| DVD “Georg Ots – the Legend of Estonia” | |  |
|
|
| The confusions arising in the plot of "Die Fledermaus" are due to: |
|
|
| Estonian National Opera is the member of the next organizations: |
|
|
|
 |
|
Premieres and projects 2010/2011
|
|
Calendar 2010
Calendar 2011
MARKET DAY
September 12, 2010
Artistic director: Arne Mikk
The traditional Market Day will be held on Sunday, September 12 from 12.00–15.00, behind the Estonian National Opera at the historic Market Place. After introducing the new productions of the season, gorgeous costumes will be put up for an auction. The money raised will be donated for expanding the walk of fame of the famous people, who have worked at the Estonian National Opera, on Rävala Avenue. There will be plenty of music and fun for everybody!
DIE CSÁRDÁSFÜRSTIN
Operetta by Imre Kálmán
Libretto by Leo Stein and Béla Jenbach, translation by Mart Sander
World premiere on November 17, 1915 at Johann Strauß-Theater (Vienna)
Premiere at the Estonian National Opera on September 16, 2010
Music Director and Conductor: Jüri Alperten
Conductors: Erki Pehk
Stage Director and Designer: Mart Sander
Choreographer: Marina Kesler
Fight choreography: Hellar Bergmann
Lighting Desinger: Anton Kulagin
Imre Kálmán is the third great composer of the Vienna operetta besides Johann Strauss and Franz Lehár. The operetta Ein Herbstmanöver that premiered at the Theater an der Wien in 1908 showed the talent of the young composer in this genre. Commissions for many theatre’s followed – seven more operettas fit between Ein Herbstmanöver and Die Csárdásfürstin that premiered in 1915. The brilliant, passionate and sentimental Die Csárdásfürstin is considered the peak of Kálmán’s creation and one of the most important pieces in the history of operetta. The composer tried to give dramatic profoundness to the plot line of the operetta and this is why Die Csárdásfürstin can be considered an operetta version of La traviata with a happy ending. The rhythms of waltz, czardas and foxtrot have been blended into the music of the piece. Die Csárdásfürstin already conquered the hearts of the audience in the dress rehearsal and the review published in Das Neue Wiener Journal after the successful premiere noted: “Kálmán has written very captivating music, the sound of his melodies offers an extraordinary lyrical pleasure!”
The stage director Mart Sander: “Die Csárdásfürstin is in a way of taking the easy way out, but then it cannot be argued: such melodies as “Machen wir’s den Schwalben nach” and “Ganz ohne Weiber geht die Chose nicht” are familiar even to those who have never been to theatre. It is a good material for a stage director: it can be staged as a real comedy or the tragic undertone of the story can be emphasised. Or it can tell a sincere story of the people who, being trapped in the cogwheels of social systems, yearn to be just people but cannot afford it. Since there are sharp parallels with the contemporary world in this nearly a hundred-year-old story, I decided to accentuate them not by modernising the subject matter but by “making it old” – I am trying to stage a show that sends a modern message despite its visual side being pronouncedly, almost ridiculously old-fashioned.“
DANCE BY PÄRT
September 17, 2010 Paide Culture Center
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the world renowned composer Arvo Pärt, who has been the main influence on Estonian contemporary music, Paide city has organised in cooperation with Estonian Ministry of Culture, Estonian Concert, ENSO, Estonian National Opera, Rakvere city and ERR a festival “Pärt’s Festivity Weeks” lasting from August 17th to September 17th 2010. One of the highlights of the festival is “Dance by Pärt”. For the occasion, Thomas Edur, Marina Kesler and Oksana Titova have set various pieces of Pärt’s music for dance. In the second part of the evening Marina Kesler’s dance performance “Othello” is given. Performers: soloists of the Estonian National Ballet and the young dancers of Paide city.
OPERA GALA – GENERATION XXXL
October 1, 2010 at the Pärnu Concert Hall
October 2, 2010 at the Estonia Concert Hall
Conductor: Carlos Spierer (Germany)
The Estonian National Opera celebrates the International Music Day with a glamorous Opera Gala that plays tribute to the current soloist of the Estonian National Opera and the evolving new generation of young talented singers. The gala will feature Kadri Kipper, Ivo Posti and Koit Soasepp, Annely Peebo (Volksoper Wien), as well as the soloist of the Estonia National Opera Aile Asszonyi, Aleksander Arder, Rauno Elp, Oliver Kuusik, Heli Veskus, Priit Volmer, etc. The host of the evening is Chalice.
LA BOHÈME
Opera by Giacomo Puccini in four acts
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa based on Henri Murger’s novel Scènes de la vie de bohème
World premiere February 1, 1896 Teatro Regio (Turin)
Premiere at the Estonian National Opera on October 29, 2010
Music Director and Conductor: Arvo Volmer
Conductors: Risto Joost, Mihhail Gerts
Stage Director: Ran Arthur Braun (Israel)
Set Designers: Ran Arthur Braun and Riccardo Gallino (Italy)
Costumes Designer: Elo Soode
Lighting Designer: Neeme Jõe
Young, cheerful, careless and passionate bohemians enjoy life and its intricate turns sparkled with love, hope, despair and wild Parisian life-rhythm to the fullest. Stage Director Ran Arthur Braun: “Bohemians are presented on stage with humour and tear as they exist together. There is no reason to ignore youth and its vivid charm as if we already knew how it is going to end!”
As one of the greatest 20th century melody masters, Puccini has created colourful and enticing musical portraits for his characters and has depicted a beautiful and romantic image of Paris, employing memorable melodies and bold orchestral colours. Claude Debussy has said: “No one has described the Paris of these days as aptly as Puccini in his La bohème.”
Rodolfo, the poet, and Marcello, the painter, are trying to work in their cold Latin Quarter garret. They are without money to relieve their hunger, without fuel for heating their flat and without money to pay their rent. Colline, the philosopher has tried and failed to pawn some books. The musician Schaunard has been more fortunate – he arrives with food, money firewood and cigarettes. Rodolfo wants to work and his friends depart for Café Momus to celebrate their good fortune. Rodolfo’s work is interrupted by a beautiful young woman living next door, who is searching for a means to light her candle. On her way to her room she realises that she has dropped her key in Rodolfo’s room. She returns but her candle is extinguished in the draft. Rodolfo falls in love with Mimi who is hopelessly ill but two months later he deserts her, unable to look helplessly on while Mimi’s illness worsens in his poor, cold hovel. Six months later Mimi is brought back to the poet’s lodgings, as it is her dying wish to be with her friends again...
I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI
Concert performance of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera on November 11, 2010 at the Estonia Concert Hall
Libretto: Felice Romani
World premiere on March 11, 1830 at Teatro La Fenice (Venice)
Conductor: Arvo Volmer
In the title roles: Annely Peebo (Volksoper Wien) and Irina Dubrovskaya (Russia)
Vincenzo Bellini was a leading figure of the Italian opera besides Rossini and Donizetti in the early 19th century, being the youngest member of the so-called bel canto trio. His operas are characterised by supreme melodiousness, romantic pathos, solemnity and sentimentality. As an excellent master of melodies, Bellini has influenced several composers from Verdi to Liszt. In his letter to Camille Bellaigue Verdi praised Bellini’s music: “No one has been able to write as long and flowing lines of melody as Bellini.”
I Capuleti e i Montecchi is one of the most staged operas of the composer. The libretto of the opera is not based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but on several Italian pieces of literature, mainly Luigi Scevola’s play Giulietta e Romeo (1818). The success of the premiere of I Capuleti e i Montecchi pleased Bellini – he had partly used the music of his previous opera Zaira that the critics deemed a failure. In the middle of the 20th century, thanks to the gifted bel canto singers Maria Callas, Beverly Sills and others, I Capuletti e i Montecchi was continuously in the repertoire of many opera theatres. It was last recorded in 2009 by the present-day opera stars Anna Netrebko (Juliet) and Elīna Garanča (Romeo).
The opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi carries on the tradition of the national opera to bring the masterpieces of the opera literature including gems from the realm of bel canto operas to the audience in the form of concert performances. Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, Catalani’s La Wally, Bellini’s I puritani, Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, Rossini’s Guillaume Tell and Donizetti’s Poliuto have been performed with great success in previous seasons.
THE NUTCRACKER
Ballet by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Libretto by Marius Petipa based on the fairy-tale of E. T. A. Hoffmann and Alexandre Dumas (sen.)
World premiere on December 18, 1892 Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg)
Premiere at the Estonian National Opera on December 3, 2010
Choreographer-Stage Director: Ben Stevenson (Texas Ballet Theatre, U.S.A)
Music Director and Conductor: Mihhail Gerts
Conductor: Jüri Alperten
Designer: Tom Boyd (Houston Ballet, USA)
Ben Stevenson’s wondrous stage production starts the Christmas month at the Estonian National Opera! Even the most impossible dreams turn into a marvellous and tantalizing reality. Tchaikovsky’s beautiful music takes the viewer with Clara to the magical world of sweets, the Mouse King, toy soldiers, flying chefs, the giant Christmas tree, Christmas evening and dancing. Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is one of the best known and most loved pieces of the composer, the music of which has inspired many choreographers to the tell the colourful Christmas fairytale of E. T. A. Hoffmann and Alexandre Dumas senior in the language of dance.
Ben Stevenson is to this day considered one of the most important shapers of the American ballet art. For almost thirty years, he has been the art director of the Houston Ballet and under his leadership the company has grown into an internationally acknowledged ballet theatre, and from the year 2003 he is the Artistic Director of the Texas Ballet. His stage productions have earned several renowned awards and praise from the critics, and have been staged at Opéra de Paris, Canadian National Ballet, La Scala, Bavarian State Opera, London City Ballet etc.
NEW YEAR’S EVE BALL
December 31, 2010
Artistic Director: Arne Mikk
Estonian National Opera invites you to spend the night in the magic atmosphere of the theatre – listen to the best soloists, experience the electrifying nightlife of Manhattan and dance to the music played by a big symphony orchestra! Meet the New Year with a smile!
In the first part of the ball you will see a revue to George Gershwin’s music, titled Gershwin’s Rhapsody, staged by Arne Mikk. The highlight of the revue is the Benin-born jazz-star Mina Agossi (U.S.A/Paris). The French jazz magazine Le Jazz Hot has labelled her as the bearer of new traditions of the 21st century, the voice of the generation who shatters the idea of musical boundaries and cultural identities, putting originality first. Agossi has drawn her inspiration from almost all musical genres, including opera, hip-hop and jazz. She is one of the top artists in French jazz charts alongside Jamie Cullum and Diana Krall. Mina Agossi has sung in Estonia at the jazz festival Jazzkaar (2007).
For the first time at the Estonian National Opera, it is possible to experience the brilliance of one of the world’s topmost choreographers George Balanchine. The second part of the evening will present his ballet Who Cares? to the music of George Gershwin. In 1937, legendary songwriter George Gershwin asked renowned choreographer George Balanchine to work with him on the score of the Goldwyn Follies, but the composer died before the work was completed. Thirty-three years later he would choreograph the ballet Who Cares? to sixteen Gershwin’s songs, including such hits as I Got Rhythm, The Man I Love, Embraceable You and My One and Only depicting the lively night life of Manhattan. The energy of the city is visible in every step choreographed with Balanchine’s technical brilliance. The ballet is staged by the artistic director of Ballet du Capitole Nanette Glushak
OPERETTA GALA – SULEV NÕMMIK 80
January 9, 2011
Stage Director: Neeme Kuningas
The Estonian National Opera will hold an energetic and cheerful operetta gala to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Sulev Nõmmik – the beloved actor, director and humorist. Nõmmik was a talented artist who danceed ballet, staged operettas, produced movies, and entertained people. The performances of Uduvere Ärni, a character created by Nõmmik, were looked forward to with great excitement both in TV and radio. His films Mehed ei nuta (Men Don’t Cry), Noor pensionär (Young Pensioner) and Siin me oleme (Here We Are), the humour of which is timeless, have become cult classics. From 1947 until his death in 1992, Sulev Nõmmik worked as a dancer, assistant to the stage director and stage director in the National Opera. During that period, several operettas and musicals, that conquered people’s hearts and persisted in the repertoire for decades, were brought on stage: Oit’s Muhulaste imelikud juhtumised (Weird Adventures of Muhu People, 1962), Raudmäe’s Kiri nõudmiseni (Poste Restante,1965), Valgre’s and Raudmäe’s Muinaslugu muusikas (A Little Story in the Music, 1967), Vinter’s and Raudmäe’s Pippi Longstocking (1969), Leigh’s Man of La Mancha (1971), Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (1973), Vinter’s Suvitajad (Vacationers, 1977), etc. At the gala, the soloists, chorus and orchestra of the Estonian National Opera will offer timeless humour and energetic melodies from the operettas that were staged by Sulev Nõmmik.
GUEST PERFORMANCES BY THE LATVIAN NATIONAL OPERA
January 18–23, 2011
Adolphe Adam’s ballet Giselle
January 18, 2011
Choreographer-Stage Director: Aivars Leimanis
Designer: Inara Gauja
Lighting Designer: Kārlis Kaupužs
Giselle is one of the first large ballets of the romantic period, and one of the few works of that era to have survived to the present day. An idyllic country village is the setting for a naive girl's first love and her eventual betrayal, which is followed by madness and death. After she dies, Giselle enters a painfully beautiful world populated by lovely wilis, the souls of dead virgins who, at night, make men dance to their deaths. But in the end, the power of love overcomes even death.
http://www.opera.lv/en/productions-concerts/productions/zizele
Dmitri Shostakovich’s ballet The Bright Stream
January 19, 2011
Choreographer: Alexei Ratmansky
Set Designers: Jevgeni Monahhov, Ilja Utkin
Costume Designer: Yelena Markovska
Lighting Designer: Kārlis Kaupužs
http://www.opera.lv/en/productions-concerts/productions/gaisais-strauts
This production by Alexei Ratmansky about idyllic life on a Soviet kolkhoz is a masterwork of refined humour, built with sniper-like directorial precision. Milkmaids and tractor drivers, a brigade of artists, quality inspectors and vacationers; costume changes, misunderstandings, love, and jealousy, harvest festivals, kolkhozers' waltzes, Kazakh dances, and the vegetable march - all of these take place over the course of one day in the 1930s, on a kolkhoz named The Bright Stream, somewhere in central Russia. Alexei Ratmansky’s clever reanimation of the work, forbidden and publicly censured during the Stalin period, was first brought to light by the Bolshoi Theatre.
Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly
January 21, 2011
Stage Director of the original version: Sofija Maslovska
Stage Director of the revival: Vladimirs Okuņs
Designer of the original version: Eduards Vītols
Set Designer of the revival: Juris Salmanis
Costume Designer of the revival: Kristīne Pasternaka
Lighting Designer of the revival: Sandra Bermaka
This revival of Madama Butterfly offers the unique opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the Latvian National Opera's original 1925 production: the original set and costume design, as well as the basic structure of the direction, have been preserved. The production's historical aspect is unique on a global scale: the performance is one of the oldest preserved opera productions in the world. The opera tells the story of a Japanese girl's impossible love for an American navy lieutenant. Her love is as tragic and beautiful as the flight of a butterfly at dusk, when the light warms, dazzles, and burns.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin
January 22–23, 2011
Stage Director: Andrejs Žagars
The opera Eugene Onegin (1893), which is based on the eponymous verse novel by A. Puškin, is a masterpiece among Tchaikovsky’s ten operas, as well as among Russian opera classics in general. A young poet Lensky is engaged with a cheerful girl Olga. While staying in the summer cottage of his fiancée, Lensky introduces his friend Onegin to his future mother-in-law and Olga’s sister Tatyana. Tatyana, who is a dreamer and modest by nature, falls in love with Onegin who enjoys every pleasure life has to offer, looking down on Tatyana and her feelings for him.
Pushkin’s verse novel offered humane-spiritual experience and powerful emotional dramaturgy to the composer, which was exactly what Tchaikovsky had been looking for in order to write a new opera. The opera, being melancholic, but at the same time yearning, passionate and bursting with love, offers beautiful and flowing melodies, enjoyable choruses, and captivating dance music.
THE TSAR’S BRIDE
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera in four acts
Libretto by Ilya Tyumenev based on the drama of the same name by Lev Mey
Concert performance on February 10, 2011 at the Estonia Concert Hall
The concert is part of the EBU Radio season „Tallinn, European Capital of Culture 2011“ and it will be broadcasted by Klassikaraadio, reaching a wide audience in Europe, as well as in America
Music Director and Conductor: Arvo Volmer
Soloists: Roman Polisadov (Latvian National Opera), Marina Shaguch (Mariinsky Theatre), Vitali Bilyi (Novaya Opera, Moscow), Dmytro Popov (National Opera of Ukraine), Angelina Shvachka (National Opera of Ukraine), Mart Laur, Oliver Kuusik, Helen Lokuta, Juuli Lill, Ludmilla Kõrts, Pavlo Balakin, Aleksander Arder, etc.
Estonian National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Approximate running time: 2 h 50 min
Rimsky–Korsakov, the author of one of the most famous orchestral work Sheherezade, has written fifteen operas, of which The Tsar’s Bride is the most notable. The opera shares some common features with the Italian romantic opera and Shakespearean drama. The Tsar’s Bride can be described as a historical-situational opera where fictional elements and contradictions with historical truth (usually characteristic of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas) are missing. The music of the opera, its vocal side in particular, puts the opera above the conventional situational drama, accentuating its tragic nature which ensures the huge popularity of the opera. Rimsky-Korsakov has composed the opera following the example of Italian opera that focused on voice as well as on the main characters’ arias, ensembles and choruses. All Rimski-Korsakov’s operas belong to the repertoires of Russian opera theatres, but The Tsar’s Bride is one of the few operas that has gained a high position among Western European opera theatres as well. The Tsar’s Bride was last premiered in the Estonian National Opera fifty-two years ago.
The activity of The Tsar’s Bride takes place during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Grigory Gryaznoy, tsar’s bodyguard, is in love with merchant Sobakin’s beautiful daughter Marfa, who is actually the bride of Ivan Lïkov. Lyubasha, Gryaznoy’s lover, poisons Marfa as her rival. The tsar has also feelings for Marfa and wants to marry her. When it comes out that Marfa has been poisoned, Gryaznoy makes sure that Ivan Lïkov would get all the blame. As a result, Gryaznoy kills Lïkov at the request of the tsar.
With the performance of The Tsar’s Bride the Estonian National Opera continues the tradition of introducing marvellous oeuvres of opera via concert performances. Previously, the following bel canto operas have been presented to the audience: Bellini’s I puritani, Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, Donizetti’s Poliuto, Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles etc.
PIPPI LONGSTOCKING
Ülo Vinter’s and Ülo Raudmäe’s musical, based on the eponymous children’s novel by Astrid Lindgren
Dramatisation: Andres Dvinjaninov (Emajõe Summer Theatre)
Lyrics: Enn Vetemaa and Neeme Kuningas
Premiere at the Estonian National Opera on March 5, 2011
Conductors – Erki Pehk, Hirvo Surva, Priit Aimla
Stage director – Andres Dvinjaninov (Emajõe Summer Theatre))
Designer – Riina Degtjarenko (Estonian Drama Theatre)
Choreographer – Jüri Nael
The most popular children’s musical in Estonia!
Is there anybody else who is as peculiar, cool and remarkable as Pippi? Probably not, because Pippi is Pippi – a girl with mismatched stockings, fiery red braids and freckles, who has superhuman strength, being able to lift her horse one-handed. What is most important – you will never get bored with her! Andres Dvinjaninov, the stage director, will bring to the audience the jolly characters from Astrid Lindgren’s beloved children’s book, together with whom it is possible to discover not only Spunk but much more ...perhaps a little bit of Pippi inside ourselves?
C. ORFF’S „CARMINA BURANA“. A. DVOŘÁK’S SYMPHONY
NO. 9
Estonian National Opera concert on March 17, 2011 at the Estonia Concert Hall
Conductor: Arvo Volmer
Estonian National Opera soloists, chorus and orchestra, mixed chorus of the Estonia Society
The first half of the concert comprises of Antonin Dvořák’s last and most famous symphony – Symphony No. 9 Op. 95 (New World Symphony) composed in 1983 during his visit to the United States (1892–1895). Despite it being inspired by America and its culture, the symphony remains essentially Czech. It premiered at Carnegie Hall and was received with perpetual cheering and every movement was met with thunderous clapping.
The second part of the concert features Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana that is one of the most famous musical works of the 20th century, the vitality and powerful dramatics praise love, life and nature. Carl Orff composed his most popular cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra in 1937. The libretto of the cantata consists of Latin and High German verses, written by the itinerant actors, students and clergymen in the 13th century. The medieval collection Carmina Burana includes ballads, satirical songs and drinking songs. Orff picked out 24 songs from the collection and grouped them according to the topic – wine and entertainment, praising of nature and spring, love. All episodes have one thing in common – a wheel of destiny which is constantly revolving and therefore cannot be stopped. The cantata, which tells us about simple joys, life and pleasures, is an ode to life in general, keeping in mind its colourfulness and eternal rotation.
MANON
Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet to the music of Jules Massenet
World premiere: March 3, 1974 in the Royal Ballet (London)
Premiere at the Estonian National Opera: April 7, 2011
Choreographer-Stage Director: Kenneth MacMillan
Staging: Karl Burnett (England)
Music Director and Conductor – Risto Joost
Conductor – Mihhail Gerts
Arrangement – Leighton Lucas and Hilda Gaunt
Designer – Mia Stensgaard (The Royal Danish Ballet)
Assistant to the Designer – Maja Ziska (The Royal Danish Ballet)
Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet to Jules Massenet’s beautiful music introduces 18th century life and strata – from aristocrats to social outcasts. The ballet is based on Abbe Prevost’s novel L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut, the central character of which is Manon – the most desirable courtesan in Paris, who becomes a refugee in Louisiana due to an exciting and dramatic chain of events. The music, being full of emotions, expresses Manon’s downfall from the world of pleasures to the frustrating hellhole. The music of the ballet has been arranged by Leighton Lucas and Hilda Gaunt who have used a number of Massenet’s works but not his eponymous opera. The audience will hear extracts from thirteen Massenet’s operas (including Le Cid, Chérubin, Cinderella and Don Quixote), also from his oratorios, salon songs (Elegy), songs and orchestral suites (Scénes dramatiques and Scénes pittoresques).
Kenneth MacMillan created one of the most popular ballets of the 20th century for the Royal Ballet in 1974. Since then, Manon has been performed by top ballet companies only, as the dancing technique of the dancers has to be of high level. “I do not always say yes when a ballet company approaches me wanting to acquire the work, I rely on trusted notators to assess the company” says Deborah MacMillan, the widow of Kenneth MacMillan. The Estonian National Ballet got the permission to perform Manon in 2009.
SERGEI PROKOFIEV 120
Opera The Love For Three Oranges with Helikon-Opera (Moscow) soloists
April 15, 2011
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY BALLET GALA
April 29–30, 2011
Artistic Director: Thomas Edur
The Estonian National Ballet will celebrate the International Dance Day with a grandiose dance programme, delighting the audience with dance numbers from classical to modern dance. The gala, taking place on April 30th, will also celebrate the 50th birthday of Kaie Kõrb – a long-time principal dancer of the Estonian National Opera. In addition to Estonian National Ballet soloists there will be beautiful performances by ballet stars from American Ballet Theatre, Royal Ballet (London) and Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow).
CARMEN
Georges Bizet’s opera to Henri Meilhac’s and Ludovic Halévy’s libretto, based on the eponymous novelette by Prosper Mérimée
World premiere: March 3rd, 1875 at Parise Opéra Comique
Premiere in Estonia: May 26th, 2011 in the Estonian National Opera
Music Director and Conductor: Arvo Volmer
Conductors: Risto Joost, Mihhail Gerts, Jüri Alperten
Stage Director: Walter Sutcliffe (England)
Designer: Liina Keevallik
Sung in French, with subtitles in Estonian and English
When Carmen was first staged in France (1875), it received negative feedback: its plot was considered immoral and characters vulgar. Bizet shocked the audience by portraying ordinary people on stage – villagers, factory workers, gypsies, smugglers, and by showing the death of the main character on stage. At the premiere, the actors were booed off and the performance was denounced by the critics. Pyotr Tchaikovsky understood the greatness of this piece and predicted a brilliant future for the opera: “Ten years from now it will be the most popular opera in the world”. And he was right, because Carmen bursts with life, passion, liberty and dynamics.
Bizet died only three months after the premiere never knowing that „Carmen“ would become one of the most popular operas in such a short time, being performed in the opera theatres all over the world, and that the toreador’s song and main character’s habanera would be the symbols of opera music for many generations. In the Estonian National Opera, Carmen will be staged by Walter Sutcliffe whose fanciful staging of Così fan tutte was extremely successful last season.
Sutcliffe considers Carmen multifaceted. “Bizet’s Carmen has many faces. It mixes tense psychological drama and melodrama, documentary and dark comedy, working in formats ranging from the panoramic to the close up, using styles that range from grand opera to intimate spoken theatre to the overtly showy popular musical. Our production will explore these differences, while allowing the documentary style elements of the narrative to put us firmly in the world of Jose and Carmen - to observe their story as it plays out in 19th century Sevilla.”
This season’s premiere of Carmen is already tenth in the theatre’s history.
OPERA AND BALLET FESTIVAL “SUMMER NIGHT STARS”
June 1–11, 2011
The Estonian National Opera is going to greet summer and beach season with the traditional festival Summer Night Stars. The audience will be rejoiced by noted opera and ballet stars both from Estonia and abroad. The festival will bring to the audience Bizet’s popular opera Carmen, Delibes’ fabulous ballet Coppélia, a ballet gala of Tallinn Ballet School’s young dancers, Puccini’s opera Tosca, Harangozó’s jovial ballet Snow-White and the 7 Dwarfs; Nixon’s ballet The Three Musketeers, Tüür’s historical-fictional opera Wallenberg and MacMillan’s unique ballet Manon.
THE LITTLE PRINCE
The first staging in the series of AtticDance at the Estonian National Opera Chamber Hall
June 2, 4, 5, 8 and 10, 2011
Choreographer and Stage Director: Oksana Titova
Music: Taavi Kerikmäe
Video Design: Andres Tenusaar
Set Design and Costumes: Elo Soode
Dancers of the Estonian National Ballet.
The series will be kicked off with a dance performance The Little Prince, where the world which is balancing between reality and fantasy (characteristic of Antoine de Saint-Exupery) is watched through the prism of Little-Prince-like purity. The performance will be produced in cooperation with the team of the dance performance „Hamlet“ that premiered at the Estonian National Opera in 2007 (the team was given the Annual Estonian Theatre Award 2008).
Oksana Titova is the dancer of the Estonian National Ballet troupe. She is also a director and choreographer of contemporary dance who is known for her originality. She will bring to the audience the performance series of contemporary dance, the roots of which are in a ballet theatre. It is a form of dance theatre that puts the physical abilities of the ballet dancer in service of contemporary art and aesthetics. According to Titova, an attic relates to something mysterious, intimate and unpredictable. “Different rules apply in the attic of the Estonian National Opera, you might find something unexpectable there.”
Oksana Titova has staged at the National Opera, Vanemuine Theatre and Kanuti Guild Hall. She has won the annual Estonian Theatre Award in the category of „Best dance production“ for The Last Hairy (with Taavet Jansen, Kanuti Guild Hall, 2005) and Hamlet (Estonian National Opera, 2007). Both works have participated in the international festivals in Estonia, Latvia, Russia and England.
GALA OF TALLINN BALLET SCHOOL
June 1 and 4, 2011
On June 1 at 19 and on June 4 at 12, a traditional ballet gala of Tallinn Ballet School will be held at the Estonian National Opera, performers being the ballet school’s graduates and current students – the future stars of Estonian ballet.
PARSIFAL
Richard Wagner’s opera in three acts, libretto by the composer
The first world premiere: July 26th, 1882 at Bayreuth’s Festspielhaus
August 25-28, 2011 at Noblessner Foundry within the frameworks of “Tallinn, European Capital of Culture 2011”
Music Director and Conductor: Arvo Volmer
Conductor: Risto Joost
Stage Director: Nicola Raab (Germany)
Designer: Robert Innes Hopkins (UK)
Lighting Designer: David Cunningham (Scotland)
Sung in German, with subtitles in Estonian and English
Parsifal is Richard Wagner’s last opera, being also one of the most complicated musical works challenging the soloists, orchestra and chorus. The opera will be performed within the frameworks of “Tallinn, European Capital of Culture 2011.” Parsifal is an extremely expressive piece of work. It is the only opera that has been written taking into consideration the special acoustics and possibilities of Wagner’s opera theatre (Bayreuth Festspielhaus). Therefore, the composer called the opera Bühnenweihfestspiel, in other words “festivity dedicated to stage”. This stage production is closest to his endeavours to combine medieval mythology and contemporary music. Wagner borrows motifs from the medieval legend of the Holy Grail, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s epic Parzival, Chrétien de Troyes’ Perceval, Schopenhauer’s philosophy and Buddhism. This synthesis enables to see the themes from a new angle based on the long-term development of the text and music in his mind – the opera is a natural follow-on to Wagner’s earlier operas, particularly Tristan und Isolde which premiered successfully at the Estonian National Opera in May, 2008. Opera’s musical language is daring, contemporary and unprecedentedly colourful. Claude Debussy, who was in later years very critical of Wagner and his influence, called it „one of the loveliest monuments of sound ever raised to the serene glory of music“. Gustav Mahler, who attended the premiere, stated afterwards: “When I came out of the Festspielhaus, unable to speak a word, I knew that I had experienced supreme greatness and supreme suffering, and that this experience, hallowed and unsullied, would stay with me for the rest of my life”.
Wagner stressed the singularity of the opera among other stage productions by prohibiting its staging outside the Bayreuth opera house for 30 years. In addition, he prohibited applauding after the first act, emphasizing this way the seriousness and ceremoniousness of the musical drama. In 1903, the court granted the Metropolitan Opera the right to stage the opera.
Nicola Raab is a well-known young director whose high-flown career has taken her to the Vienna and Bavarian State Operas, Zurich Opera, Salzburg Festival, Teatro Regio in Torino, La Fenice in Venice etc. In 2009, Raab successfully staged Francesco Conti’s tragicomic opera Don Chisciotte and Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave in Vienna.
Synopsis
According to the precepts of the Order of the Grail, the magic power of the Holy Grail falls only upon those who are physically and mentally pure. Klingsor, being angry that he was not accepted in the Order, has built his own magic castle which is surrounded by a garden of sensual pleasures where beautiful flower-maidens aim to seduce and enthral Grail Knights. Even Amfortas, the king of Grail Knights, cannot resist the maidens, and Klingsor steals the Holy Spear (the lance that pierced Jesus’ side as he hung on the cross) from him. Klingsor stabs Amfortas with the Spear, and the man has to suffer until a “pure fool, enlightened by compassion” (“Durch Mitleid wissend, der reine Tor”) will heal the wound by returning the Spear to Amfortas. In the first act, a naive young man, Parsifal, sees Amfortas suffering. In the second act, Parsifal strays into Klingsor’s Flower-maiden garden where Kundry, the most beautiful Flower-maiden, is calling Parsifal by his name, finally giving him a kiss. Parsifal now recalls his name and origin, as well as the separation from his mother. This makes Parsifal compassionate for every living thing, being now able to resist Kundry, destroy Klingsor and win the Spear back. In the third act, Parsifal returns to Grail Knights, in order to heal Amfortas’ wound and save him from sufferings.
|
|
|
© Rahvusooper Estonia 2010
|
News
