Yesterday, the premiere of the opera “Iolanta” took place at the Demyanovo Estate as part of a unique project of the Tchaikovsky Path Russian Concert Agency. This landmark project is dedicated to the celebration of the 185th anniversary of the birth of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the 175th anniversary of the birth of Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the playwright and writer, the composer’s younger brother. The premiere was attended by more than 14,5 thousand people.

Tchaikovsky composes “Iolanta” by an internationally recognized composer, but continues to agonizingly doubt himself, his talent and the ability to say new things; and so, on this edge of dialogue with himself, he creates a masterpiece – “I will write an opera that will make everyone cry.”

“Of course, he did not know that this would be his last opera, but he was very striving for perfection. There are such statements in his diaries that he is not completely satisfied with previous operas,” Yuri Bashmet said.

The performance intertwines music from Tchaikovsky’s last opera with his own reflections on creativity, on purpose, on the role of art and music in human life, the maestro explained.

“We tried to use theatrical, musical, and operatic means to look into the world of Pyotr Ilyich’s imagination and the mysteries of his work and mix his diary entries and the brightest, most poignant arias,” said director Pavel Safonov.

The best fragments from the opera and monologues by the author himself about the need to love, about the mission of Music in a world filled with noise and chaos were performed by artists of the Bolshoi Theater’s Youth Opera Program: Valeria Tereikovskaya (soprano), Danila Knyazev (bass), Arkady Chaikin (baritone), Igor Onishchenko (tenor), Andrei Bulgakov (baritone), Medea Chikashvili (mezzo-soprano), Veronika Khorosheva (soprano) and Anna Yurkus (mezzo-soprano). Pyotr Fyodorov plays Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Maestro Yuri Bashmet is at the helm of the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra.

Tchaikovsky’s Night is a unique concert of the Tchaikovsky’s Way project, in which concerts are held in places that are particularly important to the composer. The next events of the project will be held on July 12 in Alapaevsk, where the one-day Tchaikovsky’s Way in Alapaevsk music festival will be held for the first time.

The event was supported by the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Government and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Moscow Region and the administration of the city of Klin.

Источник: https://t.me/russian_concert_agency