Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
The new production of La traviata by the Latvian director Andrejs Žagars will open the jubilee 85th season of the Belarusian Bolshoi on 8 September. For our theatre it will be the 6th production of the legendary opera by Giuseppe Verdi.
Belarusian admirers of opera will undoubtedly remember that, a few years ago, Andrejs Žagars, still in the status of the Director of the Latvian National Opera, was on the jury of the Competizione dell'Opera which took place at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus. Later on, in 2013, our audience was able to enjoy the directing talent of Andrejs Žagars during the Estonian National Opera performance of his Manon Lescaut to the music by Giacomo Puccini in Minsk. And at the 4th Christmas Opera Forum Žagars presented another of his productions, Un ballo in maschera for the Mikhailovsky Theatre St. Petersburg. And here he is again, in Minsk, being in demand in Armenia, Russia and the Baltic States. The Minsk production of La traviata is the third for Žagars: the others have been a howling success in Riga (Latvia) and Tel Aviv (Israel). By the way, the Belarusian theatregoers had a great opportunity to see the production of the Latvian National Opera: it was the Traviata that Žagars had brought to the 1st Christmas Forum at the Bolshoi.
‘I will not assert that La traviata is my favorite opera,’ says Žagars, “but to take on a production of La traviata is a kind of challenging oneself. There are so many versions of this famous opera by Giuseppe Verdi. And it seems that everything has been said. For me as a director, it is important not only to show my interpretation of the opera, but also to create an outstanding production, to tell the story so that the audience believes the characters on stage and empathizes with them! A lot can be said about a version and interpretation, but if a spectator comes and sees no-thing, because the production lacks relationships, energy, feelings, we have to ponder whether we should be engaged in art. I don't want the audience to say "Well... So-so... Not bad... Okay..." as a reply to the question "How was it?" after my performances. No! I want people to deeply sympathize and empathize with heroes; I want them to get gooseflesh! And this is rather a challenge, for a man can sympathize with the heroes only if he or she believes in what is happening on stage. And now I'm helping the soloists to create accurate and expressive characters.’
On the Minsk stage the audience will see their contemporaries in La traviata: the action of the opera is set in Paris of the 21st century. Accordingly, the illness of the heroine, Violetta, also changes. Nowadays, medicine easily copes with tuberculosis, but cancer still interrupts lives, including young and beautiful people’s ones.
‘But the main thing I want to speak about is the problem of public loneliness,’ continues Andrejs. ‘People create the impression of a good, steady, happy, comfortable life. But in reality they are immensely lonely. Joy and happiness hide incredible pain from misunderstanding, insincerity, lack of friends and beloved ones. True love is so difficult to meet. And having met it, it is so easy to lose it forever. This is a real tragedy.
Similarly, Violetta Valéry doesn't believe in true love until she meets young Alfredo at the ball. But their happiness does not last long: the lovers are opposed by the drab society, with its double standards of morality, and Violetta’s fatal illness.
‘The more well-known an opera is, the more difficult it is to stage,’ said the musical director Andrei Galanov, who expertly compared the work on Verdi’s La traviata with the work of a stage director on Shakespeare's King Lear. ‘Believe me: it is much safer to stage a little-known opera. And to find yourself in the music which everyone knows is very difficult, and no one wants to repeat... I really like how the guest director Andrejs Žagars works, because I love precise work. But most importantly, he concentrates on human relationships, making the production come alive. It does not matter that Andrejs has moved the time of the action. This story is relevant in our time, and the changes do not conflict with the composer’s message.
The international production team preparing the premiere includes: musical director Andrei Galanov, director Andrejs Žagars (Latvia), chorus master Nina Lomanovich, designers Reinis Suhanovs (sets, Latvia), Kristīne Pasternaka (costumes, Latvia), Kevin Wyn Jones (lighting, UK), as well as soloists, chorus artists and musicians of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus.
The choreographers Yulia Dyatko and Kanstantsin Kuzniatsou are working on a dance number in the scene ‘Ball at Flora's House’.
