The Minsk Premiere of L'italiana in Algeri

 

 

The Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus is proud to present the Minsk Premiere of Gioachino Rossini’s opera L'italiana in Algeri on December 19-20th as part of the Minsk International Christmas Opera Forum. This will be the first performance of the opera in the Bolshoi. A mixed Belarusian and Russian team are behind the project.

Renowned Russian director Liaisan Safargulova tells us about Minsk, the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus and the upcoming premiere.

First Impressions of Minsk
“I actually first visited Minsk when I was presenting the production proposal for L'italiana. And the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus left a really lasting impression on me before I even got to my seat. Its grandeur, its beauty, the sheer scale of it gives you a sense of awe that only increases once you actually go inside. The Bolshoi of Belarus really lives up to its name, especially considering its extensive repertoire.
“I got the chance to see Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar's Bride and was thoroughly impressed. I will admit I spent the first few minutes trying to size up the stage, out of habit, and wondering how our set decorations would look up there. But very soon I was engrossed in the action itself and I ended up really enjoying the opera. And, by the way, the sets on The Tsar's Bride were very well done. Tastefully symbolic but wonderfully detailed.”
(As a reminder, the director of the opera in question was Mikhail Pandzhavidze, and the artistic director was Alexander Kostiuchenko.)

 

The First Production Together
“I’ve known Artem Makarov,
the artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus, since back in Ufa (between 1997 and 2023, Artem Makarov worked at the Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theatre), but we never got to work on a production together. L'italiana will be the first.
“When he brought up the idea of doing L'italiana in Algeri I jumped at the chance immediately. Firstly, because I’ve always been a big fan of Rossini and secondly because, until now, I had never worked on any of his operas. In fact, I had never worked on any comedies at all!
“It was later that I got to work on Sergei Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery and found that I really enjoyed working on a comedic opera, even though, up until that point, my role as a director was always concerned with trying to figure out a way to kill off the main character as dramatically as possible before the curtains closed. (She smiles) And I am only mostly joking.

The Timeless World on Stage
“Rossini’s music itself, its brilliance, the story of L'italiana… I think it’s exactly what a modern audience needs. Nowadays people tend to come to the theatre when they’re chasing a little light, a little humour, when they need something cathartic in their life.
“In terms of the visuals, we aren’t modernising the opera, but we also aren’t keeping it historically accurate per se. I’ve worked with costume and set designer Ekaterina Malinina for a long time and our philosophy is to try and make the opera timeless. But we also want to make the characters instantly relatable to a modern audience, not because of any ‘artificial’ modernisation, but because of how vivid and ‘real’ their interactions on stage are.
“For me and Ekaterina the goal is to create an entire world, complete with its own rules and laws, within the confines of the stage. And we want it to be the sort of world that one wants to dive into right from the opening cadence.”
The team behind the new production is headed by the musical director and conductor, the People's Artist of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Artem Makarov, director Liaisan Safargulova (Russia), set and costume designer Ekaterina Malinina (Russia), and, as chorus master, the People's Artist of Belarus and laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus, Nina Lomanovich.

 

Background

Liaisan Safargulova is the chief director of the Sevastopol Opera and Ballet Theatre. She graduated from the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) in 2024, with a degree in musical theatre directing. In 2018, she completed the young artist programme at the Helikon–Opera Theatre under Dmitry Bertman. Between 2015 and 2025 she was a stage director at the Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theatre. She works with theatres all across Russia, in Ufa, Arkhangelsk, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don and Moscow.

 

 

Подготовила Е.Балабанович. Материал размещен 08.09.2026г.