The Bolshoi Theater's 2015-2016 season, which was announced at a press conference Wednesday, will include a number of new stagings and modern productions in both opera and ballet.
In the first half of the season, the Bolshoi will debut a children's opera, “The Fables of The Vixen, The Duckling, and Balda.” The production will combine three operas about fairy tales — Sergei Prokofiev's “The Ugly Duckling,” Igor Stravinsky's “Renard,” and Alexander Pravednikov's “The Tale of the Priest and his Workman Balda.” The opera will be conducted by Dmitry Belyanushkin, who also directed last year's children's opera “The Legend of Kai and Gerda.” Musical director Tugan Sokhiev told attendees at the conference that the opera will include “interactive elements.”
Also in October, the Bolshoi will premiere a program that includes both the Nutcracker Suite and the opera Iolanta, a realization of Tchaikovsky's initial plans for the two productions to be perfomed on a single bill.
In December, the Bolshoi New Stage will feature a production of Handel's Rodelina in collaboration with the English National Opera, a rare staging of a baroque opera at the theater.
In the spring, the theater will offer a new production of Donizetti's opera-buffa Don Pasquale, under the direction of Timofei Kulyabin, who was fired for his modern staging of Wagner's Tannahauser at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater. When asked at the press conference if he faced any pressure for working with Kulabin, Bolshoi General Director Vladimir Urin said cleary, “No,” Russian daily Kommersant reported.
The Bolshoi's Historical Stage will also welcome several modern ballets durin the season. In addition to Jiri Kylian's classic “Symphony of Psalms,” the Bolshoi ballet will present “Frank Bridge Variations” featuring music by Benjamin Britten and choreography by Hans von Manen, as well as Max Richter's “Short Time Together,” with choreography by Paul Lightfoot and Saul Leon.
Berlioz's “dramatic legend” The Damnation of Faust will close the season.
Although the theater is celebrating its 240th season this year, it does not plan any celebrations of the anniversary. However there will be a gala concert in honor of ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, who died earlier this year at the age of 89. The program for the concert, which was planned for Plisetskaya's 90th birthday, will remain the same as was agreed with the ballerina before her death.
Tickets for productions at the Bolshoi are generally available for purchase three months in advance either online or at the box office. For more information, visit Bolshoi.ru.
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