An Ancient French Legend on the Stage of the Bolshoi

Pyotr Tchaikovsky discovered the story of the blind Princess Iolanta after reading the drama by the Danish poet Heinrich Hertz The Daughter of King Rene in the magazine “Russkii Vestnik” ('The Russian Bulletin').

Tchaikovsky composed Iolanta in 1891, working in parallel on The Nutcracker. The composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky wrote the libretto. The premiere of Iolanta took place as part of a double calendar with The Nutcracker at the St Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre on 6 (18) December 1892.

Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta was staged at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus in 1952, 1975, 1993, 2004.

The current production team incluses: the People's Artist of the Republic of Bashkortostan Artem Makarov (conductor), Anna Motornaya (director), Lyubov Sidelnikova (set design and costumes), Sergey Agranovich (chorus master), Evgenii Lisitsyn (lighting designer).