New Colour

Till 24 April, the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus is in the power of the production team working on the premiere of Giacomo Puccini's La bohème. But despite the tight rehearsal schedule, the singers led by the director, People's Artist of Russia Alexander Titel, who has left his Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre for almost two months, have spared the time to visit the exhibition in the Art-Belarus Gallery (the Palace of Art, 3 Kozlov St.) displaying the works of artists, natives of Belarus, who made world history.

‘It is great that the singers were able to plunge into Art Nouveau for a while, where we, in fact, immerse ourselves in our new La bohème,’ smiles Alexander Titel. ‘This collection is small, but of very good quality. It's great that not only world-famous artists, such as Marc Chagall or Chaim Soutine, are represented here (indeed, we enjoyed a strong Soutine – the famous ‘Portrait of Eva’), but also lesser-known artists, including Michel Kikoine, Ossip Lubitch, Pinchus Kremegne. No, they did not go down in history as the first-circle geniuses like Chagall or Modigliani. However, their paintings are wonderful! And their time will come. It will be great if this small display becomes the core around which a larger collection will be built up... The impressions of the exhibition are exceptionally good. I think it is absolutely to the benefit of the artists – new colour has appeared during the subsequent rehearsal.

Giacomo Puccini's La bohème premieres on April 25.