FULL PUSHKIN THROUGH THE EYES OF FOREIGNERS St.Petersburg 2024
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: PUSHKIN THROUGH THE EYES OF FOREIGNERS
- Composer: Halevy, Leoncavallo
- Libretto: Pushkin
- Venue & Opera Company: HERMITAGE THEATRE, St.Petersburg, Russia
- Recorded: September 19, 2024
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Tsvetana Omelchuk, Roman Arndt
- Conductor: Fabio Mastrangelo
- Orchestra: SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA "NORTHERN SYMPHONY
- Stage Director: Viktor Vysotsky
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Silver Video
- Date Published: 2024
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
The project “Pushkin through the eyes of foreigners” is dedicated to two works that best represent the foreign view of the writer’s work: the opera by the French composer Fromental Halévy
“The Queen of Spades”, based on Pushkin’s story, and the opera by the Italian classic Ruggero Leoncavallo “The Gypsies”, created on the basis of the translated text of the poem of the same name.
Two operas, both French and Italian, will be presented in the format of musical and dramatic performances, which will combine acting, music and information blocks. They will help viewers understand the historical context of the works and how Pushkin’s images have been adapted in other cultures.
The first part of the project will be devoted to the opera “The Queen of Spades” by Halévy based on the libretto by the greatest French playwright Eugène Scribe. This part of the project will be implemented as a kind of guide
to Halévy’s work. Scenes from the opera will be accompanied by cultural and historical commentary from the host, and the main scenes from Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades” will be woven into the plot so that it will be possible to see how different eras see and hear the same masterpiece differently, and how familiar plots and images from childhood were perceived abroad.
Despite the fact that Halévy’s opera is forty years ahead of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece of the same name, it has never been performed in Russia. The first performance of the “French” Pushkin is an absolute exclusive of the project and a unique gift to the audience for the poet’s anniversary.
The second part of the project will be dedicated to two works based on Pushkin’s poem “The Gypsies”: the opera by Leoncavallo (“The Gypsies”) and Rachmaninoff (“Aleko”). The two performances will be presented in the fashionable “battle” format between groups of opera gypsies – Russian and Italian. This technique will introduce an element of immersive theater into the project and ensure that the audience is fully immersed in the atmosphere of the work.