they would take all the fire on themselves if possible. They are almost constantly present on stage. Mozart wrote a little to them, but they dance, communicate with each other, flirt a variety of, converge, diverge, look for their soul mate and are responsible for the entire lyric-sexual component of the opera. It turns out that they have pretty nice. At some point, I caught the fact that the current disposition of Fjordiliji, Dolalla, Gulelmo and Ferrando interest me much less than the relationship between the touching young Buryat handsome and a stylish Russian girl with a rose behind my ear.

Cute curtsies to local self -awareness - the acapelous singing of the Mozart melody in the Buryat throat manner and a very pleasing to the audience “Turtle” in the backdrop, the famous attraction of Lake Baikal (scenographer Nikolai Sharonov). Titras with a playful plot Hall, lifting his heads, by the way, also reads in full rapture, discussing them lively-as if it were “Dom-2”.

Nevertheless, you still do not get anywhere from the fact that it is somehow necessary to defeat several hours of music in Italian, which includes a large selection of complex arias, prohibitively designed ensembles, striving to fall apart from one inaccurate introduction, and recitables, which are a separate headache. For recitables you need harpsichord or hammmer-hazelvir. The theater was surprised to learn about this from the young Moscow conductor Philip Chizhevsky, invited to the production. We bought a superplant synthesizer, specially invented to simulate ancient key tools - it is now one in the country. Coat, of course, imported. Orchestrandants were gathered in a piece. The first violin is Sergey Filchenko from the Moscow Ensemble Pratum Integrum . Altists do their own well. There is a good Valtorna, but there is no good Valtornist - we invite you from Krasnoyarsk. There is money for a cellist, but no - for his cello (she also needs to buy a plane ticket, and the path is not only), let her play the local one. And so on. And the miracle happened-the Mozart foundation in the orchestra pit was provided, the orchestra was interesting to listen, and the harmonious maestro with ballet hands was escorted with screams and screeching a la Kurentzis.

For Chizhevsky himself, a lot and successfully working with baroque and new music, this is the first serious work in the orchestral pit, which was probably even greater dashing than local ritual dipping in Baikal. To monitor how the orchestra picks up at times a very shaky singing structure on the stage, does not lose confidence in the most risky situations, pulls the soloists behind him, as a rescuer of a drowning man, and at the same time does not miss the case, he had to be in a good thriller.

Singers are the most difficult part of my story. All of them are local, very trying, but not accustomed to Mozart and entering into a difficult, sometimes painful relationship. Not to invite strangers-specialists was a local theater decision, rather dubious. Some real Mozart prospects have become possible only with the advent of Olga Zhigmitova on the role of Drabela, a singer with a beautiful mezzo, an understanding of style and discipline. Together with her, the support point appeared on the stage, and it became not so alarming. The performance was given only twice, which differed radically. Walking on the rope on the second evening, he no longer looked. On the contrary: about-and will fly. The audience applauds in the final ensemble to the beat, as on a pop concert. Standing ovation. However, the future of all this amazing story is completely unclear. It’s not so easy to hold the steppe mirage.