Translated material
Middle class heroics
The opera competition ended predictably
The opera competition was not like a battle of the titans. It could even be called weak if the main thing in it were not the contemplation of the general level of the opera stage, which is smoothly blurred across the country. The average temperature in this hospital turned out to be subfebrile - a slightly dull 37.1-37.3. Therefore, the fact that the main awards in the opera genre were awarded, in essence, “for heroism” is understandable.“The best performance” was Rossini’s “Cinderella” of the Zazerkalye Theater (St. Petersburg) - a pretty project, the most beautiful, open to the public and cheerful of those presented. Lots of jokes and charm (Prince on a bicycle, evil sisters doing fitness), delicate design (large sheets of score moving across the stage), brightly played roles and general musical heroism. In the sense that everyone knows, it is simply impossible to perform the dizzying Rossini in our area with high quality. But no, this is the second Rossini production that receives the Golden Mask for Solomonic reasons (the first was the opera Journey to Reims, no less charmingly staged by the Mariinsky Theater Youth Academy). Because we sing or don’t sing, but it’s noticeable that we’re trying very hard (Pavel Bubelnikov - “The best work of a conductor in an opera house”). Overall it turns out elegantly; the expert community appreciates the efforts; the audience really likes it. In a word, we must put it. Then we'll sing.
The second “heroic” prize went to the director of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater Georgy Isaakyan - “Bertman of the Russian province”. He had been waiting for his “Mask” for a long time. He was offended and was not nominated, while at the same time organizing an “extra-mask” tour in Moscow. Then he began to fight again. And then it happened. Monteverdi's Orpheus smashed the wall of misunderstanding, although its appearance and sound were as ambitious and odious as previous works. Instead of, for example, the “toilet drama” that Bizet’s “Carmen” was recently, we saw avant-garde pulp fiction (set to exquisite music) with Charon in a padded jacket and Styx in a morgue with corpses. A few vintage instruments for good measure. Others - in approximate style. In general, to stage not “Ivan Susanin”, but “Orpheus” in Perm is even more than heroism. There is no subject for dispute.
Orpheus artist Ernst Heydebrecht also won. In particular, Zinovy Margolin, who created the enchanting scenography of the Mariinsky “The Brothers Karamazov” (Margolin also worked as an artist in “The Little Hunchbacked Horse” of the Moscow Art Theater, which became the best musical). But “The Karamazovs” - probably due to the heavy music (obviously worse than Monteverdi) - did not make an impression on the jury. Although Alexey Markov (Ivan) still received the “Mask”, leaving Nikolai Gassiev (Fyodor Pavlovich) without it. Another Mariinsky product, “The Enchanted Wanderer,” received awards in two categories. Gergiev's new star Kristina Kapustinskaya was awarded for best actress. Rodion Shchedrin - unsurprisingly - as the best composer.
The jury's special prize went to the Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for the curious opera “Alexander the Great” by losing composer Alexander Kobekin. The wording is “For the creation of a modern performance based on the national epic.” That is, again for heroism. Well, yes, we fight, we try. We'll fight again.