From the theater - on maternity leave

The Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater last week was again in the center of the scandal. Its director Vladimir Kekhman unexpectedly went on maternity leave, transferring the powers to the former manager of the Baltika brewer, Snezhanna Lubar. Local fans of the opera and ballet, meanwhile, have not yet moved away from the scandals that have been accompanied by the theater in recent years: the ban on the opera "Tangeyer", the scandalous repair of the theater building, no less scandalous statements by the director to all those who were dissatisfied with his activities in a new post. And here is a new unexpected turn - maternity leave two and a half years after appointment.

Overture

Vladimir Kekhman was appointed and the position of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater on March 29, 2015. The emergence of a "believer, baptized, Orthodox and Jew" (and this is how Kekhman self -identifies itself) in Novosibirsk was a complete surprise for the city. And this happened against the backdrop of the scandal around the production by director Timofei Kulyabin’s opera Tangaiser.

In 2015, the Orthodox community was outraged by the modern interpretation of Richard Wagner - in their opinion, the version of Timofei Kulyabin insulted the feelings of believers.

The prosecutor's office even instituted administrative cases against the director and director of the theater Boris Mezdrich. This happened after the statement of the Metropolitan of the Novosibirsk and Berdsky Tikhon, who did not see the opera itself:

- I wrote about the “tangia” that the rights of believers are violated there, and church symbolism is not used for their intended purpose. Believers are outraged. Those who watched the production write letters, call on the phone and ask to somehow help the compliance with the law,-then the metropolitan explained .

The court did not find the composition of the offense in the activities of the theater, but this did not stop the Orthodox activists. They arranged "prayer standing" at the entrance to the theater before the start of the performances. Fans of Kulyabin went to support rallies , but they failed to protect the director and Tannheiser: they removed the performance from the repertoire, and Boris Mezdrich fired. He was replaced by the head of the Mikhailovsky Theater, Vladimir Kekhman, who had condemned the production of Kulyabin before his appointment:

This is a demonstration of internal wickedness in the style and spirit of the Union of Militant Atheists

- My teacher Elena Vasilievna Obraztsova often repeated: "I sing only because the Lord gave me talent, and without the Lord I am nobody." What was done in the Novosibirsk Opera Theater is blasphemy. This is a demonstration of internal wickedness in the style and spirit of the Union of militant atheists. I will not hide, I talked with Mezdrich, and he told me that this performance would not give and go to the end. I believe that he is obliged to resign, and the performance must be removed from the repertoire, ”Kekhman said then.

Having taken the place of Boris Mezdrich, he took off Tannanizer and the first thing he decided to rename the theater. With Kekhman’s characteristic by Kekhman, he planned to name the cultural institution entrusted to him by the Great Theater of Siberia, but then the leadership of the Moscow Bolshoi was outraged, and the theater was eventually renamed Novat, the Novosibirsk Academic Theater.

Banana bankrupt

The Novosibirsk theater -trees, meanwhile, was surprised to get acquainted with the bizarre biography of the new appointment, who not only led the Mikhailovsky Theater, but also previously engaged in the import of fruit into Russia. Moreover, JFC, the beneficiary and founder of which Kekhman was one of the largest in the country. Kekhman was then called - "banana king."

But the king was naked: in 2012, JFC declared himself bankrupt. Several banks at once, including Sberbank and VTB, went to court with accusations of top managers of embezzlement of funds. Vladimir Kekhman, however, denied his participation in the company's activities in these years: according to him, he was engaged in theater, not business.

Cufflinks with precious stones had to be sold for 70 thousand rubles, and the icon with the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker - for 115 thousand

The story of Kekhman’s personal bankruptcy also developed in parallel. In October 2015, the same Sberbank filed a lawsuit against the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region with a request to recognize Vladimir Kekhman to bankrupt: only Sberbank he owed more than 4 billion rubles. In 2016, the court satisfied this lawsuit. Part of the property of the bankrupt has already been launched from the hammer: cufflinks with precious stones had to be sold for 70 thousand rubles, and the icon with the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker - for 115 thousand. However, as it turned out, all these misadventures did not prevent the appointment of Vladimir Kekhman to the post of head of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater.

We are ours, we will build a new world

In Novosibirsk, Kekhman immediately started a grand repair, as a result of which the theater changed beyond recognition. The lobby, for example, he ordered to paint in a bright red color, not paying attention to the grunts of the Novosibirsk theateraries, who considered that the entrance to the theater is now more reminiscent of a casino.

At the first and so far the only public meeting of Kekhman’s public, the new leader of the theater proudly spoke about the repair of the lobby, as well as toilet rooms in the institution entrusted to him.

But the public continued to relate to Kekhman with distrust:

Nothing in the theater has been done positive, everything else is vulgarity, circus and booth: and curtains like in a funeral bureau hang on the windows

“Nothing else has been done in the theater, everything else is vulgarity, a circus and a booth: and the curtains like in a funeral bureau hang on the windows,” said one of the participants in this meeting then.

In 2016, the Office for the State Protection of Cultural Heritage Supervision of the Novosibirsk Region stated that the reconstruction of the theater was carried out without permission and even without design documentation. Kekhman admitted this:

- All responsibility lies on me that we started working without permission. We did this for one simple reason: I had such an experience in the Mikhailovsky Theater. And I believe that the theater is ideologically and should look exactly as it is now, ” said Kekhman.

Meanwhile, repair work in the theater building is still not completed. And according to the coordinator of the public movement "Carried away Novosibirsk" Olesya Walger , they are still underway with violations:

The theater has not yet signed an act of fire protection, no orders for the Office for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Councils were complied with

“The theater has not yet been signed by the Fire Council acceptance certificate, and the instructions of the Office for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Support were not implemented,” says Walger. - On eight columns of the first floor they put 30 tons of metal structures, designing them as "equipment", mainly the hall of complete nonsense with passages and a partner. And this is an incomplete list of what happened to the theater.

However, for all violations in the reconstruction, Vladimir Kekhman escaped a fine of 100 thousand rubles and began to repair the concert hall. Novosibirsk architects immediately began to anxiety, indicating that the work was in no compliance with the safety rules and are dangerous for the supporting structures of the building. A complaint was even drawn up to the prosecutor’s office, but the repair continued. As one of the authors of the complaint, the chairman of the Professional Ethics Commission of the Novosibirsk Union, architects Gennady Gavrilov, Kekhman "carried out a rough repair of the audience part of the building, radically changing its interiors by violating fire safety, destroying the concert hall bypassing the federal legislation on the state preservation of the monuments."

The next trials took place, which again ended for Kekhman with only a fine - this time 125 thousand rubles. Simultaneously with construction works, the new director changed the repertoire: he cleaned the old productions and put new ones, some of which he transferred from his Mikhailovsky Theater. So in Novat appeared the ballets "Chippollino" and "Spartak". The composition of the troupe also changed: the main conductor of Ainars Rubikis and the artistic director of ballet Igor Zelensky left the theater.

According to Irina Ulyanina , a member of the Association of Theater Critics of Russia, the theater lost more for these couple of years than acquired:

A record number of productions were released, not one of which was an event in art or the slightest innovation

- During the first season with Kekhman, a record number of productions were released, not one of which became an event in art or the slightest innovation. There is nothing in the part of the creation of his repertoire that determines the theater’s reputation, ”said Ulyanina. - It’s just that the Mikhailovsky Theater is copying the Mikhailovsky Theater with the same invited stars, with the same staging team. The second season was just as insignificant for the development of team troupes.

And the theater critic Irina Yaskevich defeated the recent production of the “peak lady” in Novat:

- One of the most mystical, multi -digit and gloomy Russian opera scores turns into a primitive and meaningless card game, which, in fact, was the “pharaoh”, in which the heroes of Pushkin’s story played, and after them the operas of Tchaikovsky. I'm only afraid that the theater, like Hermann, leaned.

But Vladimir Kekhman answers all critics simply: the sale of tickets to the theater has increased, which means that the viewer votes for the theater:

- When I accepted this theater, on the opera, the occupancy was less than 50 percent. Always. Recent years. The artists complained to me that they sang when 30 people were sitting. Now the statistics that already exist, by the number of tickets sold, we sell from 1 to 1.5 thousand tickets a day. I could not even imagine that there would be such a demand. All the numbers that I dreamed about are twice as long as I dreamed, ” says Kekhman.

Adult healthy able -bodied citizens must support themselves. No matter what our opponents say about interiors

The Ministry of Culture, as it seems, also supports Kekhman, referring to good indicators of the theater: "Revenues from paid services increased, reported to the ministry, from 151 million rubles in 2014 to 232 million rubles in 2016. The average salary of the theater increased from 43,600 to 49,000 rubles. The costs of halls increased from 72% to 80%." At the same time, such reports usually do not mention the increase in ticket prices. In Novosibirsk, many are outraged about this, but the theater’s leadership always responded to such criticism quite sharply.

- We believe that adult healthy able -bodied citizens should support themselves. No matter what our opponents say about the interiors, the fact that the theater has become convenient for the viewer is recognized by everyone. But for this you can and should be paid. For dinner, five thousand - normal, but for spiritual food - expensive? - In 2015, Svetlana Nybroshchikova , then deputy general director, was indignant in 2015.

Today, the pricing policy of Novat is this: on the ballet "Lebedin Lake" on July 11 the cheapest ticket can be bought for 500 rubles, the most expensive - for 5 thousand. Previously, prices started from two hundred rubles. It was especially inexpensive to join the culture on the third tier, where tickets often cost 100 rubles. But it was closed back in 2015, allegedly due to the fungus discovered there, which was not possible to remove in two years.

Endless scandals and misunderstandings around the new one turned away from him many inveterate Novosibirsk theateraries.

Unfortunately, for me, the opera theater is now a place in which my heart was broken, so I can’t go calmly and joyfully

“I don’t go to opera now because everything is filled with some kind of mud there.” Constant showdowns, scandals. The premieres who do not cause sincere interest, since they always have some gossip. Unfortunately, for me, the opera theater is now a place in which my heart was defeated, so I can’t go calmly and joyfully there. We all hoped for good, but now there is no this hope, ”says Olga Stureolova , theater and the head of the special type of integration art studio.

Many Kekhman’s opponents in Novosibirsk hoped that the director would leave the theater after bankruptcy. The next meeting on this process Kekhman in the Arbitration Court is scheduled for July 13. The bankruptcy procedure will end over the next 2-3 months. After that, according to the law, Kekhman will be forbidden to occupy leading posts for three years. But for these three years, Mr. Kekhman clearly has his own plans: labor legislation prohibits the dismissal of an employee who is on parental leave.

Checkmate

In April, Vladimir Kekhman had a daughter. This is the fourth child with the director of the opera Theater and the first of his current wife, the secular lioness of Ida Lolo. But it was not she who unexpectedly went on maternity leave, but Kekhman himself. According to the law, everything is correct: a vacation to care for a child can take both mother and father. And it is impossible to dismiss a person who is on maternity leave. Again, according to labor laws.

The news of Kekhman on maternity leave spread in Novosibirsk with lightning speed. But even more struck everyone who began to act as the director for the time of vacation. And Snezhana Lyubar, who used to work as a regional personnel manager in the Baltika brewer, remained replacing it. The first about this on Facebook was announced by the deputy of the city council Natalya Pinus . She emotionally described the situation and called it "Novosibirsk Opera absurdity":

- In my opinion, the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater has seriously degraded over the past couple of years. If earlier he was at a creative vanguard not only in the country, but also in the world, he put bright innovative productions, opened new names in theatrical art, now our theater is known as a scandalous place, ” said Natalya Pinus.

However, other estimates of what was happening were also sounded. According to Sergei Samoilenko , the writer and editor-in-chief of the Novosibirsk Internet portal "Sib.fm", nothing terrible has happened yet:

I was really pleased that the director of the Novosibirsk Opera went on vacation to care for the child. Agree, in Russia, fathers in such vacation are practically not. Very progressive!

-I was really pleased that the director of the Novosibirsk Opera went on vacation to care for the child. Agree, in Russia, fathers in such vacation are practically not. Very progressive! - says Sergey. - If seriously, the absence of a director in the theater does not represent a big problem - today you can manage from afar. As far as I know, Mr. Kekhman controls all any significant solutions from his beautiful, I hope, far away-be it Nice or Saint-Trope.

The fact that Vladimir Kekhman is outside the country confirms himself. The director of the opera assures that he works fruitfully abroad and the distance does not prevent him from monitoring affairs at the Siberian Theater. The press service of the theater was late, but neverthelessposted an official message on its website, which said that "in the information stream regarding the status of general director Vladimir Kekhman at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater, there are few real facts, but there are a lot of lies .... The General Director is physically absent in Novosibirsk exactly as much as the real situation in the theater allows in the theater, over which he preserves a complete full Control ".

Many of this style of communication of the leadership of the theater with the city outraged.

I am jarning, breaking, and it is at a bewilderment that our largest theater, the face of the city in its official appeals allows itself personal attacks. What is this tone so strange?

- I am fragmented, broken, and it is at a bewilderment that our largest theater, the face of the city in its official appeals allows itself personal attacks. What is this tone so strange? Is this someone's emotional comment? So let there be a signature. But if this is the official appeal of our everything - what the hell, quotes, attempts to quarrel and personal attacks?! How about compliance, professionalism and compliance with the status? -says the head of the press service of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Marina Monakhova .

However, the leadership of the theater does not see any problem in what is happening. As the press secretary of the Novosibirsk Opera Viktor Titov emphasized, there is nothing special in the appointment of Snezhana Lyubar to the acting director:

When the leader is leaving somewhere, he is obliged to leave someone together, right? And just the same here. She just looks after the household

- All documents on the appointment were signed by Kekhman himself. When the leader is leaving somewhere, he is obliged to leave someone together, right? And just the same here. She just looks after the household. This is a large household complex, there are work scenes, there are cold and hot water, but a lot of things, and it is dealing with these issues. And creative issues are still solved by Kekhman, ”Titov noted.

The representative of the theater denied the information that the documents on the appointment of Lyubar instead of Kekhman were signed in the Federal Ministry of Culture. According to him, all this is still "purely hypothetical" questions. True, to contact the Snezhana Lubar herself, to clarify her new status, so far no one has succeeded. But on July 13, Vladimir Kekhman must return to Novosibirsk. As indicated on the theater’s website, he will take part in the “Stars Alley” bookmark in the square adjacent to the opera building. It is possible that it is then that the father in maternity will nevertheless explain who and how will now manage the theater.

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  Tatyana Stabel

  RS correspondent in Novosibirsk