"Hunt" returns...

The collector of folklore Belaretsky got lost in the forest and got to the estate of Nadzeya Yanouskaya – the last of the representatives of the once rich and noble family. The girl is exhausted by the horror of the invasion of the terrible cavalry under the leadership of King Stach. As the family legend says, Stakh was treacherously killed on a hunting trip by his friend Yanousky the elder. Belaretsky undertakes to unravel the mysterious story of the living dead…

This opera has truly become a national musical classic. It was created in 1989 in direct co-authorship of the composer Vladimir Soltan with the musical director of the production Yaroslav Voshchak and the entire production team. The premiere and further performances on the native stage were sold out. According to eyewitnesses, even the mounted police kept sentry during performances. In 1990, the talented work of the composer, stage directors, conductors, designers and artists was awarded the State Prize of the BSSR. A unique phenomenon for Belarus was also the implementation of the opera in the "living sets" - in the Trinity Suburb in Minsk in the early 1990s. This year the opera was twice performed at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia and was a great success with the Moscow audience.

‘The success of the first production is difficult to beat, but we do not set ourselves this goal,’ the director of the theatre Anna Motornaya said at the art council, presenting her concept of the Soltan’s opera. King Stakh’s Wild Hunt will return to the Belarusian stage in July. It seems that quite recently on the stage of the Bolshoi appeared Faust staged by Motornaya.

The production team promises a real dance of sets: ancient castles will come to life, the audience will see their interior decoration with a library, fireplace and hanging tables; of course, ominous swamps and wasteland covered with snow will also appear. Great importance is given to the symbols that the viewer will definitely see: the clock as the idea of the passing time, chess as the keynote of the eternal game, in which people are involved in all ages. Andrei Merenkov will design it. His productions (and there are several dozen of them) are performed at various venues of the capital. Andrei will stage at the Bolshoi for the first time.

The colors and motifs of the Slutsk belts will be shown in the "clothes" of the stage. And the costumes will reveal the technique of reconstruction – people will see the prints that refer us to the Belarusian icons of the 15-16 centuries. The costume designer Tatiana Lisovenko will dress both the main characters and mythical creatures, for example, the ghost of the Blue Woman or the Little swamp Man. It is impossible not to say that one of the surprises of the production is a live horse. In the corridors artists discuss a variety of funny stories that happened during performances with butterflies, birds and even cats, but the horse was not in the Bolshoi yet. So it will be. Everything will begin from it and will also come to the final, in which, of course, love and spring win...

For the record

In the new season, we will see a new director's work by Oksana Volkova in our calendar. The Honoured Artist of the Republic will stage Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns.

photo: Tatiana Matusevich