Mikhail Fikhtengolts

Without the main character

Hamlet was staged at the New Opera

IN THE NEW season" New Opera"continues its old repertoire policy and regularly supplies the public with operatic rarities, which were previously known only from books. "Hamlet", written by the French composer of the second half of the 19th century, Ambroise Thomas, is rarely mentioned even in books: by some chance it fell out of the field of view of usually inquisitive musicologists, but it caught the eye of Evgeny Kolobov, a keen connoisseur and collector of rarities. Following Kolobov, who handed over the score to his young colleague Dmitry Volosnikov, the public also appreciated “Hamlet” - this music is painfully good and poetic, albeit. devoid of Shakespearean scale and a seething whirlpool of passions, but undoubtedly possessing some zest.

However, any cultured person will still try to compare Tom's opera with its famous literary source. Compared to Shakespeare, Thomas seems like a miniaturist: he halves the number of characters (there is no Laertes, no Polonius, no eternal pair of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) and brings to the fore the love story of Hamlet and Ophelia. The directors continued the reform and “compressed” the score by one and a half times, leaving only the plot core and presenting a compact two-act drama lasting two hours. Evgeny Kolobov, without appearing on stage, put his hand to the score and re-orchestrated some fragments (he always does this, regardless of whether the work needs it or not). In the final episode, his “trademark” appeared, a kind of signature of the maestro - an instrument called a “box” with a dull knocking sound, designed to instill fear in the audience and the heroes. Everything was done to ensure that the performance easily and painlessly entered the style of the theater and settled into the repertoire.

It is difficult to say how successful this work has become for the theater. An obvious plus is the very fact of staging a composition unknown in Russia and its quite competent scoring by singers and orchestra. An obvious disadvantage is the dramatic lack of structure of the action by director Valeriu Raku. The play does not have a face - a main character who could lead the action: Hamlet (young and promising tenor Ivan Kuzmin) and Ophelia (theatre's prima, soprano Marina Zhukova) are turned into indecisive children, crushed by fate and their own complexes. The criminal couple - Claudius and Gertrude (Vladimir Kudashev and Elena Svechnikova) - are even more faceless and mediocre. It seems, main role in the new "Hamlet" there is darkness that surrounds the heroes and is intended to depict, apparently, the recesses of the human soul with its hidden passions. The initially advantageous external ambience - the ancient attire of the heroes and extras with heavy gilding and black velvet (luxurious costumes by Marina Azizyan) against the backdrop of complete darkness - is vulgarized by primitive technical equipment: the entire performance with an eerie creak rides across the stage on a plank platform, becoming the third wheel in Hamlet's lyrical duets and Ophelia and howling at the climaxes.

Musically, the opera turned out to be more even and coherent, although it is difficult to understand why it was necessary to hide the orchestra deep in the stage - where it is even difficult to see, let alone hear. The wonderful New Opera choir is also heard from afar, and only the main characters appear frighteningly close to the auditorium. The male part of the performers showed themselves at the premiere much better than the female ones: neither the cloying Ophelia nor the loud Gertrude (it seems that not a trace remained of Elena Svechnikova’s former high-quality vocals) the right colors for your characters. Hopefully, in the next production of the New Opera, Verdi's Rigoletto, there will still be memorable characters - Dmitry Hvorostovsky has been invited to play the role of the old hunchback, who will probably not succumb to the director's arbitrariness.

Vremya MN, November 12, 2000

Yulia Bederova

Hamlet doesn't die

At least at the New Opera Theater

“Between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet,” notes the director of the play at the New Opera, Valery Raku, “there is only an external similarity.” There is also an external similarity between the “Hamlet” of the “New Opera” and the old film with Smoktunovsky in the role of the Prince of Denmark: colors and light are recognizable, visuality of the “figure-ground” type, behind the body there is darkness without signs of life. Thus, the immersion of the stage in black darkness, the absence of decor, and the portrait type of scenographic picturesqueness emphasize the picturesqueness of the rare music of Ambroise Thomas and slightly soften the lightness of the opera libretto.

Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet was first staged at the Paris Grand Opera in 1868. The premiere was a success with the public and favorable criticism. By the end of the 60s of the 19th century, Thomas, in his youth, was a diligent student of the best French professors, who successfully made his debut on the stage of the Opera Comique at the age of 26, winner of the prestigious Rome Prize, then ceased to be popular, but took the post of director of this theater, again, at the age of 57, he becomes one of the most beloved opera authors in Paris.

Tom's Hamlet, despite the presence of a ghost and the injection of poison into the ear, is first and foremost a dramatic story about love. Here Ophelia dies, but the death of Hamlet himself, blinded by the thought of revenge and lost interest in the unfortunate girl, remains outside the scope of the plot. Tom's music is flexible and picturesque. This is partly the merit of the composer himself, partly of the conductor and artistic director of the theater Evgeniy Kolobov, who, as usual, made the musical edition and orchestration of a little-known opera text. And some episodes from Tom’s music - like Ophelia’s dying song - were only by chance not included in the opera hit books.

The orchestra, placed at the back of the stage, behind the backs of the characters, sounds richly and expressively, turning out to be both one of the characters in the performance (this is how the “theater within a theater” construction is multiplied, and the performance in the New Opera rhymes with the performance in the Kingdom of Denmark), and the only reality , visible in the abstract blackness of the background.

The completely traditional, costume style of direction and scenography, which gently calms the fearful opera audience, nevertheless plays on the field of current modernity, making a nod to that part of the audience that is not able to eat the completely ossified tradition. The main technical device here is a huge, creakingly moving platform - a “tongue”, upon which the characters move smoothly into the auditorium. This version of the cinematic “assault”, the enlargement of the shot, is another way of turning the audience into the subjects of Claudius and Gertrude, gawking at street actors acting out a heartbreaking story.

Like those comedians, the singers of the New Opera play Hamlet first of all diligently. They play what they asked. As if trying not to distract attention with too refined vocals, too refined acting. Both Hamlet (Ilya Kuzmin) and Ophelia (Marina Zhukova) are very detailed, but uninteresting. In the general mask mode of the production, if not erased, then at least typical, vocal imagery quietly works. And anyone who suffers can not perceive it as a severe lack of vocal beauty, but somehow interpret it conceptually and calm down from there. Even though the performance, with all its dark-tragic intonation, and with it the theatrical program, set up such a calm mood: “Ambroise Thomas died quietly, surrounded by his family and grateful students...”

Vremya Novostei, November 13, 2000

Ekaterina Biryukova

Hamlet with a creak

Shakespeare at the New Opera

The Frenchman Ambroise Thomas decided to set Shakespeare's main masterpiece to music in 1868. Finding himself face to face with a great work, the composer did not hesitate to do with it the same thing that he would have done with any other plot that should be adapted for a popular average opera. Together with his librettists Carré and Barbier, he removed almost all thoughts from it, greatly reduced the number of characters (for example, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern went under the knife), made the main storyline a love story and, accordingly, inflated the main female role to the maximum. This is understandable: if in Shakespeare’s time the role of Ophelia was played by an unassuming boy, then in the second half of the 19th century no one would stage an opera in which there was no winning part for the prima donna. Who, if not Tom, the director of the Parisian Opera Comique, would not have known this. As a result, the most famous number of “Hamlet” is Ophelia’s farewell aria, which is part of the golden repertoire of the coloratura soprano. From it it is easy to judge Tom's musical preferences - Bellini, Donizetti, Gounod.

The librettists also worked with the finale, famous for its endless deaths. In the opera version we almost have a happy ending. However, it doesn’t come to the wedding - Ophelia stomps, as expected. But Hamlet, who stabbed Claudius and sent Gertrude to a monastery, is crowned and his glory is sung. There is a so-called “finale for Covent Garden”, where Thomas took his opera on tour. For Shakespeare's compatriots, Hamlet had to be killed. In English version Danish prince exclaims: “Ophelia, I die with you!” - and falls. After which they sing glory to him again. It turned out even more stupid.

Nowadays “Hamlet” is not in favor among opera directors (the music of Tom’s earlier opera “Mignon” is more loved), although there is an excellent performer in the title role - Thomas Hampson. In order to cope with the voluntarism of the librettists and the second-rate nature of the music, both a strong directorial decision and high-quality musical work are needed. Both were initially expected at the New Opera, which had long ago decided to add the rare Hamlet to its repertoire. The role of director was offered not to anyone but Alexander Sokurov. Even if he had turned out to be completely untenable in his new capacity as an opera director, then at least the very combination of the names Shakespeare-Thomas-Sokurov could have been entertaining. But Sokurov, upset by the fact that there was so much singing in the opera, lost all interest in the production. Together with him, the artistic director of the theater, Evgeny Kolobov, lost interest in Hamlet. And decorated with a very absurd Sokurov idea - to transfer the orchestra from the traditional pit to the back pocket of the stage - the opera was given to the hands of the staff director of the New Opera Valery Raku, the staff conductor Dmitry Volosnikov and film artist Marina Azizyan.

Nothing good came of this. The best moment in the production is the famous “Mousetrap”, in which funny dolls play and at least some humor slips through. Everything else is gloomy and wretched. The mobile platform on which the heroes sit down in turn always begins to creak exactly during the aria. This makes a particularly depressing impression, since due to the distance of the orchestra, the creak becomes the main accompaniment to the vocal parts. Hamlet (the diligent young baritone Ilya Kuzmin) sorts things out with the royal couple, with himself and with the whole world, wrapping himself in the most untidy way in some kind of curtain with flowers. The caricatured ghost of the murdered father, painted and dressed like a vampire, appears as if not from the other world, but from a rural amateur group. Ophelia (experienced, light-voiced Marina Zhukova), wrapped in a huge, rigid sackcloth and resembling a walking pole, slides on her stomach along the platform, plops down from it onto the polyethylene representing water and lies there until the very end.

The end, however, is not far off, because the five-hour opera has been cut in half. And, as usual in the New Opera, it was re-orchestrated. They treated the score no more correctly than Tom treated Shakespeare. There was also a place for the New Opera's favorite percussion instrument - a box that sounds like a metronome (even Boris Godunov cannot do without this relatively recent invention). There is also a full-fledged saxophone solo - apparently meaning a friendly greeting to Peter Stein's play of the same name. It is unclear which of the existing versions of the opera - French or English - is shown at the New Opera. Most likely Russian and the most unsuccessful.

Vedomosti, November 14, 2000

Vadim Zhuravlev

Omelette from Hamlet

Prepared in three years at the Novaya Opera

At the Moscow New Opera theater, director Alexander Sokurov and conductor Evgeny Kolobov worked for three years on the opera Hamlet, a rarity even by Western standards, by the French composer Ambroise Thomas. Sokurov's first opera production was bound to make a lot of noise, and the theater did not skimp on promotion. But a year ago, the film director abandoned the production, and Kolobov had no choice but to transfer the orchestra into the hands of the young conductor Dmitry Volosnyakov. Therefore, at the premiere performances, there was a feeling that a new theater performance was released because there was nowhere to go.

The French composer Ambroise Thomas loved to remake literary plots. His first successful experience was the opera Mignon based on Goethe, and in 1868 he brought Shakespeare's Hamlet to the point of absurdity. The opera wampuka based on Shakespeare was stretched over five acts and ended with the murder of Uncle Claudius and Hamlet’s ascension to the throne to the cheers of the choir. The New Opera immediately abandoned such an ending, deciding to cut off the opera in the middle. Evgeny Kolobov himself took charge of the reduction of the score and its re-orchestration, and many consider this a feat. But we still need to find out what is more in this gesture of the conductor - asceticism or economy. After all, in this way the theater avoids paying publishers for the use of rare scores. In Kolobov's version, Hamlet loses its only undoubted dignity- the elegance of French lyric opera, and the fascination with wooden boxes (as in Boris Godunov) generally casts doubt on the appropriateness of such machinations with the score. Toma appears as a poor copy of Italian opera from the time of Verdi, and with the disappearance of the style, the meaning of turning to rarity is lost.

They say that Kolobov never tires of shocking Western impresarios by boasting of his orchestration of Donizetti’s “Mary Stuart,” made directly from videotape. In the West, this is considered an outrage and no one is allowed to touch the scores. But Kolobov does whatever he wants in his theater, especially since the public still has no opportunity for comparison.

For Sokurov’s refusal, the theater’s full-time director Valery Raku has to pay the price, who, armed with a traditional approach to Shakespeare’s plays, is trying to revive the wampoo opera.

Such a great director as Peter Stein has already fallen into this trap with “Hamlet” before the eyes of the Moscow public. What can we say about mediocre director musical theater, whose productions until then were more like beautifully decorated concerts. Raku is a great specialist in dark thrillers, so “Hamlet” fits in with the director’s “Valli” and “The Two Foscari” productions currently running at the New Opera. In addition, the New Opera troupe simply does not have singers with such acting experience to embody the legendary images. The orchestra in the play ended up at the back of the stage, but there is no explanation for this. Only the music suffers and the singers suffer, craning their necks towards the wings, where televisions with the image of the conductor are hung. Set designer Marina Azizyan has always been known as a ballet person, so the costumes of the soloists and chorus are richly decorated with gold and rhinestones in a ballet style. The main element of the scenography - a giant wooden tongue, on which almost all the main scenes take place - crawls out into the stalls, creaks and interferes with the music. For two hours, the audience looks for joyful moments on the darkened stage, catching from the French speech, instead of the name of the main character, either “Amle” (this is in French), or “Omelette” (this is in Nizhny Novgorod). Therefore, when Marina Zhukova performs a series of virtuoso roulades in the famous scene of Ophelia’s madness, the audience bursts into unprecedented applause. Baritone Ilya Kuzmin (Hamlet) receives far less applause for his aria about wine (replacing Shakespeare's "To be or not to be"), but his work looks the most serious in this vague and long-overdue performance.

Izvestia, November 15, 2000

Petr Pospelov

Hamlet is alive

Premiere at the New Opera

There is a new name on the Moscow opera poster. The Yevgeny Kolobov Theater, known for its passion for rarities, staged the half-forgotten opera “Hamlet” by the French composer Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896). The success of the play was not hindered by the transformation of the tragedy of the great Briton into a lyrical drama on

French and contributed to the truncation of the five-act French opera to the two-act Moscow format. You can do whatever you want with a great work - something will remain, Ambroise Thomas and his librettists decided. In the finale of the opera "Hamlet" (successful

Paris premiere - 1868) all the characters (minus the drowned Ophelia and the slain Claudius, but including the living and unharmed Polonius and Laertes) stand on the stage and sing: “Long live Hamlet, our king!” In the author's version for London (premiere at Covent Garden - 1869), a concession was made to the local public: Hamlet stabs himself to death. In the Moscow edition, Hamlet remains on stage in a mournful pose. Director Valery Raku explains in the program: “In Tom’s lyrical world, the flows of blood that flooded Shakespeare’s stage are impossible, but in the language of music he describes such a death of the soul, after which physical death no longer makes sense.”

We should probably agree with this. And do not find fault with changes in orchestration caused by the need to bring the old score to the composition and structure of a modern orchestra. And also rejoice at how authentic the saxophone sounds in an orchestra - a fashionable novelty invented in the mid-19th century by the Belgian Sax. By the way, the only complete recording (EMI CDS 7 54820-2, with Thomas Hampson in the title role) was released shortly before Peter Stein staged his Hamlet: now it’s clear where he got the idea to give the saxophone to the actor Yevgeny Mironov .

Tom’s masterpiece, although not the first row, although cut and re-edited, still complements the history of music that is familiar to us - listening to Ophelia’s dying song, one can guess the source of inspiration for Verdi, who wrote Desdemona’s dying prayer in “Othello”. In addition, Hamlet is beautiful as an example of pure French manners. And here there is something to remember with a kind word for the young conductor Dmitry Volosnikov.

As a rule, any of our opera teams, even the best, are a collection of voices of different natures; the desire for a single vocal principle manifests itself only in rare cases of the performance of baroque operas that require a special approach to sound (and this is precisely Volosnikov’s range of interests - he has already staged Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” in the foyer of the theater). The work of young singers Ilya Kuzmin (Hamlet), Lyudmila Kaftaykina (Ophelia) and Vladimir Kudashev (Claudius) lacked skill and precision. But they, and even the performers of the supporting roles (Sergei Sheremet and Maxim Ostroukhov) tried to convey with their singing what the conductor obliged them to do - elegance of the line, lack of forcing, a reasonable measure of affectation (from the general ensemble, however, Honored Artist Elena Svechnikova was annoyingly out of the mix ). If we take into account that the opera is sung by two casts, Dmitry Volosnikov’s merits need to be multiplied in half: almost for the first time, we heard from our opera stage the results of the conductor’s systematic work on a specific vocal style, common for all singers - in in this case

style of French lyric opera. The same applies to the choir, which, alas, at the behest of the shortcuts, sang only in the first half of the performance, and the orchestra, which existed in a special position: sometimes clumsily mistaken, but often sounding very beautiful, it was extracted from(a polyethylene backwater was built in its place, which eventually became Ophelia’s grave) and sent to the far hold, behind the stage - which upset the organic balance between the orchestra and the singers. On the other hand, the spectacle of a distant orchestra in tailcoats and light bulbs played the role of a semantic backdrop in Marina Azizyan’s set design, emphasizing the convention of “theater within a theater” (the “mousetrap” scene was amusingly acted out by three grotesque mimes).

The meager wooden structures on which the action unfolded resembled both the amphitheater of a Shakespearean arena and an ominous well (and the “box” shamelessly knocking in the orchestra over Tom’s score was a pendulum). The main advantages of Valeriy Raku's production, which was rather boring (the second act added little to the first) and sometimes diluted by unnecessary games with props (like a curtain twisted into a braid), remained, as always, internal musicality and the ability to find the right, well-operaic style for vocal situations. drawing poses and mise-en-scène.

It is interesting that the first candidate for the role of director was Alexander Sokurov, one of the most musical film directors, but his plans looked so radical that even the fearless artistic director of the theater Evgeny Kolobov did not dare to take the risk. Perhaps he turned out to be right: “Hamlet” did not become a sensation, but it came to life and sang in the French language and in the French spirit.

Is this experience destined to have a continuation - that is the question.

Evening Club, November 17-23, 2000

Dmitry Morozov The Prince of Denmark was circumcised

Ambroise Thomas, "Hamlet".

Kolobov's trail is much more controversial. He left his own musical edition and orchestration to his successor in this work, Dmitry Volosnikov (the latter is especially dubious in terms of compliance with the style of French lyric opera, as well as elementary taste, with which Kolobov the orchestrator has constant problems). In turn, the young and undoubtedly gifted conductor, encouraged by his boss’s obvious lack of reverence for the author’s score, went even further, subjecting the opera to further trimming. As a result, some of the characters and almost half of the score were left behind.

It may be objected: for the general public, all these details are not of particular importance; for them, what is important first of all is the result. Well, if we ignore Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and Tom’s opera of the same name and consider the performance a free composition based on both, then we cannot help but notice the advantages, however, they exist separately and do not want to form a complete picture.

Everyone is already accustomed to the fact that in the New Opera the orchestra and choir are usually at the forefront. This time the situation turned out to be somewhat different: the singers came in first place. Not only the experienced craftswomen Marina Zhukova (Ophelia) and Elena Svechnikova (Gertrude), but also the very young Ilya Kuzmin in the title role deserve the highest praise. Vladimir Kudashev showed himself very worthy in the role of Claudius. The choir part (choirmaster Andrei Lazarev) occupied a modest place in the performance, and the orchestra, pushed by the directors to the back of the stage, noticeably lost in the brightness of the sound. Did the performance gain anything from this? Unfortunately, director Valeriu Raku did not manage to play up the presence of the orchestra on stage, as a result of which it only became an eyesore.

In general, directing is the most vulnerable side of a performance. It's not a matter of static mise-en-scène. While the characters are delivering their speeches, standing almost motionless on the platform, this is not annoying, especially since the director here is very well “covered” by one of our best lighting designers, Gleb Filshtinsky. But as soon as the director, trying to enliven the stage action, forces Hamlet on a moving platform to literally “run into” Claudius and Gertrude, or when the characters periodically arrange meaningless games around a small internal curtain, you begin to think that the complete absence of directing would be preferable to this a kind of "director's presence".

The result, therefore, was very ambivalent. Turning to rarities in itself deserves gratitude, but in this case the theater failed to convincingly justify its choice. If Tom’s work, in the opinion of the management of the New Opera, requires such radical vivisections, then wouldn’t it be better to stage something else? Moreover, that “part of the music that was heard in the performance was not very exciting. Is Ambroise Thomas to blame for this? Or is the reason still that French lyric opera is a delicate matter, revealing its beauties only to those who are suitable to her without skepticism, drawn by love, and not by surgical itch?

Ambroise Thomas wrote an opera called Hamlet, which was first performed by the Paris Grand Opera in March 1868. Rave reviews indicate incredible success. The libretto for the five-act opera was created by Carré and Barbier; the work is based on Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. The opera became the composer's next step towards mastering a new genre - French grand opera. It is worth noting that the libretto was created in the most simplified form, which was reflected in the image of the main character and the meaning of the opera itself, which turned from philosophical into love and lyrical. A love drama is the basis of the libretto, but Shakespeare's tragic ending is changed and only the death of the treacherous Claudius is presented in the opera. Hamlet is given the throne, which marks the triumph of justice. It is worth noting that this version of Hamlet’s plot is close to the oldest known interpretation of the plot in the Scandinavian version, created around 1200. The author of the Scandinavian saga was the medieval chronicler Saxo Grammaticus.

On the Russian stage, the opera was staged in the Moscow theater Shelaputin in 1892. In the modern production, critics celebrate the performance staged in Monte Carlo in 1992. For all lovers of this type of art today there is a unique chance to listen for free the most famous arias from the opera Hamlet on the Orpheus club website. Here you can watch the video of the performance online modern options a variety of operas.

The plot of the opera begins with a scene in the front door hall of the royal palace of Elsinore, where Claudius, who became the husband of Gertrude, the widow of his elder brother, is crowned. Hamlet is absent and enters the stage at the end of the ceremony, immersed in thoughts of infidelity female. There is a meeting between the prince and Ophelia, who is sad that Hamlet is leaving the court and thinks that the young man has stopped loving her. Laertes goes on a campaign and entrusts the fate of his sister to the prince. The people are having fun, Horatio and Marcellus bring news of the ghost of Hamlet's father.

Hamlet with friendsuh the castle planade, where everyone expects the appearance of a ghost. At midnight, a ghost appears and tells Hamlet to kill Claudius and spare his mother. Hamlet promises to fulfill everything.

The content of the opera continues with a picture of the chambers in the palace, the image of Ophelia feeling the coldness of the prince. She reads a book about the infidelity of love, and, seeing confirmation of her fears, asks the queen to leave the court. But the queen thinks that Ophelia will help find out the secret from her son. She is worried that Hamlet might find out the truth about his father's death. Claudius calms her down. Hamlet is about to go on a journey and to say goodbye, he has invited actors who will show in the play murder of Gonzago. Before the performance, everyone is having fun and drinking wine, in which Hamlet sees the possibility of oblivion.

Next, the author of the opera shows the square in front of the palace where the performance is being organized. Hamlet volunteered to comment on the actors' performances, and recommended that his friends keep an eye on the king. He describes the death of his father, Claudius, with the order to drive away the actors, gives himself away. Hamlet, playing mad, takes the crown from him and accuses him of murder.

What follows is a picture in which the hero reflects on a serious question, as communicated by the aria "to be or not to be" and from the opera Hamlet. Claudius comes in and, stopping at the crucifix, asks his brother to be merciful to him. Hamlet promises himself to kill the king on the throne he has occupied. Claudius is frightened, he calls Polonius, and from the conversation between both of them, Gamete learns that Ophelia’s father is involved in the death of his father.

On this basis, Hamlet refuses to marry Ophelia, who is already dressed as a bride. She returns the ring to him. The queen is in fear, which increases with her son's accusatory words. He leaves his mother alive, but only thanks to the appearance of his father's shadow. This episode finally convinces the queen of her son's madness.

The summary is further revealed by the image of a village festival in honor of the arrival of spring. A distraught Ophelia appears on the river bank, joining the celebration, and telling the girls the story of pale velise. She imagines that she married Hamlet, offended by the long wait, she wants to hide from him in the reeds where the Velis are hiding. Saying the oath of allegiance to Hamlet, he throws himself into the water.

Scene in the cemetery, where Hamlet wanders into hiding from the king’s murderers. He sees gravediggers digging a grave and drinking wine. Mentally turns to Ophelia for forgiveness. He does not know that Ophelia is dead, but the girl's brother appears and challenges him to a duel, which is stopped only due to the approach of the funeral ceremony. Ophilia, lying in a coffin, gives rise to thoughts of suicide, but the father’s shadow stops Hamlet’s impulse. The ghost orders Claudius killed, and Hamlet stabs him with his sword. Gertrude is sent to a monastery, and the throne goes to Hamlet. The young man is in despair; he must reign for the good of his subjects when his soul is buried with Ophelia.

In five acts; libretto by M. Carré and J. Barbier based on Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name.
Premiere: Paris, Imperial Academy of Music, March 9, 1868

Characters:

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (baritone)
• His friends: Marcellus (tenor), Horatio (bass)
• Claudius, King of Denmark (bass)
• Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother (mezzo-soprano)
• Shadow of the Dead King, Hamlet's Father (bass)
• Polonius, courtier (bass)
• His children: Ophelia (soprano), Laertes (tenor)
• Two gravediggers (baritone, tenor)
• Courtiers, officers, actors, peasants, hunters

The action takes place in Denmark during the Middle Ages.

History of creation

After Mignon (1866), which enjoyed wide popularity, the composer tried to master the genre of French grand opera, which had not previously attracted him. Tom's collaborators were again famous writers, authors of librettos for lyrical operas and operettas by Gounod, Bizet, Offenbach and others. Jules Barbier (1822-1901) and Michel Carré (1819-1872), who usually wrote together. Following the libretto of Romeo and Juliet written for Gounod in 1867, they again turned to William Shakespeare (1564-1616). “Hamlet” (1600-1601), one of his most profound philosophical creations, was not only shortened in the libretto, but noticeably simplified. This affected the image of the main character, although some of his monologues or fragments thereof, including the famous “To be or not to be,” were preserved. The humanist and thinker, reflecting on the nature of man, on the destinies of the century, on ways to restore justice, turned out to be close to the traditional hero-lover of Italian operas, faithful in love, frantic in vengeance, inconsolable in grief for his dead beloved. It was the love drama that occupied the central place in the libretto, and although, in accordance with Shakespeare, it ends with a tragic denouement, the ending of the opera as a whole is completely different. The murders, the victims of which are all Shakespeare's heroes, are here reduced to the death of only the criminal king Claudius. Neither Ophelia's father nor brother will fall by his hand; the sinful Queen Gertrude, who retires to a monastery, and the Danish prince himself remain alive. They carry out the will of the shadow of Hamlet’s father, who reappears in the finale, whose throne is inherited by his son. This accession of Hamlet, which marks the restoration of justice, involuntarily returns the opera to the oldest interpretation of Hamlet’s plot - to the first extant version of the Scandinavian saga about the revenge of the pagan prince Amlet, set out in Latin in the “History of the Danes” (c. 1200) by the medieval chronicler Saxo Grammaticus . The librettists sought to emphasize the medieval and Germanic flavor with individual details. Thus, in the scene of the mad Ophelia, Shakespeare's text is replaced by a ballad about the Wilis, which destroys happy lovers. The image of the Wilis combines the features of various fantastic creatures. She resembles Lorelei - the mermaid of the Rhine, known from the popular poem by Heine, who, by the way, lived for a long time in Paris, or the queen of the elves of the Scottish ballads, luring a knight into the magical hills. The very name “Wilis” has long been known in France from the same Heine’s retelling of the Black Forest legend, which formed the basis of A. Adana "Giselle" (1844). This is the ghost of a bride who was abandoned by her groom before the wedding and died of grief or committed suicide; In revenge for her deception, she dances her unfaithful lover to death. Toma supported this search for local flavor and used an authentic Scandinavian tune in the ballad. In addition to the ballad, in the same Act IV, in the dance divertissement depicting a village holiday in honor of the arrival of spring, one of the dances is entitled “Freya” - named after the German goddess of youth and love.

The composer worked carefully on the score, paying great attention to the orchestra. He included saxophones in its composition. Invented in 1840 by master A. Sax, they still remained rare instruments and added special color and expressiveness to the scene in the square in Act II that the public liked. Having already completed the score, Thomas, without hesitation, rewrote the part of Hamlet for the baritone, originally intended for the tenor, since at that time the baritone J.B. Faure, a brilliant performer of Rossini's heroes, joined the Grand Opera troupe. Hamlet's part amazes with its unusually high tessitura for a baritone. Hamlet premiered on March 9, 1868. Paris theater Grand Opera and was a great success.

Plot

State hall in the royal palace of Elsinore. The solemn coronation of Claudius, who marries Gertrude, heir to the throne, widow of Claudius's recently deceased brother. Prince Hamlet is not at the party. He appears when everyone is leaving; he is overcome by thoughts about female infidelity, about a mother who so quickly forgot her father. The prince is met by Ophelia. She is saddened that the prince is leaving the court: it means that he has stopped loving her. Hamlet swears that his loyalty is unshakable. Laertes, setting out on a campaign, comes to say goodbye to his sister and trusts her to protect the prince. Officers and pages rush to the holiday, singing the fleeting joys of life. They are not interested in the strange news brought by Horatio and Marcellus, who are looking for the prince everywhere: at night, on the bastions of the fortress, the shadow of the deceased king appeared to them.

Esplanade of the castle. Hamlet and his friends await the appearance of the ghost, listening to the sounds of the ongoing celebration coming from the distance. At midnight, he calls on his father’s shadow, and he orders revenge for his death: Claudius killed him and took possession of his crown and his wife, but Hamlet must spare his mother. The prince says goodbye to all the joys of life - fame, love, pleasures - and vows to fulfill his father's will.

Peace in the palace. Ophelia, alarmed by the prince's sudden coldness, tries to distract herself by reading, but the book is also about unfaithful love. Without ceasing to read, Ophelia secretly watches Hamlet enter, who, without approaching her, leaves. Now she is convinced that the prince has forgotten his vows and in tears asks the entering queen to allow her to leave the court and never see the prince again. But Gertrude, confident in her son’s love for Ophelia, hopes that she will find out the secret that oppresses the prince. Tormented by remorse and visions of her dying, threatening husband, she is afraid that her son has found out about the crime. Claudius reassures her: they are not in danger of being exposed, Hamlet is crazy. The prince appears, who first announces that he would like to travel with the clouds in the sky, and then announces that he has invited actors to entertain the court. He explains to the actors how they should play a play about the murder of Gonzago, but for now he invites them to sing, drink and have fun, because only wine can disperse sadness and give oblivion.

Square in front royal palace. To the sounds of the Danish march, the courtiers gather for the performance. Hamlet asks his friends to keep an eye on the king and comments on the pantomime played by the actors: the old king retires with the queen and falls asleep in her arms; the traitor seduces the queen, pours poison into the king's cup and takes away his golden crown. Claudius, in excitement, orders the actors to be driven away, and Hamlet, acting out madness, shouts that he has found the murderer and rips off his crown. Everyone is terrified. Hamlet responds to angry reproaches with a bacchanalian song.

Peace in the palace. Hamlet ponders the great question - to be or not to be? The king enters, tormented by repentance. Bowing before the crucifix, he begs the spirit of his brother to soften the wrath of the Almighty. Hamlet, watching him, refuses the opportunity to take revenge: he will kill the king on the throne, in the splendor of power. Claudius sees the shadow of his brother, and in fear he calls out to Polonius. From their conversation, Hamlet understands that the father of his beloved Ophelia is an accomplice in the crime. The Queen and Ophelia, dressed as a bride, head to the temple, but Hamlet swears that the marriage will not happen, otherwise the sky will fall on his head. He convinces Ophelia to seclude herself in a monastery; she dutifully returns it to the prince. wedding ring, and the queen, seeing tears in her son’s eyes, cannot understand the reasons for the breakup and experiences secret fear. Left alone with his mother, Hamlet reproaches her for criminal love for her husband's brother, for murder, and then threatens her with a sword. The Queen begs for mercy, crawls at her son's feet. Only the appearance of his father’s shadow makes the prince come to his senses, and the queen is finally convinced of his madness. Hamlet calls on his mother to repent and leaves her in peace.

Village holiday. Peasants and hunters greet the arrival of spring with songs, games, and dances and glorify the goddess Freya.

River bank. Mad Ophelia, who left the palace at dawn, joins the general fun, gives flowers to the girls, talks about the pale wilis that lures travelers to the bottom, cries and laughs. It seems to her that Hamlet has become her husband, she decides to punish him for the torment of waiting and hide in the reeds of the Wilis. Repeating his oath of allegiance, Ophelia throws herself into the water.

Cemetery. The gravediggers dig a grave, drink and sing about the frailty of life, the meaning of which is in wine. An exhausted Hamlet appears: for two days he has been hiding from the assassins sent by the king. Not knowing about Ophelia’s death, he turns to her with a plea for forgiveness: his love is to blame for the fact that her heart is broken, her mind has grown dark. Laertes appears and swears to avenge his sister and challenges him to a duel, which is interrupted by a funeral procession. Hamlet sees Ophelia in the coffin and is ready to commit suicide in order to unite with her forever. His father's shadow stops him. Everyone trembles at the sight of a formidable ghost proclaiming the will of heaven. The son must punish the murderer - and Hamlet strikes Claudius with a blow of his sword. The queen will go to the monastery, and God has ordained the throne for the prince: he will rule for the good of the people. Hamlet is in despair - to become king when his soul is in the grave! Everyone praises Hamlet.

Music

“Hamlet” is a large French opera with a traditional abundance of crowd scenes, festive and funeral marches, a colorful ballet suite and a spectacular virtuoso role for the heroine. However, Thomas, the author of the lyrical opera “Mignon”, who worked a lot in the comic genre, also brought big opera romance intonations and forms, waltz rhythms. The scene of Ophelia's madness recalls the traditions of the operas of Bellini and Donizetti.

One of the memorable characteristics of the hero is the bacchanalian song “Wine, disperse the torment” with a catchy, energetic melody, picked up by a male choir. It completes the 1st scene of Act II and is repeated in the finale of Act 2: the melody of the song of Hamlet acting out madness contrasts with the excited remarks of the rest of the participants in this septet with a choir. The climax of the opera is the scene of Ophelia's madness, separated into an independent (2nd) scene of Act IV. Here the recitative and the aria “The cold tears of the night wash the whole earth” alternate, built on the comparison of short remarks, virtuoso passages and the theme of Hamlet’s oath from the duet of Act I in the orchestra; waltz “I give you flowers”; ballad “Wilisa sleeps in the bosom of transparent waters.” This is the composer's best find - a wistful melody of an authentic Scandinavian song with a contrasting chorus without words, evoking associations with Solveig's Song from Grieg's Peer Gynt. It ends with a colorful passage that leads to the masterly final section of the scene.

A. Koenigsberg

In Tom's opera, compared to the original, the melodramatic beginning is strengthened, and the theme of love comes to the fore. This was entirely in keeping with the spirit of the time and corresponded to the genre of lyrical opera, of which the author was an adherent. Among the best performers of the title role is Ruffo. A number of episodes (“The Bacchic Song” of Hamlet from episode 1, the scene of Ophelia’s death from episode 3) became Tom’s creative success. The Russian premiere took place in 1892 (Moscow, P. Shelaputin Theater). Nowadays, the awkward final chorus of "Vive Hamlet" is usually omitted, and the opera ends with the death of the hero. Among modern productions, we note the 1992 performance in Monte Carlo (soloists Hampson, A. Pendachanska).

Discography: CD - Decca. Dir. Boning, Hamlet (Milnes), Ophelia (Sutherland), Claudius (Morris), Laertes (Wynberg), Gertrude (Conrad), The Phantom (Tomlinson).

Main characters:
Hamlet (baritone), Ophelia (soprano), Claudius (bass), Gertrude (mezzo), Laertes (tenor), Phantom (bass), Marcellus (tenor), Horatio (bass), Polonius (bass), Two Gravediggers (baritone, tenor) etc.

The action takes place in medieval Denmark.

Plot:
1 act.
In the royal castle of Elsinore, the solemn coronation of Claudius takes place, who marries the heir to the throne, Gertrude, the widow of the deceased king, brother of Claudius. All the nobility have gathered, only the son of the deceased king and Gertrude, Prince Hamlet, is missing. After the ceremony is over, everyone leaves. Hamlet appears. He is greeted by Polonia's daughter Ophelia. She loves the prince, whom she is soon to marry, and is alarmed that he is leaving the court. Hamlet assures her of the unchangeability of his feelings for her. Meanwhile, Hamlet's friends Marcellus and Horatio are looking for the prince to report that a Phantom appeared to them at night - the shadow of his dead father.
At midnight, Hamlet calls out to the Ghost. He appears to him and, telling him about the treachery of Claudius and Gertrude, who killed his father, calls for revenge. Hamlet must punish Claudius, but spare his mother!
Act 2
Ophelia walks through the Elsinore park. She is sad, it seems to her that Hamlet has lost interest in her. Wanting to distract herself, the girl takes a book. Suddenly she sees Hamlet. But the prince does not see her, and she secretly watches him. Having finally noticed his beloved, Hamlet, however, silently leaves without approaching her. Gertrude enters. She looks at the sad Ophelia. The girl asks the queen for permission to leave the court and retire to the monastery, because the prince has stopped loving her. Gertrude persuades her to stay, hoping to find out the reasons for the gloomy mood of the prince and his strange behavior. Claudius appears. Ophelia leaves. Gertrude tells her husband about her concerns. It seems to her that Hamlet knows about their crimes. Claudius calms the queen, assuring that the prince is simply crazy. Their conversation is interrupted by Hamlet entering. The sounds of cheerful music can be heard in the distance. Hamlet explains that he decided to invite a troupe of comedians to the palace for entertainment. The frightened queen leaves with Claudius. Marcellus enters with the actors. Hamlet explains to them how they should act out a pantomime about the treacherous murder of King Gonzago. Then he invites everyone to drink wine and sings a drinking song.
The courtiers gather in the square in front of the castle. The pantomime begins. Hamlet comments on what is happening on stage, where the old king, who has fallen asleep in the queen’s arms, is poured poison into a glass by a traitor and insidiously takes possession of his crown. An angry Claudius orders the actors expelled, and Hamlet, feigning madness, tears off his crown, claiming that he has found the murderer.
Act 3
Hamlet is alone in his chambers. He ponders eternal question- to be or not to be? Claudius appears. He does not notice the prince, he is tormented by fears and he is the testament of Polonius. Hamlet hears their conversation from afar and realizes that Ophelia's father is also involved in the conspiracy. This means there will be no marriage with Ophelia!
Ophelia and the Queen enter. Hamlet convinces Ophelia to go to a monastery; he is not going to marry. Ophelia obediently takes off her wedding ring, gives it to the prince and leaves. Hamlet, left alone with his mother, accuses her of an insidious crime and threatens her with a sword. The Queen begs for forgiveness. A ghost that suddenly appears calls out to Hamlet, who, having come to his senses, releases the queen.
Act 4
Holiday in the village. Peasants and hunters joyfully welcome the arrival of spring. Merry dancing begins - the hunter's dance, the waltz-mazurka. Ophelia comes to the celebration. She is in a white dress with flowers in her hands. Her look is crazy. The unfortunate woman sings as if delirious, then talks about the jeep, which drags travelers to the bottom. Ophelia is overcome by visions and rushes into the water.
Act 5
In a cemetery near Elsinore, two gravediggers are digging a grave and drinking. Hamlet appears. He does not yet know about Ophelia's death. Laertes pursues him and, wanting to avenge his sister, challenges the prince to a duel. The start of the duel is interrupted by a funeral procession. Hamlet, realizing that Ophelia is dead, wants to commit suicide. But the Ghost who appeared to him again reminds the prince of revenge, and Hamlet, gathering all his strength, kills Claudius with a blow of his sword. Now the queen must retire to a monastery, and Hamlet ascends to the throne. Everyone praises the new monarch!

Second most popular after Minion, Tom's opera was written in a genre close to French grand opera (as evidenced by large-scale crowd scenes, the presence of ballet, etc.), “diluted” with stylistic elements, melody and intonations inherent lyric opera. Taking as a basis great tragedy Shakespeare, the composer significantly simplified its content, concentrating on love line. In principle, such metamorphoses in both grand and lyric opera were quite natural (we see the same thing, for example, in Faust). We must be aware that the art of opera lives in its own way. internal laws, and it is pointless to evaluate it from the point of view of compliance with the literary source. However, the composer went very far here; he not only shortened the plot of the tragedy, but radically changed the outcome - Hamlet remains alive and becomes king! There are other significant differences, including those concerning the fate of other characters. However, it was not only Tom’s “voluntarism” that took place here. The fact is that we must not forget that many of the plots of classical literature familiar to us (including those of Shakespeare, Goethe or Schiller, etc.) go back to more ancient legends. So in this case, the composer used, along with Shakespearean tragedy, the motives of the Old Scandinavian saga about Hamlet with a “happy” ending, which has come down to us in the Latin manuscript “The Acts of the Danes,” written by the medieval Danish chronicler and priest Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1140 - between 1206 and 1220), born in Roskilde.

As noted above, we are dealing with opera and the work must be evaluated solely on its own aesthetics and musical and dramatic merits. From this perspective, G. is a work that is undoubtedly interesting and significant in the history of the genre, although not without contradictions inherent in Tom’s work as a whole. Bright melodic and orchestral discoveries and heartfelt episodes are combined with rather banal and secondary music from a number of other scenes.

Among the most striking and impressive episodes of the opera is the big scene of Ophelia's madness and death. A vos jeux, mes amis their 4th act. Free and, at the same time, very organic and convincing in its dramatic development and change of mood, it is reminiscent of similar episodes in Italian operas from the heyday of bel canto (Donizetti, Bellini). The similarity is enhanced by the virtuoso character of the heroine’s part. The popular “Bacchic Song” of Hamlet is very effective. O vin, dissipe la tristesse from Act 2. Original innovations also include the use of saxophones in the score (scene in the square from Act 2), invented by A. Sax shortly before (1840).

It should be noted that the pompous and artificial ending of the opera has become the subject of criticism. Moreover, attempts were made to at least partially return to the Shakespearean denouement. There is an edition made by the author for the premiere in Covent Garden, in which Hamlet, as befits a Shakespearean tragedy, dies. This version did not receive further distribution and was practically not performed, although there is a recording made by the conductor Boning(1983), performed by the Welsh Opera (soloists Milnes, Sutherland), where the action ends with the death of Hamlet, struck down by Laertes, and the awkward final chorus of “Vive Hamlet” is stopped.

The opera premiered at the Grand Opera and was an exceptional success. The leading roles were performed by the outstanding French baritone For(it was for him that Toma urgently remade what was originally conceived as the tenor part of the main character) and the famous singer K. Nilson. The title role performed by Fauré made such a strong impression on his contemporaries that the great Edouard Manet painted a portrait of the artist in this role (1877).

In 1869, Nilsson also sang in the already mentioned English premiere of the opera on the stage of Covent Garden. The same year the German premiere took place in Leipzig. Soon the opera was staged in Italy, translated into Italian. In 1872 the American premiere took place at the New York Academy of Music. G.'s popularity was very high. One can also note performances in Barcelona (1876), Milan (1878). In 1883, its two hundredth performance took place at the Grand Opera. In 1884 the opera was staged at the Metropolitan Theater with Sembrich in the title role, in 1889 at the Vienna Opera. In 1908 in the first season of the theater Colon performed brilliantly in the role of Hamlet Ruffo. In 1914 she sang the role of Ophelia on the stage of the Grand Opera Lipkovskaya. The role of Ophelia has been in the repertoire of many wonderful singers, among them Nordica, Nevada, Melba and etc.

On the Russian stage, G. was first performed in 1892 at the Shelaputin Theater by the forces of the private Opera Association (in the title role Tartakov). In 1893 he made his debut in Russia as Hamlet. Battistini. He performed it in our country and Cotonya. In pre-revolutionary Russia, the opera was staged several times in private enterprises, but never appeared on the imperial stages.

Throughout the 20th century. G. remained a repertoire opera. However, its popularity especially increased towards the end of the century. Among the productions of this period, we note performances at the New York City Opera (1982, Milnes in the title role), Turin and Leeds (1990), Monte Carlo (1992, in the title role Hampson) Vienna Volksoper (1995, Skofhus in the title role), Geneva, Copenhagen and San Francisco (1996), Karlsruhe (1998), Paris (2000), Covent Garden (2003, Keenleyside in the title role), again in Geneva (2006), at the Metropolitan (2010, with Keenleyside and Dessay) and etc.

In Russia in Soviet time G. did not appear on the posters. Only in 2000 a new production of the opera was carried out at the Moscow New Opera under the direction of Kolobova. In this two-act performance, the opera score (as often happened in late creativity Kolobova) has undergone significant changes. Many scenes were shortened, including a village festival, a duel scene, and a number of characters were missing (Laertes, Polonius, gravediggers). The plot acquired a more symbolic character, and the ending became ambiguous. Hamlet, who no longer has anger in his heart, simply says goodbye to everyone and leaves.

Brief discography:
CD Decca (studio) – dir. R. Boning, soloists S. Milnes, D. Sutherland, D. Morris, B. Conrad, G. Vinberg.
EMI (studio) – dir. A. de Almeida, soloists T. Hampson, D. Anderson, S. Ramey, D. Graves, G. Kunde.

Illustration:
Ambroise Thomas.

1 - Here and below the typed italics the word refers the reader to the corresponding entry in the opera dictionary. Unfortunately, before publication full text It will be impossible for the dictionary to use such links.

Igor Golovatenko Graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in opera and symphony conducting (class of Professor G. N. Rozhdestvensky). He studied solo singing at the Academy of Choral Art named after V. S. Popov (class of Professor D. Yu. Vdovin).

In 2006 he made his debut in “Mass of Life” by F. Delius with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia conducted by Vladimir Spivakov. From 2007 to 2014 he was a soloist at the Moscow Novaya Opera Theater, where he performed leading roles in the operas Eugene Onegin and Iolanta by P. Tchaikovsky, La Traviata, Il Trovatore and Aida by G. Verdi, L'elisir d'amore "G. Donizetti, "The Barber of Seville" by G. Rossini, "Honour Rural" by P. Mascagni.

Since 2014 - soloist of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia. He performed in the roles of Lopakhin (“ The Cherry Orchard"F. Fenelon), Germont and Rodrigo ("La Traviata" and "Don Carlos" by G. Verdi), Marcel ("La Bohème" by G. Puccini), Doctor Malatesta ("Don Pasquale" by G. Donizetti), Lionel and Robert (" The Maid of Orleans" and "Iolanta" by P. Tchaikovsky).

Laureate of the international competitions “Three Centuries of Classical Romance” in St. Petersburg and the competition of Italian opera singers at the Bolshoi Theater.

The singer's foreign engagements include performances at the Paris National Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Naples Teatro San Carlo, the theaters of Palermo, Bergamo, Trieste, Lille, Luxembourg, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the National Opera of Santiago in Chile, the Greek National Opera, the Latvian National opera, as well as at the prestigious opera festivals in Wexford and Glyndebourne.

Igor Golovatenko worked with famous conductors, including Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Spivakov, Tugan Sokhiev, Vasily Sinaisky, Kent Nagano, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Laurent Campellone, Christoph-Matthias Müller, Enrique Mazzola, Robert Treviño; Among the directors with whom the singer collaborated are Francesca Zambello, Adrian Noble, Elijah Moshinsky, Rolando Panerai.

He often performs with the Russian National Orchestra under the direction of Mikhail Pletnev (in particular, he participated in concert performances of the operas “Carmen” by J. Bizet, “The Tales of Hoffmann” by J. Offenbach and “Eugene Onegin” by P. Tchaikovsky, as well as E. Grieg’s music for the drama G. Ibsen "Peer Gynt"). Takes part in the Grand Festival of the Russian National Orchestra. He has performed with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia under the direction of Vladimir Spivakov and the State Symphony Orchestra “New Russia” under the direction of Yuri Bashmet.

Laura Claycomb

Laura Claycomb rightly considered one of the most versatile singers of her generation - audiences and music criticism The singer's magnificent voice and the wide range of her acting capabilities are equally admired. A laureate of several major international competitions (including the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994, where she was awarded the 2nd Prize and Silver Medal), Laura Claycomb first attracted attention after her debut at the Geneva Opera in Capulet and Montague" Bellini in 1994, when she had to replace a sick colleague at the last minute. The role of Juliet brought her her first great success - she subsequently performed it at the Los Angeles Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera and the Parisian Opera Bastille. Another “crown” role of the singer was Gilda in Verdi’s “Rigoletto”, which she sang at the Houston Opera, Parisian Opera Bastille, Lausanne Opera, Bilbao, Salerno Opera and the New Israeli Opera. Other bel canto roles included Lucia (Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the New Israel Opera, Houston Grand Opera), Linda (Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix at Milan's La Scala), Maria (Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment at the Houston Grand Opera), Adele (Count Ory by Rossini at the Lausanne Opera) and Ophelia (Hamlet by Thomas at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste). In past seasons, Laura Claycomb performed successfully as Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos by R. Strauss) at the Los Angeles Opera and in Palermo.

Another area of ​​interest of the singer is baroque music, where her contribution was appreciated by leading specialist conductors in music XVIII centuries: Christophe Rousset, Mark Minkowski, Ivor Bolton, Roy Goodman, Harry Bicket. Laura Claycomb performed the roles of Cleopatra (Handel's Julius Caesar at the Houston Opera, the Drottninholm Baroque Theater in Sweden and at the Montpellier Festival), Morgana (Handel's Alcina at the English National Opera), Drusilla (The Coronation of Poppea by Monteverdi at the Netherlands Opera) , Ginevra (“Handel’s Ariodante” at the Bavarian National Opera and at the Parisian Opera Garnier), Polissena (“Handel’s Radamist” at the Santa Fe Opera Festival in the USA), Romilda (“Handel’s Xerxes” at the Houston Grand Opera), Semele (“ Semele" by Handel at the Flemish Opera). Laura Claycombe has worked with such distinguished opera directors as Peter Sellars, Robert Lepage, Robert Carsen, David Poutney, Julie Taymor, Jerome Savary, David McVicar, Olivier Peay, Nicolas Joël, Pierre Audi, Catarina Thomas, Luca Ronconi and John Cox.

The singer's concert repertoire covers music from four centuries. She feels equally at ease in the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, and pays a lot of attention to the modern repertoire: her debut at the Salzburg Festival took place in György Ligeti’s opera The Great Dead Man, Esa-Pekka Salonen entrusted her with the world premiere of his vocal cycle“Five Fragments from Sappho”, in her solo programs she often puts works by Stravinsky, Copland, Messiaen, Saariaho. Among the conductors with whom Laura Claycomb has collaborated are Pierre Boulez, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Richard Hickox, Valery Gergiev, Roger Norrington, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Kent Nagano, Ivan Fischer, Evelino Pido, Carlo Rizzi and many others. The singer's discography, represented by albums on Sony, Virgin Classics, Chandos, includes works from Handel to Ligeti.

Over the past few seasons, Laura Claycomb has performed on the stages of the Houston Grand Opera (“ Bat"I. Strauss), Bolshoi Theater Russia (“Somnambula” by Bellini), Glyndebourne Opera Festival (“Ariadne auf Naxos” by R. Strauss), Florence Opera (“Candide” by Bernstein), Bregenz Festival (“The Magic Flute” by Mozart), Bergen Opera (“The Golden Cockerel” by Rimsky- Korsakov), as well as in concert programs conducted by such conductors as Michael Tilson-Thomas, Valery Gergiev and Zubin Mehta.

Rafal Szywek

The singer's professional debut took place in 2002 at the Warsaw National Opera as Gremin (Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin). Rafal Szywek often performs in Italy. In particular, he sang Collena (“La bohème” by Puccini) at the Arena di Verona and at the Florentine Musical May festival, Count Rudolf (“La Sonnambula” by Bellini) at the Teatro im. G. Verdi in Trieste, King Mark (“Tristan and Isolde” by Wagner) at the Rome Opera, Orovesa (“Norma” by Bellini) at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Don Basilio (“The Barber of Seville” by Rossini) in Bari, Palermo and Piacenza, Timur (Puccini's Turandot) at the Puccini Festival in Tore del Lago.

He is a recognized interpreter of Verdi's roles. Performed the role of King Philip (“Don Carlos”) with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta, as well as at Turin’s Teatro Regio under the baton of Semyon Bychkov; the part of Ramfis (“Aida”) in Sao Paolo (conducted by Lorin Maazel) and Rio de Janeiro; the role of Zachariah (Nabucco) at the Warsaw National Opera; Wurm (Louise Miller) in Valencia (conducted by Lorin Maazel), Parma and Modena; Padre Guardiana (“Force of Destiny”) at the Lodz Opera (Poland), de Silva (“Ernani”) at the Theater. V. Bellini in Catania.

Sang the role of Thibault d'Arc (The Maid of Orleans by Tchaikovsky) at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the role of the Archbishop (King Roger by Szymanowski) at the Theater Chatelet in Paris, the Commander (Don Giovanni by Mozart) at the La Monnaie theater, the Lille Opera and the Bolshoi theater in Luxembourg. Other engagements include: Sir George Walton (Bellini's Puritans) at the Lodz Opera, Sparafucile (Verdi's Rigoletto) at the Savonlinna Festival, Timur (Turandot) at the Bunka Kaikan Hall in Tokyo. In Warsaw he performed as Hunding (Wagner's Die Walküre), Seneca (The Coronation of Poppea by Monteverdi), Sarastro (The Magic Flute by Mozart), Raymond (Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor), Don Basilio (The Barber of Seville), Zechariah (“Nabucco”), Sparafucile (“Rigoletto”), Timur (“Turandot”).

Among the engagements in 2010/12: The Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlos) at the Berlin State Opera, Ramfis (Aida) at the Rome Opera, Timur (Turandot), Ramfis (Aida), Wurm (Louise Miller) ) and Fafner (Wagner's Siegfried) at the Bavarian State Opera.

In the 2012/13 season he performed the role of Vladimir Yaroslavich (Prince Igor Borodin) at the Hamburg State Opera, the Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlos) and Ramfis (Aida) at the Berlin State Opera, King Philip (Don Carlos) at National Opera of Warsaw, Commander (“Don Giovanni”) at the Zurich Opera, Daland (“The Flying Dutchman” by Wagner) at the Bavarian State Opera. In 2013, he took part in a production of Verdi's Don Carlos at the Bolshoi Teatro Rossini, performing the role of Philip II (conductor Robert Treviño, director Adrian Noble).

He often performs on the concert stage. He took part in performances of Verdi's Requiem conducted by Lorin Maazel in Milan, Casablanca, Busseto and Jerusalem, as well as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Rome, Milan, Brussels and Taormina. Under the baton of Zubin Mehta, he sang at the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome (Verdi's Requiem) and at the Florentine Musical May festival (Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). In Verona he took part in a performance of Rossini's Stabat Mater (conducted by Alberto Zedda). He took part in the performance of Janáček's Glagolitic Mass at the Prague Spring Festival, at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, as well as in Bratislava, Brno and Linz. At the Warsaw Philharmonic he took part in the performance of Verdi's Requiem, Dvořák's Stabat Mater, Beethoven's "Mass Solemn", Rossini's "Little Solemn Mass", Mozart's "Coronation Mass" and Requiem, J. S. Bach's Mass in B Minor. In Riga he sang in Krzysztof Penderecki's Credo under the direction of the author.

Doris Lamprecht

Doris Lamprecht Born in Linz (Austria), she studied vocals at the Paris Conservatory with Jeanne Berbier, after which she trained at the Paris National Opera. It is in demand in the most diverse repertoire - from Monteverdi, Bach, Handel and Rameau to works by contemporary French composers. Among her most important engagements are Verdi's Rigoletto at the National Rhine Opera in Strasbourg and Verdi's La Traviata at the Orange Festival, Offenbach's The Robbers at the Paris National Opera and Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Aix-en-Provence and Lyon Festivals. opera, Offenbach's La Belle Helena at the Zurich Opera, Berg's Lulu at the Metz Opera and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel at the Flanders Opera.

Over the past few years, Doris Lamprecht has sung at the Opera of Lille (“Faust” by Gounod), at the Parisian Theater du Chatelet (“Arabella” by R. Strauss, “Pollichino” by H. W. Henze), the Paris National Opera (“Platea” by Rameau, “The Daughter of the Regiment” by Donizetti, “Hansel and Gretel” by Humperdinck, “Faust” by Gounod, “Electra” by R. Strauss), Opera of Avignon (“Eugene Onegin” by Tchaikovsky), Parisian Opera Comique (“Fra Diavolo” by Aubert), Opera Sainte -Etienne (“Hamlet” by Thomas), the Netherlands Opera (“Romeo and Juliet” by Gounod), the Geneva Opera (“Der Rosenkavalier” by R. Strauss, “Juliet” by Martinou), the Barcelona Liceu Theater (“Cinderella” by Massenet), the Lyon Opera ( "Count Ory" by Rossini), as well as in the opera houses of Strasbourg, Nantes, Madrid, Marseille, Nancy and Tours. The singer has performed with such outstanding conductors as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Michel Plasson, Christophe Rousset, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Jacques Lacombe, Mikhail Jurowski, Jiri Beloglavek, Alain Altinoglu, William Christie, Mark Minkowski and Stefano Montanari.

Alexey Neklyudov

Alexey Neklyudov is a laureate of many Russian and international competitions, including the IV Open Competition for Young Vocalists named after Alexander Pirogov (1st prize, 2007), the XV International Bella Voce Vocal Competition (2nd prize and the “Nadezhda” prize from the Moscow Cultural Foundation, 2007). Since 2009, he studied at the Academy of Choral Art named after V. S. Popov in the class of Professor S. G. Nesterenko. In April 2010, Alexey made his debut on the stage of the Great Hall of the Conservatory with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia under the direction of Vladimir Spivakov, performing the tenor part in the Requiem of C. Saint-Saëns.

In 2012, Alexey became the owner of a grant from the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, and a year later received a scholarship from the M. Magomayev Foundation. In 2013 and 2014 participated in the international classical music festival of V. Spivakov in Colmar (France). The singer has performed with such conductors as Vladimir Fedoseev, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Yurovsky, Otto Tausk, Konstantin Orbelyan, Peter Neumann, Fabio Mastrangelo, Stefano Montanari, Andreas Spöring. He took part in the festivals “Cherry Forest”, “Vladimir Spivakov Invites...” and many others.

In 2013, Alexey Neklyudov became a soloist at the Moscow Municipal Theater “New Opera” named after E. V. Kolobov, where he performed roles in the operas “The Snow Maiden” by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, “Salome” by R. Strauss, “Eugene Onegin” by P. I. Tchaikovsky. Since 2014, Alexey has been a guest soloist with the Bolshoi Theater of Russia. On New scene theater, he took part in the new production of W. A. ​​Mozart’s opera “That’s what everyone does...” (as Ferrando; director Floris Visser, conductor Stefano Montanari), in the production of “The Snow Maiden” by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (director Alexander Titel ; conductor Tugan Sokhiev) and a concert performance of G. Rossini’s opera “Journey to Reims” (conductor Tugan Sokhiev). In May 2015, he performed the role of Lykov in N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “ The Tsar's Bride"at the Tel Aviv Opera House (Israel). In June 2015, he took part in the summer academy of the festival in Aix-en-Provence (France). In Baden State Theater in Karlsruhe, the singer performs the roles of Nemorino (Elisir of Love by G. Donizetti), Tamino (The Magic Flute by W. A. ​​Mozart), Orontes (Alcina by G. F. Handel) and Lord Percy (Anne Boleyn by G. Donizetti). The singer's upcoming performances include debuts at the Berlin Komische Oper, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, the Bregenz Festival and the Theater of St. Gallen.

Dmitry Skorikov

Dmitry Skorikov born in 1974 in Ruza. Graduated from the Academic Music School at the Moscow Conservatory with a degree in choral conducting (class of Professor Igor Agafonnikov) and the Moscow state institute of music named after Schnittke, specializing in solo singing (class of Professor Alevtina Belousova).

Immediately after graduating from university, he became a soloist at the Helikon Opera Theater (2002). His repertoire includes more than twenty leading roles, including Don Bartolo and Leporello (The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni by Mozart), Don Pasquale (Don Pasquale by Donizetti), Falstaff (Falstaff by Verdi), Timur (Turandot "Puccini), Lawyer Kolenatiy ("The Makropoulos Remedy" by Janacek), Boris Godunov and Pimen ("Boris Godunov" by Mussorgsky), Gremin and Kochubey ("Eugene Onegin" and "Mazeppa" by Tchaikovsky), Salieri ("Mozart and Salieri" by Rimsky- Korsakov) and Famusov (“Chaadsky” by Manotskov).

Since 2016 - guest soloist of the Samara Opera and Ballet Theater. Nominated for National theater award“Golden Mask” (2017) for the role of Boris Timofeevich Izmailov in the opera “Lady Macbeth” Mtsensk district» Shostakovich. On the stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia he performed the roles of Voivode Polkan (The Golden Cockerel by Rimsky-Korsakov) and the Magician Chelia (The Love for Three Oranges by Prokofiev). At the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg he performed in the operas “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini (Don Bartolo), “La bohème” by Puccini (Collen) and “The Rusalka” by Dvořák (Vodyanoy). In 2014, he took part in the VI Grand Festival of the Russian National Orchestra on the stage of the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, where he performed the role of the Clerk in the opera " May night» Rimsky-Korsakov.

He toured with the theater troupe in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, China, South Korea and Thailand. He conducts active concert activities in Moscow and other cities of Russia, performs with symphony orchestras and orchestras folk instruments. He has collaborated with famous conductors: Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Eri Klas, Mikhail Pletnev, Vasily Sinaisky, Vladimir Ponkin, Yuri Bashmet, Mikhail Tatarnikov and others. Participated in joint projects with stars of the world opera stage, including Elena Obraztsova, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Anna Netrebko, Dmitry Korchak and Laura Claycomb. Regular participant in the “Romance of Romance” program on the “Culture” TV channel.

Igor Morozov

Born in 1990 in Ryazan. Graduated from the Moscow Choral School named after A.V. Sveshnikov (2010) and the Academy of Choral Art named after V.S. Popov (2016) with a degree in choral conducting and academic singing" Laureate of international competitions, the All-Russian competition “Young Talents of Russia”. Winner of the Elena Obraztsova Prize “For a bright start in art.” Nominated for the Russian National Music Award in the category “Vocalist of the Year” (2016).

In 2013 he debuted on opera stage, performing in a production of the opera Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss at Historical scene Bolshoi Theater of Russia under the direction of Vasily Sinaisky. Currently he is a soloist at the Helikon Opera Theater.

As a guest artist, he collaborated with the Russian National Orchestra, the State Orchestra of Russia named after E. F. Svetlanov, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic, conductors Alberto Zedda, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Yurovsky, Marco Zambelli, Alexander Vedernikov. He took part in the performances of the operas “Aleko” by Rachmaninov, “Salome” by Richard Strauss, “Anne Boleyn” by Donizetti, “Ermione” by Rossini, “The Demon” by Rubinstein. He sang solo parts in the Requiems of Mozart and Saint-Saëns, and in Leonid Desyatnikov’s “The Pinega Legend of the Duel and Death of Pushkin.”

In 2016 he made his debut at the Estonian National Opera, the Croatian National Theatre, the Municipal Theater of São Paulo, the Royal Theater de la Monnaie in Brussels, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 2017, he performed for the first time at the Nice Opera House and the Municipal Theater of Santiago (in 2020 he will return to this stage to participate in a production of Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel). In the spring of 2018, he sang in Rubinstein’s opera “The Demon” in Barcelona.

Participated in video recordings of Helikon-Opera performances for the fund of the Kultura TV channel: “Sadko” by Rimsky-Korsakov (title role) and “Eugene Onegin” by Tchaikovsky (Lensky).

Alexander Miminoshvili

Alexander Miminoshvili born in the Stavropol region. After graduating music school, entered the vocal department of the Moscow Regional College of Arts. In 2006 he entered Russian Academy Theater Arts (RATI-GITIS) to the Faculty of Musical Theater, headed by D. A. Bertman (vocal teacher T. V. Bashkirova), who graduated in 2011. Even during his years of study at the RATI, he successfully performed important roles in a number of performances educational theater RATI-GITIS (“The Marriage” by Mussorgsky, “Notes of a Madman” by Yu. Butsko, “The Bell” by Donizetti) and in 2009 made his debut as a soloist-vocalist on the stage of the Moscow musical theater “Helikon-Opera”. At Helikon, Alexander Miminoshvili performs an extensive and varied repertoire - the roles of Figaro in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", Angelo in Wagner's "The Ban on Love", Renato in Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera", Kvartalny in Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk", Dankair in Bizet's Carmen.

Since 2011, he has been a permanent guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia - on the stage of the Bolshoi he performed the roles of Papageno (The Magic Flute by Mozart), Schaunard (La Bohème by Puccini), The Black Cat (The Child and the Magic by Ravel), Dancair (Carmen) Bizet), Donald (“Billy Bud” by Britten). Participated in the premiere of a new production of Mozart’s opera “This Is What Everyone Do” (as Guglielmo) on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater in 2013. He is also a guest soloist at the Musical Theatre. K. S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko (“Blind” by L. Auerbach, and “Songs at the Well” by E. Langer).

Alexander Miminoshvili collaborated with such conductors as Vladimir Spivakov, Stefano Montanari, Tugan Sokhiev, Vladimir Ponkin, Evgeniy Brazhnik, Vasily Sinaisky. He took part in tours of the Helikon-Opera theater, both in Russia and abroad.

abroad. Participated in the summer academy of the festival in Aix-en-Provence.

Among the singer’s most important recent engagements is participation in the production of Francesco Cavalli’s opera “Erismena” at music festival in Aix-en-Provence, the role of Figaro in Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” on the stage of the Zurich Opera, the resumption of performances of “This is what everyone does” by Mozart under the direction of Tugan Sokhiev at the Bolshoi Theater. The singer’s plans include a return to the Zurich Opera for performances of “The Marriage of Figaro” and a debut at the Royal Theater of Versailles in Francesco Sacrati’s opera “The Imaginary Madwoman” conducted by Leonardo Garcia Alarcón.

Dmitry Orlov

Dmitry Orlov Graduated from the Academy of Choral Art named after V. S. Popov (class of Dmitry Vdovin), and then graduate school (class of Svetlana Nesterenko). He toured with the Academy choir to Mexico, the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, France, and England. Participated in concerts of Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Jonas Kaufman, Renee Fleming. In 2007–2008 he took part in the “International Vocal School” project.

The singer is a laureate of the XIII International student vocal competition Bella voce in Moscow (2005, second prize), as well as a diploma winner of the XXIV International vocal competition named after M. I. Glinka in Moscow (2011). In 2008, Dmitry Orlov performed the role of Lord Sydney in a concert performance of Rossini’s opera “Journey to Reims” in the Chamber Hall of the Moscow International House of Music. Subsequently he took part in the production of this opera in Aix-en-Provence. In 2009, the singer performed title role in a special production for children of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman as part of the Bayreuth Festival. In 2010, he performed as the Duke of Verona in a concert performance of Gounod's Romeo and Juliet Concert hall named after P.I. Tchaikovsky. At the International Festival in Oldenburg he sang the title role in the opera “Aleko” by Rachmaninov.

Since 2010, Dmitry Orlov has been working at the Moscow Novaya Opera Theater named after E.V. Kolobov. On the stage of the theater he performs the roles of Vladimir Galitsky (Prince Igor by Borodin), Malyuta Skuratov (The Tsar's Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov), Alidoro (Cinderella by Rossini), Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart), Kurvenal (Tristan and Isolde "Wagner), Bertrand ("Iolanta" by Tchaikovsky), Zaretsky ("Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky), Moliere, Baron, Teacher of Philosophy ("School of Wives" by Martynov) and many others.

Timofey Dubovitsky

Timofey Dubovitsky Graduated from Novosibirsk Music College named after. A. Murov (vocal department, class of V. A. Prudnik). From 2009 to 2011 he studied at the Novosibirsk State Conservatory. M. I. Glinka in the class of Professor V. A. Prudnik. Winner of the first prize in the competition “Young Voices of Siberia” (2009). From 2011 to 2013 he studied at the Academy of Choral Art named after. V. S. Popov in the class of Professor D. Yu. Vdovin; Currently he is a fifth-year student at the Academy in the class of Professor S. G. Nesterenko. In March 2012, he made his debut on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia as the Bird Seller in Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier (conducted by Vasily Sinaisky). In April 2013, he took part in a concert performance of the opera “Salome” by R. Strauss with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia. E. F. Svetlanova under the direction of Vladimir Yurovsky.

Igor Podoplelov

Born on April 9, 1993 in the city of Kirov. From 2009 to 2013 he studied at Music College named after A. N. Scriabin. Currently a student at the V. S. Popov Academy of Choral Art (class of Professor N. B. Nikulina). Artist of the choir of the Moscow Musical Theater "Helikon-Opera". Laureate of international competitions. In 2015, he won the 2nd prize at the Russian vocal competition “Silver Voice”. In October 2015, the singer took part in a concert performance of the opera Hamlet by Tom in the Concert Hall

Tchaikovsky with the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic conducted by Benjamin Pionnier.

Academic Symphony Orchestra Moscow Philharmonic

Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Throughout its history, it has been among the best domestic orchestras and worthily represents Russian musical culture abroad.

The orchestra was created in September 1951 under the All-Union Radio Committee, and in 1953 it joined the staff of the Moscow Philharmonic. His artistic appearance and performing style were formed under the guidance of famous domestic conductors. The first artistic director and chief conductor of the ensemble was Samuil Samosud (1951–1957). In 1957–1959 The orchestra, headed by Nathan Rakhlin, gained the reputation of one of the best in the USSR. In 1958, at the First International Tchaikovsky Competition, the orchestra under the direction of Kirill Kondrashin accompanied the triumphant performance of Van Clyburn, and in 1960, the first of the domestic symphony ensembles toured the United States.

Kirill Kondrashin led the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra for 16 years (1960–1976). These years became an important milestone in the history of the group: the maestro conducted the premieres of Shostakovich’s Fourth and Thirteenth Symphonies, his poem “The Execution of Stepan Razin”, the cantata “For the 20th Anniversary of October” by Prokofiev, performed and recorded many of Mahler’s symphonies. In 1973, the orchestra was awarded the title of academic. More more music In the 20th century, the orchestra played under the direction of Dmitry Kitayenko (1976–1990), including premieres of works by Khrennikov, Denisov, Schnittke, Butsko, and Tishchenko. For the first time in the USSR, Messiaen's "Turangalila", the cantata "Star-faced" and Stravinsky's "Funeral Hymns" were performed. Subsequently, the team was led by Vasily Sinaisky (1991–1996) and Mark Ermler (1996–1998).

At the helm of the orchestra were the greatest domestic and foreign conductors - Andre Cluitans, Igor Markevich, Charles Munsch, Zubin Mehta, George Enescu, Neeme Järvi, Maris Jansons, Jansug Kakhidze, Kurt Masur, Evgeniy Svetlanov, composers Benjamin Britten, Igor Stravinsky, Krzysztof Penderecki. It is with this ensemble that Svyatoslav Richter’s only conducting experience is associated. Almost all the major soloists of the second half of the 20th century played with the orchestra: Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, Glenn Gould, Emil Gilels, David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Daniil Shafran, Yakov Flier, Nikolai Petrov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Krainev, Maurizio Pollini, Eliso Virsaladze , Natalia Gutman and many others. The orchestra has recorded more than 350 records and CDs, many of which have received the highest international awards in the field of audio recording and are still in demand.

A new stage in the history of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra began in 1998, when it was headed by National artist USSR Yuri Simonov. Under his leadership, the team achieved outstanding creative achievements. Today the orchestra is one of the pillars of Russian philharmonic life, often performs in Russian cities (over the past ten years they have given concerts in more than 40 cities), and successfully tours in the UK, Germany, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, China, and Korea.

In recent decades, the orchestra has performed outstanding musicians modernity: Marc-Andre Hamelin, Valery Afanasiev, Yuri Bashmet, Boris Berezovsky, Yujia Wang, Maxim Vengerov, Stefan Vladar, Khibla Gerzmava, David Geringas, Barry Douglas, Liliya Zilberstein, Sumi Cho, Laura Claycomb, Alexander Knyazev, Sergei Krylov, John Lill,

Nikolay Lugansky, Konstantin Lifshits, Oleg Mayzenberg, Denis Matsuev, Ekaterina Mechetina, Victoria Mullova, Daniel Pollak, Vadim Repin, Sergey Roldugin, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Victor Tretyakov; conductors Luciano Acocella, Semyon Bychkov, Alexander Vedernikov, Michael Güttler, Alexander Dmitriev, Marco Zambelli, Thomas Sanderling, Alexander Lazarev, Andres Mustonen, Vasily Petrenko, Benjamin Pionnier, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Alexander Sladkovsky, Leonard Slatkin, Saulius Sondeckis, Antonino Fogliani, Maris Jansons and many others.

One of the orchestra’s priorities is working with the new generation of musicians: as part of the “Stars of the 21st Century” cycle, the orchestra collaborates with gifted soloists who are starting their journey to the big stage, and invites young artists to join its philharmonic memberships. The orchestra is a constant participant in international and All-Russian master courses for young conductors by Yuri Simonov, organized by the Moscow Philharmonic.

The activities of Maestro Simonov and the orchestra are largely aimed at educating young listeners. The subscription cycle “Fairy Tales with Orchestra”, held in Moscow and many Russian cities with the participation of theater and film stars, has gained enormous popularity. Among them are Marina Alexandrova, Maria Aronova, Alena Babenko, Valery Barinov, Sergey Bezrukov, Anna Bolshova, Olga Budina, Valery Garkalin, Sergey Garmash, Nonna Grishaeva, Ekaterina Guseva, Evgenia Dobrovolskaya, Mikhail Efremov, Evgeny Knyazev, Avangard Leontyev, Pavel Lyubimtsev , Dmitry Nazarov, Alexander Oleshko, Irina Pegova, Yulia Peresild, Mikhail Porechenkov, Evgenia Simonova, Grigory Siyatvinda, Daniil Spivakovsky, Yuri Stoyanov, Evgeniy Stychkin, Victoria Tolstoganova, Mikhail Trukhin, Gennady Khazanov, Chulpan Khamatova, Sergei Shakurov. This project brought Maestro Simonov the title of laureate of the Moscow Mayor's Prize in the field of literature and art for 2008. In 2010, Yuri Simonov and the orchestra became laureates of the National Newspaper Musical Review Award in the Conductor and Orchestra category.

IN last years the team presented a number of Moscow, Russian and world premieres. Compositions by Andrei Eshpai, Boris Tishchenko, Krzysztof Penderecki, Philip Glass, Alexander Tchaikovsky, Sergei Slonimsky, Valentin Silvestrov, Eduard Artemyev, Gennady Gladkov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Alexey Rybnikov, Efrem Podgaits, Kuzma Bodrov and other composers were performed. In the 2019/20 season, the orchestra tours in the UK and Germany, and in November 2019 accompanies the performances of contestants at III All-Russian music competition in the specialty “opera-symphony conducting”, the jury of which is headed by Yuri Simonov, traditionally participates in the opening and closing of the XX International Television Competition for Young Musicians “The Nutcracker”.

State Academic Russian Choir named after A.V. Sveshnikov

The history of the team dates back to 1936, when, based on vocal ensemble under the Radio Committee of the USSR, organized by the legendary choirmaster Alexander Sveshnikov, by order of the Committee for Arts under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, it was created State Choir THE USSR. On February 26, 1937, the first concert of the group took place in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. The first leaders of the State Choir were Honored Artist of the RSFSR Alexander Sveshnikov (1936–1937, 1941–1980) and Professor of the Moscow Conservatory Nikolai Danilin (1937–1939). Subsequently, the choir was led by famous conductors: Igor Agafonnikov (1980–1987), Vladimir Minin (1987–1990), Evgeny Tytyanko (1991–1995), Igor Raevsky (1995–2007), Boris Tevlin (2008–2012). Currently, the artistic director of the group is Boris Tevlin’s student Evgeniy Volkov.

The USSR State Choir became the flagship of the domestic choral creativity, which has gained international prestige. A special place among the many recordings of the State Choir is occupied by Rachmaninoff’s “All-Night Vigil” conducted by Alexander Sveshnikov (1965) - a performing masterpiece that has received many prestigious awards.

The ensemble’s repertoire includes choral classics, music of Soviet and contemporary composers, as well as exclusive author’s programs: “Russian choir concert"", "Orthodox music of the world", "Composers - students of the Sveshnikov school", "Russian songs in classical and modern arrangements", "Russian and foreign secular classics", "Favorite songs of the past century", "Hymns and celebrations of Russia", "Songs and marches of the Russian Imperial Army”, “Music of the Revolution 1917”, etc.

Significant role in creative activity The State Choir takes part in unique concert and theater projects. Among them is a concert-performance for the 70th anniversary complete liberation Leningrad from the fascist blockade (“Leningraders. 900 days in the name of life”), concerts and performances “Hero of Our Time” for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Lermontov and “Music as Fate” for the 100th anniversary of Georgy Sviridov, etc. Goskhor - active participant international festivals. In recent years, the band has performed at leading concert venues in the UK, France, Japan, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, and Georgia.

In 2010, the State Choir recorded on CD 12 choirs of Sergei Taneyev to the words of Yakov Polonsky, in 2013 - the Anthem of the Russian Federation in the orchestral version by Ian Frenkel (ASO Moscow State Academy of Arts, conductor - Yuri Simonov), in 2016 created a soundtrack for the final concert of the World Choir Games in Sochi (“Hymn to the Earth” by Alexey Rybnikov – world premiere).

As part of cooperation with the Open Sea Foundation, the State Choir performed a concert and stage version of the opera Carmen by Bizet (conductor Mikhail Simonyan, director Yuri Laptev). With the support of the foundation, a concert was held in honor of the 80th anniversary of the group on the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi Theater. Also, anniversary celebrations took place in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. A particularly bright page in the history of the group was its participation in the international project “Russia Day in the World - Russian Day”: on the day national holiday The Russian Federation choir gave recitals at the Gaveau Hall in Paris (2015), London's Barbican Center (2016) and the Congress Hall in Jerusalem (2017).

In 2018, with the anthology of the military song “Russian Glory,” the State Choir became the winner of the grant competition of the President of the Russian Federation. Research, educational and concert activities within the framework of the project were supported by authorized representatives of the President in all federal districts.

Evgeny Volkov was born in Moscow in 1975. He graduated from the theoretical department of the Academic Music School at the Moscow Conservatory, the conducting and choral department of the Moscow State Conservatory (with honors) and graduate school (choral conducting class of Professor Boris Tevlin; opera and symphony conducting class of Professor Igor Dronov). Since 2000 - teacher at Moscow State Conservatory, since 2009 - associate professor. In 2002–2008 – leading choirmaster of the Chamber Choir of the Moscow Conservatory under the direction of Boris Tevlin, 2008–2012. - chief choirmaster. At the invitation of the maestro, in 2008 he took the post of choirmaster of the State Choir named after A.V. Sveshnikov, in 2011 he became the main choirmaster of the group, and in 2012 - artistic director. Since 2013 - member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Choral Society.

Benjamin Pionnier

Benjamin Pionnier born in 1977, graduated from the National Conservatory of Nice as a pianist. After completing his studies at the Conservatory, he studied in Paris with Brigitte Angerer and led intensive concert activity as a soloist and member of various chamber ensembles. He began his conducting career with studies in Great Britain under the direction of George Hirst, and became a laureate of the prestigious conducting competition in Manchester, held by the Royal Northern College of Music. He later assisted many outstanding conductors in the preparation of opera performances, including James Levine, Michel Plasson, Antonello Allemandi and Paolo Olmi.

Benjamin Pionnier's operatic repertoire includes several dozen operas, including works by Gluck, Mozart, Donizetti, Gounod, Offenbach, Bizet, Legare, Verdi and Puccini; From the French repertoire, he conducted the operas Carmen, Romeo and Juliet, The Pearl Fishers, The Tales of Hoffmann, La Vie de Paris, Werther, Faust and Lakmé. For three seasons - from 2006 to 2009 - he served as artistic consultant to the Nice Opera and the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra. Among the conductor's upcoming engagements are productions of Offenbach's "La Vie de Paris" in Paris, Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann" in Singapore, and Bizet's "La Belle de Perth" in Nice. In February 2010, he successfully conducted a concert performance of Gounod's opera Romeo and Juliet in Moscow at the Concert Hall. P.I. Tchaikovsky as part of the subscription " Opera masterpieces" From 2011 to 2013 he was the chief conductor of the National opera house Slovenia in Maribor. Among the conductor's engagements in recent years are Bizet's Carmen in Hong Kong, Seoul and the Shanghai Opera, Gounod's Faust in Buenos Aires, Lehár's The Merry Widow in Avignon, and Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice in Nice. Benjamin Pionnier has worked with such orchestras as the Philharmonic Orchestra of Nice, the Orchester National de Montpellier, the Teatro Massimo Orchestra of Catania, the Avignon Orchestra, the Orchestra National of the Opera of Lorraine and many others.