The State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia presents today, on Friday, October 29, the first in the 246th season premiere of the one-act operas “Maddalena” by Sergei Prokofiev and “The Spanish Hour” by Maurice Ravel, which will be held on the Boris Pokrovsky Chamber Stage on October 29, 30, and 31.
“The significance of today’s premiere lies not only in the fact that it is the first in the new season, but above all in the fact that Sergei Prokofiev’s opera ‘Maddalena’ has never been performed at the Bolshoi Theatre, and Maurice Ravel’s opera ‘The Spanish Hour’ was staged only once, in 1978,” the theatre’s press attache, Katerina Novikova, said.
It is specified that the staging of both operas was carried out by conductor Alexey Vereshchagin and director Vladislav Nastavshev, who also acted as a set and costume designer. The cast of performers has been prepared for the new operas in a few variations.
The Director clarified that both operas were written at about the same time, at the very beginning of the 20th century. However, even having something in common, they are quite different, as Prokofiev wrote a tragedy, and Ravel created a comedy. In the centre of the plot of both operas is female infidelity, “a woman as a symbol of variability and passion.”
For his part, the conductor also confirmed that Prokofiev’s early opera “Maddalena” and Ravel’s “The Spanish Hour”, being side by side, represent both unity and great contrast at the same time.
“Both tell about love, but in fundamentally different ways. Different scores will require the listener to quickly switch between emotional registers: from expressionist tragedy to ironic parody. We will try to play on the contrast, this is an interesting task,” he noted.
Ru-Main, 29.10.2021
Source: TASS
