On 8 March the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko took part in the grand opening of the Bolshoi Theatre after its restoration.
On 12 May 2010, the Metropolitan Bishop of Minsk and Slutzk, Patriarchal Exarch of all Belarus Philaret consecrated the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus.
In June 2009, Someone Else’s Wealth Does Not Serve Anyone, a Belarusian comic opera to the music by Jan Dawid Holland, premiered at the theatre. The opera had been reconstructed by Vladimir Baidov and Viktor Skorobogaty on the basis of the composer’s authentic scores; it was awarded the Special Prize of the President of the Republic of Belarus to eminent figures of culture and art.
The new period of the theatre is notable for the premieres of the following operas: Il trovatore, Nabucco, Aida, Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi; Tosca and Turandot by Giacomo Puccini; Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden; Il barbiere di Siviglia by Gioachino Rossini; The Grey Legend by Dmitry Smolski; Richard Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer; Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades; new versions of Kashchey the Immortal by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin, and Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Tchaikovsky; as well as ballets Cinderella by Sergey Prokofiev; Chopiniana to the music by Frédéric Chopin; Tristan and Isolde to the music by Richard Wagner; Herman Løvenskiold’s La Sylphide; Thamar to the music by Mily Balakirev and Scheherezade to the music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; Anyuta to the music by Valery Gavrilin; Adolphe Adam’s Giselle; Serenade and The Nutcracker, or Another Christmas Story to the music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky; Vytautas by Vyacheslav Kuznetsov; Sechs Tänze to the music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Kara Karaev’s Seven Beauties; Cesare Pugni’s Pas de Quatre and Grand Pas from Edvard Helsted’s Flower Festival in Genzano.
Among the stagers of the productions of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus one can find such outstanding masters of ballet and opera as Nikita Dolgushin, Andris Liepa, Vladimir Vasiliev, Neeme Kuningas, Plamen Kartaloff, representatives of the George Balanchine Trust and Kylian Productions BV. From 2009 to February 2014, 40 productions premiered at the theatre. Today, the repertoire comprises 71 titles. The theatre’s productions invariably win honorable domestic and international prizes.
The theatre enjoys active international relations: from 2010 to 2013 it entered into 23 memoranda of understanding with major opera houses of the world; the Belarusian artists regularly go on tour; the names of the renowned artists, stagers, and companies often appear in the programmes of the performances by the theatre. Among them are Yury Bashmet, Uliana Lopatkina, Farukh Ruzimatov, Hibla Gerzmava, Andris and Ilze Liepa, Vladimir Vaneyev, Irina Makarova, Irina Gordei, Akhmed Agadi, Teimuraz Gugushvili, companies of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance and Theatre (Israel), Georgian State Ballet, Kiev Modern Ballet headed by Radu Poklitaru, project “Russian Seasons of the 21st Century”, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre, Latvian National Theatre, Boris Eifman Theatre, Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow, Azerbaijani State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, National Dance Company Wales (the UK), and the Estonian National Opera.
Today the soloists of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus are honoured to continue the performing traditions of their noted predecessors. There are 67 employees at the theatre who were awarded with honorary state prizes; numerous artists have been awarded with the Special Prize of the President of the Republic of Belarus to eminent figures of culture and art, grand prizes of the Special Fund of the President of the Republic of Belarus for Support of the Talented Youth, etc.
The opening of the branches in Mogilev, Novopolotsk and Gomel was the theatre’s unique project. After the renovation of the theatre, several major cultural projects were launched, including the Minsk International Christmas Opera Forum, International Opera Forum of the CIS Countries, festival of opera and ballet “Evenings of the Bolshoi Theatre at the Radziwills’ Castle”, and the Big New Year’s Ball at the Bolshoi Theatre. In summer 2014, a new impressive project was set up, namely the festival “Ballet Summer at the Bolshoi”. Expanding the geography of the performances, the Belarusian theatre strives to present the treasures of world classical music to the Belarusian audience throughout the country, to attract and increase the audience, to create more possibilities for the aesthetic upbringing of the young generation and introducing the audience to high art.
In 2009, the Musical Salon was opened in the theatre, which was later renamed the Aleksandrovskaya Chamber Hall. The concerts of vocal and instrumental music of different epochs and styles as well as one-act classical and contemporary opera performances given as part of the project “Music Evenings at the Bolshoi” at the Aleksandroskaya Chamber Hall are among the most significant events of the Belarusian opera house. In 2012, a new project, the Evenings of Modern Ballet on the Small Stage, was set up; within its frames a number of experimental dance productions by young choreographers premiered, including Metamorphoses (music by Johann Sebastian Bach, choreography by Olga Kostel), Waiting Room (music by Oleg Khodosko, choreography by Yulia Diatko and Konstantin Kuznetsov).
High international prestige of the Belarusian theatre is evidenced by the success of its ballet company’s tours in Egypt, the UAE, Italy, Mexico, China, Korea, Lithuania, Spain, France (Paris), Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in recent years. Having recommenced after a long break, the tours of Europe prove the high professional level of the company.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko called the theatre “The pride and true national heritage of the country, its landmark and the symbol of its independence”. In 2014, the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus was awarded UNESCO’s commemorative medal, the Five Continents Medal, in recognition of its considerable contribution to the world culture on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Belarus’ membership in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
