Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Supported by KILIZE theatre
The libretto of the new ballet was created by Vyacheslav Zarenkov in collaboration with the choreographer Aleksandra Tikhomirova. A native of Belarus, a well-known businessman and philanthropist, Professor Vyacheslav Zarenkov is a member of the St Petersburg Union of Artists and of the St. Petersburg Union of Writers. His artistic receptacle includes dozens of paintings and four collections of short stories, which made up a basis for the production "Sopromat", the feature film "English Russian", and three ballets. The philanthropist’s constant attention is directed to support of talented artists, writers, actors, children's institutions, construction and restoration of Orthodox churches in different countries.
The libretto of the new ballet is adapted from Vyacheslav Zarenkov’s short story "Men and Eagles" based on real events. This story happened in Cyprus. The eagles are not frequent visitors in those parts, as the author says, but onсe late at night a big eagle flew onto his balcony and started hitting the window. They were able to catch and calm the bird, and the next morning they set it free. But instead of flying off, the eagle made a circle and rushed to the balcony of the neighboring apartment, broke the window and in an instant appeared with a female eagle. The birds flew away, and the author hastened to meet the neighbours. Their story was more than curious. The couple had been given an eagle by their friends. Soon after, it found a female eagle companion, which the people also took. Later on, the lovers parted and moved to different cities, and each took one bird. But the male eagle could not live alone. It set off in search of its friend and found it, thus demonstrating true loyalty to people. And in this story, the lovers reunited thanks to the birds which occurred to be wiser than people.
The music to the ballet was written by the composer Mikhail Krylov, a musician, poet, writer, and journalist. His songs are performed by Mikhail Boyarsky, Nadezhda Babkina, Albert Asadullin and other famous singers. The composer's music can be heard in productions of the St. Petersburg Youth Theatre on the Fontanka, the Arkady Raikin Variety Theatre, in the author's productions Sopromat, A Tram Ran in the City, The Mystery of the Straw Doll, as well as in television films and series. With Vyacheslav Zarenkov, the composer co-authored three ballets.
The ballet is choreographed and staged by Aleksandra Tikhomirova, the author of the Belarusian Bolshoi original productions of The Nutcracker, or Another Christmas Story by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Le Petit Prince by Eugene Glebov, Sonnets to music by Peter Warlock, Ralph Vaughan Williams. The choreographer says that the theme of flight is very close to the concept of art, and she has repeatedly turned to this theme in other productions, trying to answer the question: what does the ability to fly, to create mean for an artist? And, as if in continuation of this theme, there appeared a story about people and birds, created by Vyacheslav Zarenkov. As well as about love.
‘I think one can hardly find a performance which does not deal with love in its various forms,’ says Aleksandra Tikhomirova, ‘Because it is one of the themes that excite and will excite humanity while the world exists. In each of their creations artists, poets, composers, choreographers try to find the answer to the question: what is love and what can it be like? Is it possible to love the humanity, observing the people, the society unadorned? How to keep love in a relationship? And finally, what can be done to make the world around us better? In our production we also aim to reflect on these eternal themes.
Other creators include musical director Andrei Ivanou, designer People's Artist of Russia, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus Vyacheslav Okunev.
The leading roles were performed by recipient of the Francysk Skaryna Medal Aleksandra Chizhik (Woman), Honoured Artist of the Republic of Belarus Anton Kravchenko (Man), Yana Shtangei (Ora), Takatoshi Machiyama (Orr).
A press conference was held shortly before the premiere. Its participants included:
Vladimir Gridyushko, General Director of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus;
Vyacheslav Zarenkov, librettist, businessman, philanthropist, professor, member of the St Petersburg Union of Artists and of the St. Petersburg Union of Writers, director of the Kilize Theatre;
Mikhail Krylov, composer, artistic director of the Kilize Theatre;
Aleksandra Tikhomirova, librettist, choreographer, stager, recipient of the Francysk Skaryna Medal;
Andrei Ivanou, musical director;
Yury Trayan, artistic director of ballet of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus, People’s Artist of Belarus.
