Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Exactly five months our audience didn’t hear Tchaikovsky's magic music on the Belarusian stage. That's how much the theater's calendar did not include this ballet. Swan Lake staged by Valentin Elizariev returns to the Bolshoi's repertoire.
It was the 7th production of Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky at the Bolshoi. The first was directed by conductor Natan Grubin and choreographer Konstantin Muller in 1938, then in 1948 Muller, together with conductor Allan Zholents, presented the second premiere of the ballet. Alexandra Nikolaeva, Nina Mlodzinskaya, Basia Karpilova, Semyon Drechin, and Valery Mironov shone in these productions. In 1967 and 1978, conductor Tatiana Kolomiytseva and choreographer Asaf Messerer worked on the productions. In those years, the performances featured Nina Davydenko, Irina Savelyeva, Lyudmila Brzhozovskaya, Inessa Dushkevich, Tatyana Ershova, Alexander Martynov, Yury Trayan, Vladimir Ivanov, Viktor Sarkisyan. In 1986, the musical director and conductor Gennady Provatorov, choreographer Asaf Messerer, designer Ernst Heydebrecht and artistic director Valentin Elizariev worked again on this Tchaikovsky’s ballet. A new version of this production was staged by Yury Trayan and Aleksandra Tikhomirova in 2012.
And on 15 May 2021, the fairy tale came to life again on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus The production contains choreography by Lev Ivanov, Marius Petipa, Alexander Gorsky, Asaf Messerer and Valentin Elizariev. The musical director is Vladimir Ovodok, sets and costume designer is the People's Artist of Russia, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus Vyacheslav Okunev.
Valentin Elizariev staged Swan Lake only in Tokyo, and in 1986 he was the artistic director of the Belarusian production. So, he is working on the embodiment of this production on the stage of his native theatre for the first time.
It is interesting that in the Belarusian Bolshoi Theatre the directors have been attracted by the happy ending of the production. Valentin Elizariev followed this tradition: ‘First, the tragic ending of this story was not accepted by the audience from the premiere. And secondly, there must be hope in ballet. If there is no hope, people lose everything...’
The leading roles in the ballet were performed by Irina Eromkina (Odette/Odile), Oleg Eromkin (Siegfried), Yury Kavaliou (Von Rothbart), Takatoshi Machiyama (Jester). On 16 May the production featured Liudmila Khitrova, Igor Onoshko, Yury Kavaliou, Taro Kurachi. Vladimir Ovodok conducted both nights.
