http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/Мариинский театр - InterviewsenThe most important thing is the human stories&nbsp;&ndash; about normal people. A&nbsp;white Otello has not been an unusual idea for a&nbsp;long time. Between him and Desdemona what is important is not the&nbsp;difference in&nbsp;skin colour, and neither is it the&nbsp;difference in&nbsp;age&nbsp;&ndash; it is the&nbsp;difference in&nbsp;culture that mattersMon, 23 Dec 2013 14:08:00 +0400<table border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"> <p><img src="/images/cms/data/interwiew_photo/int_barkhatov.jpg" alt="Василий Бархатов" width="200" height="300" /></p><p align="center"><a href="/en/company/stagedirectors/barkhatov_vasily/">Vasily&nbsp;Barkhatov&nbsp;(biography) </a></p></td><td align="left" valign="top" style="width: 2%">&nbsp;</td><td valign="top"> <p><strong>&ndash; What do you consider to&nbsp;be most important in&nbsp;this story? What accents are you focussing on? </strong> <br />&ndash; The&nbsp;most important thing is the&nbsp;human stories&nbsp;&ndash; about normal people. Naturally, Otello won&rsquo;t be &ldquo;blacked up&rdquo;. A&nbsp;white Otello has not been an&nbsp;unusual idea for&nbsp;a&nbsp;long time. Between him and Desdemona what is important is not the&nbsp;difference in&nbsp;skin colour, and neither is it the&nbsp;difference in&nbsp;age&nbsp;&ndash; it is the&nbsp;difference in&nbsp;culture that matters. What did Verdi actually have in&nbsp;mind? Otello is a&nbsp;man with his own background&nbsp;&ndash; Arabic, Ethiopian, whatever you like&nbsp;&ndash; but what is important is that he has unbending and incredibly harsh principles. And&nbsp;Desdemona is a&nbsp;true European who has been raised liberally. Not impertinent, but much more free. She has no such great number of&nbsp;vetoes and limitations in&nbsp;her head. <br />Their love affair is just like the&nbsp;love between a&nbsp;Soviet diplomat and a&nbsp;French actress. Or between a&nbsp;soldier and a&nbsp;poetess&nbsp;&ndash; the&nbsp;nationality here is not at all important. And&nbsp;everyone says, looking at them, &ldquo;Well, they won&rsquo;t be together for&nbsp;long. They&rsquo;re totally different. In&nbsp;a&nbsp;month at the&nbsp;outside they won&rsquo;t have anything more to&nbsp;say to&nbsp;each other.&rdquo; <br />He is, basically, not a&nbsp;bad man. But he has some kind of&nbsp;complex because for&nbsp;six hours she could chatter about the&nbsp;systems of&nbsp;Stanislavsky or Schopenhauer and he wouldn&rsquo;t understand a&nbsp;single word. And&nbsp;he gets bored in&nbsp;the&nbsp;opera. She notices this. And&nbsp;then he might be told &ldquo;You know, Desdemona and Cassio went to&nbsp;see Wagner last night, they sat there for&nbsp;five hours and left looking happy.&rdquo; And&nbsp;he&rsquo;d think &ldquo;Damn! I&rsquo;m an&nbsp;ignorant oaf!&rdquo; <br />It is common to&nbsp;interpret Desdemona as&nbsp;a&nbsp;woman apologetic to&nbsp;Otello in&nbsp;all four acts. That always disturbed me because the&nbsp;role involves these Venetian passions! There are times when Desdemona understands that she is also an&nbsp;independent person in&nbsp;her own right. She is a&nbsp;woman who can easily say some sharp words or slap someone, and not just act slavishly towards Otello. It&rsquo;s very important that she intercedes on&nbsp;Cassio&rsquo;s behalf with absolute confidence. </p><p><strong>&ndash; How important is Iago for&nbsp;you as&nbsp;a&nbsp;typical image of&nbsp;an operatic villain? </strong> <br />&ndash; You mustn&rsquo;t confuse him with Gounod&rsquo;s M&eacute;phistoph&eacute;l&egrave;s who always underlines his wicked attractiveness. Iago is not working for&nbsp;the&nbsp;audience. His aria <em>Credo</em> is, outwardly, filled with pathos, albeit pathos within inverted commas. When a&nbsp;man is unable to&nbsp;speak seriously about certain things he will overact somewhat. Iago knows that there is no Satan, while there is data from the&nbsp;stock exchange that alters every day, there are currency rates, social welfare and other tangible, material things. He is not at all grasping. He knows neither devotion nor hatred. He&rsquo;s just a&nbsp;systematic man. A&nbsp;faceless man. He has a&nbsp;specific business plan for&nbsp;the&nbsp;near future. As the&nbsp;saying goes, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s nothing personal, it&rsquo;s just business.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s not that he deliberately wants to&nbsp;harm Otello, it&rsquo;s not that he finds his position as&nbsp;Otello&rsquo;s conspirator particularly demanding. This doesn&rsquo;t really worry him&nbsp;&ndash; it&rsquo;s just a&nbsp;certain stage of&nbsp;his business plan. He doesn&rsquo;t torture people deliberately. He walks over anyone in&nbsp;his way, yet doesn&rsquo;t reflect on&nbsp;this. He has no streak of&nbsp;narcissism. He does nothing superfluous to&nbsp;what is required. It&rsquo;s simply that his system of&nbsp;actions has to&nbsp;lead to&nbsp;a&nbsp;specific result. <br />There is such a&nbsp;moment in&nbsp;the&nbsp;opera: Otello and Desdemona remain overnight in&nbsp;an abandoned boat on&nbsp;a&nbsp;beach. The&nbsp;head of&nbsp;the&nbsp;government, influenced by his young and freer wife, allows himself this. To Hell with protocol. They have sat down on&nbsp;the&nbsp;beach and they begin to&nbsp;recall the&nbsp;past. All lovers, even if they are together for&nbsp;no more than a&nbsp;week, have a&nbsp;favourite pastime&nbsp;&ndash; remembering how they met: &ldquo;And&nbsp;do you remember telling me about the&nbsp;war?&rdquo; and &ldquo;Yes, yes, I remember!&rdquo; <br />So Iago understands that, however strange it might seem, it is easier for&nbsp;a&nbsp;man who has just woken up happy with his wife to&nbsp;be convinced of&nbsp;her infidelity than it is for&nbsp;a&nbsp;man away on&nbsp;business who doesn&rsquo;t see his wife for&nbsp;six months at a&nbsp;time. Such lunacy could only occur after a&nbsp;night of&nbsp;blissful love! People can be highly strung as&nbsp;it is, excited and somewhat disorientated. Another day he would have slept in&nbsp;and not killed his wife, while Desdemona herself would have packed up her belongings and gone home to&nbsp;her mother instead of&nbsp;putting her own neck in&nbsp;a noose. If you tell such a&nbsp;tale to&nbsp;a&nbsp;man who is in&nbsp;a state of&nbsp;euphoria, whose marriage still resembles a&nbsp;holiday romance, if you say that everything is exactly the&nbsp;opposite way around then he will take all the&nbsp;energy he has invested in&nbsp;his love and divert it in&nbsp;some other direction. And&nbsp;the&nbsp;very next night Otello murders his wife. <br />It is not at all diffi cult to&nbsp;understand Otello. In&nbsp;my production there is nothing that makes him any more prone to&nbsp;explode than other people. I believe that in&nbsp;similar circumstances anyone could act that way. Iago lays out the&nbsp;intrigue brilliantly. He needs only cruel and irreversible consequences, he doesn&rsquo;t need for&nbsp;Otello and Desdemona to&nbsp;argue and then not speak for&nbsp;two weeks. Iago has no need to&nbsp;do anything nasty; he merely needs specific results. </p><p><strong>&ndash; What other performing traditions with respect to&nbsp;this opera do you disagree with? </strong> <br />&ndash; In&nbsp;this opera there is a&nbsp;story of&nbsp;a&nbsp;huge number of&nbsp;people who drown during a&nbsp;storm. I&rsquo;ve always thought it strange that the&nbsp;storm is generally interpreted as&nbsp;some kind of&nbsp;&ldquo;attraction&rdquo; in&nbsp;this opera. It is generally depicted vividly and so it does not appear again. Yet if those caught in&nbsp;the&nbsp;eye of&nbsp;the&nbsp;storm are so weather-beaten then probably not all have survived. Correspondingly, there are victims, and these victims naturally leave widows and Otello somehow has to&nbsp;answer for&nbsp;this. And&nbsp;beginning from Act II the&nbsp;widows and orphans are constantly fi lling Otello&rsquo;s reception room&nbsp;&ndash; this is a&nbsp;global problem that has to&nbsp;be dealt with and which he cannot deal with at all because of&nbsp;his own personal circumstances. </p><p><em>Speaking with Yekaterina Biryukova</em> </p></td></tr></tbody></table>http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_barkhatov2/http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_barkhatov2/Valery Pyasetsky speaking about performing and&nbsp;teaching piano and&nbsp;his students Fri, 13 Dec 2013 14:10:00 +0400<table border="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="6"><font size="3"> <font size="3"> Valery Pyasetsky speaking about performing and teaching piano and his students. </font></font></td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="6">&nbsp;</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" valign="top" style="width: 200px"> <p><img src="/images/cms/data/news_photo/231/pyaseckij.jpg" alt="width=&quot;300&quot;" height="300" /></p><p><font size="1"><br /> <font size="2">Concert by pupils of Valery Pyasetsky on</font><a href=""><font size="2"> 28&nbsp;December</font></a></font></p><p><font size="1"><font size="2">Concert by pupils of Valery Pyasetsky on </font><a href=""><font size="2">29&nbsp;December</font></a> </font></p></td><td style="width: 2%">&nbsp;</td> <td width="90%" valign="top"> <p><font size="2"> <strong>&ndash; Why, with a&nbsp;successful career as a&nbsp;concert pianist, did you decide to&nbsp;dedicate yourself to&nbsp;teaching? </strong><br />&ndash; In&nbsp;the&nbsp;early 1980s, in&nbsp;order to&nbsp;start a&nbsp;postgraduate study you had to&nbsp;have an&nbsp;official endorsement from a&nbsp;music school to&nbsp;which you would return to&nbsp;work following your graduation. Without giving it much consideration I went to&nbsp;the&nbsp;Central School of&nbsp;Music for&nbsp;that &ldquo;bit of&nbsp;paper&rdquo; never thinking that it would have such consequences. Following my postgraduate studies I was sent back to&nbsp;the&nbsp;Central School of&nbsp;Music, initially as a&nbsp;concert master of&nbsp;the&nbsp;strings and&nbsp;the&nbsp;wind section, later I was allotted several students &ldquo;to&nbsp;see how it would go&rdquo;, and&nbsp;that&rsquo;s how it all began. Next year I&rsquo;ll have been working as a&nbsp;teacher for&nbsp;exactly thirty years. Today I have over thirty students in&nbsp;three schools&nbsp;&ndash; the&nbsp;Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire where I have the&nbsp;honour of&nbsp;being a&nbsp;professor, the&nbsp;Central School of&nbsp;Music and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Moscow State Chopin College of&nbsp;Musical Performance. My students have been prize-winners at various international competitions on&nbsp;more than eighty occasions. </font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>&ndash; Who were your teachers? Do you continue to&nbsp;follow their principles? </strong><br />&ndash; My first teacher was Anna Danilovna Artobolevskaya&nbsp;&ndash; a&nbsp;truly brilliant children&rsquo;s teacher! She trained many of&nbsp;today&rsquo;s internationally acclaimed musicians, among them my own professor, Alexei Nasedkin under whom I studied for&nbsp;a&nbsp;total of&nbsp;seven years. There&rsquo;s one other person I just have to&nbsp;mention&nbsp;&ndash; the&nbsp;outstanding violinist Mikhail Emmanuilovich Khomitser&nbsp;&ndash; we performed together for&nbsp;ten years and&nbsp;I owe a&nbsp;great deal to&nbsp;him in&nbsp;terms of&nbsp;my development as a&nbsp;musician. </font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>&ndash; What criteria guide you when selecting students? What qualities&nbsp;&ndash; in&nbsp;your opinion&nbsp;&ndash; are the&nbsp;most important for&nbsp;an emerging pianist? <br /></strong>&ndash; In&nbsp;my view the&nbsp;most important qualities are passion, diligence to&nbsp;the&nbsp;point of&nbsp;self-denial, patience, willpower, individuality, artistry and&nbsp;drive or charisma&nbsp;&ndash; call it what you like. </font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>&ndash; You have a&nbsp;huge class at the&nbsp;Central School of&nbsp;Music&nbsp;&ndash; what do you think is the&nbsp;most difficult aspect of&nbsp;working with children and&nbsp;with what should children&rsquo;s music education begin? <br /></strong>&ndash; When working with children, the&nbsp;most important thing for&nbsp;a&nbsp;teacher is incredible patience. You can never be driven by&nbsp;the&nbsp;idea of&nbsp;instant success. You have to&nbsp;approach your aim gradually, step by&nbsp;step. Teaching should be your <em>raison d&rsquo;&ecirc;tre</em>&nbsp;&ndash; only then can you think of&nbsp;being successful in&nbsp;this demanding profession. A child&rsquo;s music education should begin long before his or her first lesson. The&nbsp;family as a&nbsp;unit has to&nbsp;love music and&nbsp;this must be manifested in&nbsp;various forms. Subconsciously to&nbsp;start with, and&nbsp;later with the&nbsp;direct aim of&nbsp;instilling the&nbsp;child with an&nbsp;interest in&nbsp;music. Here a&nbsp;decisive role lies with the&nbsp;parents and&nbsp;grandparents. </font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>&ndash; What does the&nbsp;experience of&nbsp;participating in&nbsp;such festivals give your students? <br /></strong>&ndash; Taking part in&nbsp;a&nbsp;festival like yours is a&nbsp;dream for&nbsp;any concert pianist. It provides tremendous experience and&nbsp;it is impossible to&nbsp;overestimate its importance for&nbsp;a&nbsp;young musician. I would like to&nbsp;express particular gratitude to&nbsp;maestro Valery Gergiev because, taking into account his incredibly intense schedule of&nbsp;concert performances, he has found time to&nbsp;present these young musicians to&nbsp;St Petersburg audiences in&nbsp;person. Appearing on&nbsp;this amazing stage with the&nbsp;Mariinsky Orchestra under the&nbsp;baton of&nbsp;the&nbsp;maestro himself is sheer <em>bliss</em>, something that will remain with each of&nbsp;these young people forever as an&nbsp;unforgettable event. I take my hat off to&nbsp;you! </font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>&ndash; What do you personally understand by&nbsp;the&nbsp;phrase &ldquo;the Russian piano school&rdquo;? <br /></strong>&ndash; Nowadays everyone can play fast, incredibly fast even. Playing the&nbsp;piano is frequently akin to&nbsp;a&nbsp;sports competition about who can perform faster or louder and&nbsp;often this means the&nbsp;real purpose of&nbsp;the&nbsp;pianist&rsquo;s appearance onstage can be forgotten. What is the&nbsp;music about? What do you want to&nbsp;convey to&nbsp;the&nbsp;audience and&nbsp;do you actually have anything to&nbsp;convey? Dazzling virtuoso skill should only be a&nbsp;means of&nbsp;embodying the&nbsp;main goal&nbsp;&ndash; to&nbsp;convey the&nbsp;idea of&nbsp;the&nbsp;music being performed. Intellect, culture, spirituality&nbsp;&ndash; the&nbsp;soul, if you like&nbsp;&ndash; these are the&nbsp;main features of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Russian piano school. </font></p></td></tr></tbody></table>http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/intervyu_s_valeriem_pyaseckim/http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/intervyu_s_valeriem_pyaseckim/Valery Gergiev, Artistic and General Director of the&nbsp;Mariinsky Theatre, about the&nbsp;Mariinsky&nbsp;IIThu, 02 May 2013 12:00:00 +0400<table border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"> <p><img src="/images/cms/data/interwiew_photo/gergiev_by_borggreve.jpg" alt="Valery Gergiev " width="230" height="251" /></p><p align="center"><a href="/en/company/conductors/gergiev/">Valery Gergiev (biography) </a><a href=""><br /></a></p></td><td align="left" valign="top" style="width: 2%">&nbsp;</td><td valign="top"> <p> <strong>Valery Gergiev, Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre: </strong></p><p>Dear Friends, </p><p>We all hope that the&nbsp;opening of the&nbsp;Mariinsky&nbsp;II will once again confirm and strengthen the&nbsp;great traditions of our theatre, opening the&nbsp;path to a&nbsp;future where it will be possible to stage the&nbsp;most contemporary works and innovative productions, productions of which we could not even have dreamed before. <br />The repertoire of Mariinsky&nbsp;II aims to demonstrate the&nbsp;supreme art of the&nbsp;performers in our companies and our wonderful stage, linking the&nbsp;history of the&nbsp;Mariinsky Theatre with contemporary audiences and with contemporary works from the&nbsp;diverse genres of opera, ballet and symphonic music. <br />The artistic opportunities available to the&nbsp;whole theatre&nbsp;&ndash; the&nbsp;opera and ballet companies, chorus and orchestra&nbsp;&ndash; will expand exponentially. After all, the&nbsp;Mariinsky&nbsp;II, the&nbsp;historic building and the&nbsp;Concert Hall together form a&nbsp;unique cultural complex. The&nbsp;new building with its main stage equipped with the&nbsp;very latest technology, and its three chamber venues, will create the&nbsp;most amazing conditions in which to bring to life daring artistic ideas and educational projects as well as chamber vocal and instrumental programmes. <br />We will be able to expand our audience base to tens of thousands, and millions more people will be able to see broadcasts of performances and concerts across Russia&rsquo;s regions and throughout the&nbsp;world. We will be broadcasting special programmes for schools, libraries and cultural centres throughout the&nbsp;country, reaching the&nbsp;most far-flung corners. These broadcast projects are aimed, first and foremost, at children and young people. </p><p>The&nbsp;new theatre opens up new and incredible possibilities for us all. I truly believe that. </p><p>I invite everyone to come to the&nbsp;performances and concerts at Mariinsky&nbsp;II and share in the&nbsp;celebrations marking the&nbsp;opening of this new theatre. </p>&nbsp;<p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p></td></tr></tbody></table>http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_gergiev1/http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_gergiev1/Alexei Markov, Mariinsky Opera soloist, about the&nbsp;new Mariinsky TheatreWed, 24 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0400<table border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"> <p><img src="/images/cms/data/interwiew_photo/int_markov.jpg" alt="Алексей Марков" width="200" height="300" /></p><p align="center">&nbsp;<a href="/en/company/opera_men/markov1/">Alexei Markov&nbsp;(biography)</a><a href=""><br /></a></p></td><td align="left" valign="top" style="width: 2%">&nbsp;</td><td valign="top"> <p> <strong>Alexei Markov, Mariinsky Opera soloist: </strong></p><p> &ldquo;I congratulate all lovers of&nbsp;classical music and dance on this grand occasion&nbsp;&ndash; the&nbsp;opening of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky&nbsp;II. This is a&nbsp;tremendous culturally historic event not just for St&nbsp;Petersburg but for the&nbsp;whole of&nbsp;Russia. For&nbsp;me, however, it is important that this new theatre, unparalleled in Russia, has arisen here in St&nbsp;Petersburg, the&nbsp;nation&rsquo;s cultural capital. </p><p> I wish the&nbsp;Mariinsky Theatre many new music events, new productions and, of&nbsp;course, new audiences. I truly hope that the&nbsp;new theatre, equipped with all the&nbsp;latest technology, draws a&nbsp;new generation that has never known opera before. I believe that thanks to&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky&nbsp;II our auditoriums will draw young audiences who will come to&nbsp;love opera and in&nbsp;time become true fans&rdquo;. </p></td></tr></tbody></table>http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_markov/http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_markov/Andrei&nbsp;Petrenko, Principal Chorus Master, about the&nbsp;new Mariinsky TheatreSun, 21 Apr 2013 00:30:00 +0400<table border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"> <p><img src="/images/cms/data/interwiew_photo/int_petrenko.jpg" alt="Andrey Petrenko" width="200" height="268" /></p><p align="center">&nbsp;<a href="">Andrei Petrenko&nbsp;(biography)</a></p></td><td align="left" valign="top" style="width: 2%">&nbsp;</td><td valign="top"> <p><strong>Andrei Petrenko, Principal Chorus Master: </strong></p><p> &ldquo;For the&nbsp;chorus artists, the&nbsp;new theatre complex represents a&nbsp;completely different level in&nbsp;terms of&nbsp;organising their workspace. I mean the&nbsp;basic day-to-day conditions&nbsp;&ndash; luxurious rehearsal rooms, comfortable dressing rooms and well thought out relaxation areas during intervals. Normally few people even consider these things and they are incredibly important. After all, the&nbsp;performers spend a&nbsp;huge part of&nbsp;their lives at&nbsp;the&nbsp;theatre. </p><p> With the&nbsp;opening of&nbsp;the&nbsp;new theatre we won&rsquo;t see audiences leaving the&nbsp;auditorium half an hour before public transport stops. At the&nbsp;Mariinsky II there won&rsquo;t be forty-five or fifty minute intervals&nbsp;&ndash; its technical capabilities mean we can change sets almost instantly. In this way, performances can take place in&nbsp;a&nbsp;more compact period, and this will naturally have a&nbsp;positive affect on how they are judged artistically. </p><p> Big productions at&nbsp;the&nbsp;historic theatre (<em>Boris Godunov, The&nbsp;Maid of&nbsp;Pskov, Khovanshchina </em>and <em>Nabucco</em> among others) require huge casts, at&nbsp;least ninety people. But at&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky II&nbsp;&ndash; we have already checked this during an acoustic test&nbsp;&ndash; we can significantly reduce the&nbsp;number of&nbsp;chorus artists without detriment to&nbsp;the&nbsp;sound. </p><p> The most important thing is that, thanks to&nbsp;the&nbsp;opening of&nbsp;its new stage, the&nbsp;Mariinsky Theatre will be able to&nbsp;realise its full artistic potential. We have the&nbsp;most immense repertoire&nbsp;&ndash; over eighty operas. It&rsquo;s rather too cramped for them all in&nbsp;one building. A performance is a&nbsp;living, breathing organism that begins to&nbsp;fall ill if it does not get any attention, it can wither and even die. But when the&nbsp;fruits of&nbsp;theatre art are shown to&nbsp;the&nbsp;public rather oftener they will, of&nbsp;course, become stronger and have a&nbsp;greater life force.&rdquo; </p></td></tr></tbody></table>http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_petrenko/http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_petrenko/Vasily Barkhatov, Stage Director about the&nbsp;new Mariinsky TheatreFri, 12 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0400<table border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"> <p><img src="/images/cms/data/interwiew_photo/int_barkhatov.jpg" alt="Василий Бархатов" width="200" height="300" /></p><p align="center"><a href="/en/company/stagedirectors/barkhatov_vasily/">Vasily&nbsp;Barkhatov&nbsp;(biography) </a></p></td><td align="left" valign="top" style="width: 2%">&nbsp;</td><td valign="top"> <p><strong>Vasily Barkhatov, Stage Director: </strong></p><p> &ldquo;I find it very strange listening to&nbsp;the&nbsp;arguments flying around about the&nbsp;exterior of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky&nbsp;II. Of course, it might not appeal to&nbsp;everyone, but today the&nbsp;whole of&nbsp;Europe has such laconic box-like buildings without any specific &ldquo;theatre features.&rdquo; You don&rsquo;t have to&nbsp;have a quadriga on the&nbsp;top for&nbsp;people to&nbsp;realise they are looking at&nbsp;a&nbsp;theatre. A&nbsp;theatre is a&nbsp;theatre because of&nbsp;what happens inside. And when you cross the&nbsp;threshold of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky&nbsp;II it&rsquo;s just like entering an opera house in&nbsp;Europe without having to&nbsp;organise a visa. </p><p> &ldquo;I can say that the&nbsp;Mariinsky&nbsp;II is the&nbsp;greatest theatre in&nbsp;Russia in&nbsp;terms of&nbsp;its stage equipment as it was built, so to&nbsp;speak, from&nbsp;scratch &nbsp;&ndash; it&rsquo;s not a&nbsp;reconstruction and there were no hard and fast rules as to&nbsp;planning. That frequently used to&nbsp;be the&nbsp;case here: you could have an idea but no way of&nbsp;bringing it to&nbsp;life in&nbsp;a&nbsp;theatre. With regard to&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky&nbsp;II this kind of&nbsp;situation cannot arise. It would be hard to&nbsp;conceive anything that could not&nbsp;be staged here. It is, arguably, the&nbsp;first theatre in&nbsp;Russia to&nbsp;be ahead of&nbsp;artistic ideas.&rdquo; </p></td></tr></tbody></table>http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_barkhatov/http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_barkhatov/Mariinsky Theatre soloist Ildar Abdrazakov about the&nbsp;new Mariinsky TheatreTue, 09 Apr 2013 14:00:00 +0400<table border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"> <p><img src="/images/cms/data/interwiew_photo/abdrazakov.jpg" alt="Ильдар Абдразаков" width="220" height="199" /></p><p align="center">&nbsp;<a href="/en/company/opera/bass/abdrazakov/">Ildsr Abdrazakov&rsquo;s biography</a></p></td><td align="left" valign="top" style="width: 2%">&nbsp;</td><td valign="top"> <p> <strong>Mariinsky Theatre soloist Ildar Abdrazakov about the&nbsp;new Mariinsky Theatre: </strong></p><p> &laquo;I&nbsp;am&nbsp;absolutely delighted that here in&nbsp;St&nbsp;Petersburg we have this grand new theatre, one that is&nbsp;equipped with&nbsp;the&nbsp;most amazing technology. The&nbsp;Mariinsky II&nbsp;is&nbsp;the&nbsp;only theatre in&nbsp;the&nbsp;world that&nbsp;can transform the seemingly impossible into reality. I am so happy that very soon I will be performing on&nbsp;that&nbsp;stage and&nbsp;will become part of&nbsp;its history. <br />I&nbsp;am&nbsp;sincerely grateful to&nbsp;maestro Gergiev for&nbsp;this gift to&nbsp;the&nbsp;city and to&nbsp;us, those who perform at&nbsp;the&nbsp;theatre. And, of&nbsp;course, I&nbsp;congratulate all&nbsp;my&nbsp;colleagues on&nbsp;the&nbsp;imminent opening of&nbsp;the&nbsp;new theatre. I&nbsp;wish everyone great success!&raquo;. </p></td></tr></tbody></table>http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_abdrazakov/http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_abdrazakov/Manager of&nbsp;the&nbsp;theatre&rsquo;s Artistic and Technical Complex Natalia Tsapko about the&nbsp;new stage of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky Theatre (Mariinsky&nbsp;II)Sat, 06 Apr 2013 14:00:00 +0400<table border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"> <p><img src="/images/cms/data/interwiew_photo/tsapko.jpg" alt="Natalia Tsapko" width="199" height="300" /></p><p align="center">&nbsp;</p></td><td align="left" valign="top" style="width: 2%">&nbsp;</td><td valign="top"> <p><strong>Natalia Tsapko, manager of&nbsp;the&nbsp;theatre&rsquo;s Artistic and Technical Complex: </strong></p><p><strong> </strong>&quot;It is&nbsp;important for&nbsp;the&nbsp;specialists of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky Theatre&rsquo;s Artistic and Production&nbsp;Department that the&nbsp;new theatre has&nbsp;the&nbsp;very latest stage machinery and that we have taken onboard the&nbsp;very best from the&nbsp;world&rsquo;s recently built or&nbsp;renovated theatres, among them the&nbsp;Royal Opera&nbsp;House (Covent Garden), the&nbsp;Royal Opera&nbsp;House in&nbsp;Copenhagen and Paris&rsquo; Th&eacute;&acirc;tre du Ch&acirc;telet. I can safely say that when designing the&nbsp;new theatre&rsquo;s stage complex some unique tasks were resolved. The&nbsp;stage space is&nbsp;split into zones, each of&nbsp;which fulfils a&nbsp;certain&nbsp;function. The&nbsp;new theatre has&nbsp;its main&nbsp;stage, a&nbsp;backstage area, side pockets, a&nbsp;rehearsal stage and installation&nbsp;and loading and unloading bays. This&nbsp;means that sets for&nbsp;at least four productions can be&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;stage space, all at the&nbsp;same time: the&nbsp;main&nbsp;stage can be&nbsp;hosting the&nbsp;most complex production&nbsp;in&nbsp;terms of&nbsp;stage design, a&nbsp;full-scale rehearsal can take place on&nbsp;the&nbsp;rehearsal stage, sets for&nbsp;the&nbsp;next production&nbsp;can be&nbsp;assembled in&nbsp;the&nbsp;installation&nbsp;zone and sets can be&nbsp;loaded or&nbsp;unloaded on&nbsp;the&nbsp;cargo bays. Speaking objectively, none of&nbsp;this&nbsp;is&nbsp;currently possible at the&nbsp;historic theatre. The&nbsp;stage complex of&nbsp;the&nbsp;new theatre includes fully automated and computer-operated roll-on/roll-off trailers, storage space for&nbsp;soft and rigid sets, mobile equipment for&nbsp;ballet productions, forty-eight point hoists, four two-level rising and falling zones permitting the&nbsp;speedy change of&nbsp;sets and much more besides. We, as&nbsp;well as&nbsp;other departments, will of&nbsp;course need time to settle into the&nbsp;new theatre and adapt productions in&nbsp;our repertoire to the&nbsp;new stage conditions &ndash; basically every production&nbsp;moved from the&nbsp;old theatre to the&nbsp;new one will be&nbsp;like a&nbsp;premiere. The&nbsp;most important thing is&nbsp;that the&nbsp;new theatre will give all of&nbsp;us incomparable ways of&nbsp;dealing with the&nbsp;most demanding artistic tasks, and that is&nbsp;something that will inspire me as&nbsp;a&nbsp;professional&quot;. </p></td></tr></tbody></table>http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_tsapko/http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_tsapko/Soloist of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky Opera Anastasia&nbsp;Kalagina about the&nbsp;new stage of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky Theatre (Mariinsky&nbsp;II)Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:00:00 +0400<table border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"> <p><img src="/images/cms/data/interwiew_photo/int_kalagina.jpg" alt="Анастасия Калагина" width="200" height="300" /></p><p align="center"><a href="/en/company/opera_women/kalagina1/">Biography of Anastasia&nbsp;Kalagina</a></p></td><td align="left" valign="top" style="width: 2%">&nbsp;</td><td valign="top"> <p><strong>Anastasia Kalagina, soloist of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky Opera: </strong></p><p><strong> </strong>&quot;I have great hopes concerning the&nbsp;opening of&nbsp;the&nbsp;new stage of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Mariinsky Theatre&nbsp;&ndash; and really for&nbsp;three reasons. The&nbsp;first concerns the&nbsp;productions that we already have at the&nbsp;old theatre but which, due to&nbsp;their complex installation taking a&nbsp;day or two, are performed very rarely indeed&nbsp;&ndash; perhaps just once a&nbsp;season. The&nbsp;possibilities afforded by the&nbsp;new stage will allow us to&nbsp;perform productions that should be performed more often than the&nbsp;theatre has been able to&nbsp;do all these years. Among these I would like to&nbsp;pick out our productions of&nbsp;Sergei Prokofiev&rsquo;s operas <em>Betrothal in&nbsp;a&nbsp;Monastery, Semyon Kotko</em> and <em>War and Peace. </em> <br /> My second hope is connected with&nbsp;the&nbsp;prospects for&nbsp;new productions&nbsp;&ndash; dazzling and head-spinning transformations of&nbsp;the&nbsp;stage space. <br /> The&nbsp;third, of&nbsp;course, is the&nbsp;theatre&rsquo;s acoustics and the&nbsp;possibility of&nbsp;being heard in&nbsp;all parts of&nbsp;the&nbsp;auditorium&quot;. </p></td></tr></tbody></table>http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_kalagina/http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_kalagina/<p>Interview with&nbsp;Isabella Bywater, stage director, set&nbsp;and costume designer of&nbsp;<em>Faust</em></p>Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:30:00 +0400<p><strong>&ndash; What is&nbsp;the&nbsp;main goal of&nbsp;your production? </strong><br /> &nbsp;&ndash; The&nbsp;main feeling is&nbsp;that&nbsp;it&nbsp;is&nbsp;about a&nbsp;pact with the&nbsp;Devil. Whether the&nbsp;Devil is&nbsp;a&nbsp;metaphor for&nbsp;your dark side or&nbsp;is&nbsp;a&nbsp;separate being, doesn&rsquo;t matter. If&nbsp;you are&nbsp;making an&nbsp;agreement with a&nbsp;devil it&nbsp;has&nbsp;to&nbsp;be&nbsp;something you feel extremely guilty about, it&nbsp;has to&nbsp;be&nbsp;something bad. It&nbsp;is&nbsp;a&nbsp;very serious thing to&nbsp;do. <br />Here is&nbsp;a&nbsp;man in&nbsp;a&nbsp;crisis of&nbsp;despair, his life seems worthless; this is&nbsp;how the&nbsp;opera begins. You have a&nbsp;middle aged or&nbsp;older man&nbsp;&ndash; not&nbsp;a&nbsp;young man&nbsp;&ndash; I&nbsp;see him as&nbsp;being around sixty. He&rsquo;s deeply religious, he believes in&nbsp;searching for&nbsp;the&nbsp;truth. I felt that&nbsp;this is&nbsp;a&nbsp;man for&nbsp;whom religion has not&nbsp;been satisfactory, though he struggles to&nbsp;make it&nbsp;so, he&rsquo;s always looking and studying, applying his intelligence to&nbsp;the&nbsp;problem of&nbsp;the&nbsp;meaning of&nbsp;life. <br />And in&nbsp;that, you sense this desire not&nbsp;to&nbsp;think, just to&nbsp;be&nbsp;a&nbsp;man is&nbsp;something he has&nbsp;avoided. Perhaps he is&nbsp;frightened of&nbsp;this side of&nbsp;himself. In&nbsp;the&nbsp;Goethe Marguerite is&nbsp;fourteen, so&nbsp;I thought about <em>Lolita</em> and then&nbsp;I realised that&nbsp;this man is&nbsp;like Humbert Humbert. That&rsquo;s what made me volunteer to&nbsp;direct. I felt I understood how&nbsp;I could tell this story. Fourteen is&nbsp;very young and this man is&nbsp;at&nbsp;least forty years older than her, so&nbsp;this is&nbsp;why it&rsquo;s a&nbsp;pact with the&nbsp;Devil&nbsp;&ndash; it&rsquo;s not&nbsp;a&nbsp;healthy thing for a&nbsp;middle-aged man to&nbsp;be&nbsp;having a&nbsp;relationship with a&nbsp;fourteen-year-old. Any man would feel guilty. But&nbsp;because it&nbsp;made me think about <em>Lolita</em> and because Nabokov was&nbsp;Russian, I thought that&nbsp;this is&nbsp;an&nbsp;interesting way to&nbsp;look at&nbsp;it. I felt strongly about&nbsp;that.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;&ndash; Goethe actually finished writing <em>Faust </em>when he was&nbsp;old, he was&nbsp;in&nbsp;love with&nbsp;a&nbsp;young girl, so&nbsp;it&rsquo;s a&nbsp;bit like an&nbsp;autobiographical story. </strong><br /> &nbsp;&ndash; In&nbsp;fact he started writing it&nbsp;when he was&nbsp;about twenty-five. He went on&nbsp;writing it for&nbsp;a&nbsp;very long time, and it may be&nbsp;there is&nbsp;an&nbsp;element of&nbsp;autobiography in&nbsp;it, but&nbsp;the&nbsp;thing is&nbsp;it&rsquo;s not&nbsp;that&nbsp;unusual for&nbsp;an&nbsp;old man to&nbsp;fall for&nbsp;a&nbsp;very young woman. Even before it&nbsp;was&nbsp;illegal people knew that it&nbsp;didn&rsquo;t feel right. Instinctively you feel that&nbsp;this age gap is&nbsp;too great. I&rsquo;m&nbsp;not&nbsp;suggesting she is&nbsp;quite a&nbsp;child, but&nbsp;it is&nbsp;important that&nbsp;she&rsquo;s young and very very new to&nbsp;being a&nbsp;woman. It&rsquo;s important that&nbsp;he&rsquo;s doing something that&nbsp;he is&nbsp;ashamed&nbsp;of. Maybe Faust has&nbsp;always been battling this side of&nbsp;himself, has&nbsp;tried not&nbsp;to&nbsp;act on&nbsp;it. He might have dangerous thoughts, and see a&nbsp;girl he was&nbsp;interested in&nbsp;it but&nbsp;think &ldquo;I must not&nbsp;think this way, I must not&nbsp;follow this weakness.&rdquo; This could explain why&nbsp;he&rsquo;s not married, why&nbsp;he doesn&rsquo;t have any family, why he&rsquo;s alone. There is&nbsp;also a&nbsp;kind of&nbsp;innocence to&nbsp;Faust because there&rsquo;s a&nbsp;feeling that&nbsp;he&rsquo;s doing a&nbsp;bad thing but&nbsp;that&nbsp;he&rsquo;s very ignorant about this bad thing. It&rsquo;s as&nbsp;if she&rsquo;s a&nbsp;young virgin and he&rsquo;s an&nbsp;old virgin&nbsp;&ndash; afraid of&nbsp;what he&rsquo;s doing at&nbsp;the&nbsp;beginning because it&rsquo;s so&nbsp;emotionally risky for&nbsp;him. Before, maybe he didn&rsquo;t allow himself to&nbsp;take risks that, maybe he always wanted to&nbsp;but he never allowed it&nbsp;&ndash; but&nbsp;this time because he&rsquo;s in&nbsp;such despair he allows himself to&nbsp;follow his devil and make this arrangement, so&nbsp;it&rsquo;s frightening for&nbsp;him as&nbsp;well. He is&nbsp;facing his dark side, the&nbsp;Devil on&nbsp;his shoulder.</p> <p>&nbsp;<strong>&ndash; So&nbsp;it&rsquo;s a&nbsp;part of&nbsp;him, not&nbsp;separate? </strong><br /> &nbsp;&ndash; I think&nbsp;so. The&nbsp;way I see it&nbsp;Faust gets up&nbsp;from his bed, and the&nbsp;Devil gets up&nbsp;too. To&nbsp;begin with&nbsp;Faust and Devil look exactly the&nbsp;same. Only at&nbsp;the&nbsp;beginning&nbsp;&ndash; I want to&nbsp;&ldquo;pull&rdquo; the&nbsp;devil away from&nbsp;Faust as&nbsp;he forges ahead on&nbsp;his unhappy path. But&nbsp;to&nbsp;begin with they are&nbsp;the&nbsp;same person, and remain the&nbsp;same person. It doesn&rsquo;t matter if&nbsp;the&nbsp;audience feels that&nbsp;this is&nbsp;Faust or&nbsp;a&nbsp;separate Evil because it&nbsp;is&nbsp;just a&nbsp;way to&nbsp;describe our understanding of&nbsp;the&nbsp;dark side of&nbsp;ourselves, of&nbsp;others. <br />At&nbsp;one time in&nbsp;my life I was&nbsp;religious. A&nbsp;religious man who&nbsp;does something that&nbsp;he knows is&nbsp;wrong in&nbsp;the&nbsp;eyes of&nbsp;his God is&nbsp;particularly interesting, it&rsquo;s not&nbsp;quite the&nbsp;same for&nbsp;someone who&nbsp;does&nbsp;not&nbsp;believe. Faust is&nbsp;obsessed with&nbsp;the&nbsp;idea of&nbsp;God, he is&nbsp;fascinated with&nbsp;the&nbsp;nature of&nbsp;hell. He is&nbsp;looking for&nbsp;his soul but&nbsp;does not&nbsp;know where to&nbsp;search. He calls up&nbsp;spirits. He wants to&nbsp;eat from the&nbsp;tree of&nbsp;knowledge while knowing it&nbsp;is&nbsp;extremely dangerous and that&nbsp;he is&nbsp;treading very close to&nbsp;the&nbsp;edge of&nbsp;angering his God. I am&nbsp;using church rituals and imagery in&nbsp;several places, not&nbsp;just in&nbsp;the&nbsp;scene where a&nbsp;church is&nbsp;implied, all&nbsp;a&nbsp;little, or&nbsp;more, distorted as&nbsp;Mephistopheles plays tricks with Faust&rsquo;s (or&nbsp;Marguerite&rsquo;s) mind. I also allude to&nbsp;death. Faust is&nbsp;fascinated by&nbsp;death. He was&nbsp;already on&nbsp;the&nbsp;verge of&nbsp;suicide during the&nbsp;overture. There are&nbsp;graves, including his&nbsp;own, underfoot. All the&nbsp;scenes develop from&nbsp;Faust&rsquo;s study, you could say it&rsquo;s all part of&nbsp;Faust&rsquo;s guilt.</p> <p>&nbsp;<strong>&ndash; That&rsquo;s very interesting because it is&nbsp;believed that&nbsp;Gounod wanted to&nbsp;emphasise the&nbsp;lyrical line, not&nbsp;the&nbsp;philosophical element or&nbsp;the&nbsp;religious one, namely the&nbsp;lyrical line. And&nbsp;you want to&nbsp;emphasise the&nbsp;religion. </strong><br /> &nbsp;&ndash; I think I must emphasise the&nbsp;religious and the&nbsp;philosophical. The&nbsp;music is&nbsp;very beautiful, but&nbsp;I do&nbsp;not&nbsp;wish to&nbsp;add to&nbsp;the&nbsp;lyricism. If&nbsp;I just present a&nbsp;lovely romantic story with&nbsp;nice, pretty music then there is&nbsp;no&nbsp;point. It is&nbsp;interesting when you hear an&nbsp;opera with&nbsp;very beautiful lyrical music such as&nbsp;this and something dark is&nbsp;happening on&nbsp;stage, it&rsquo;s a&nbsp;fascinating counterpoint and it should enhance the&nbsp;way you hear the&nbsp;music&nbsp;&ndash; you will hear the&nbsp;beauty but you should also feel the&nbsp;danger. It&nbsp;is important to&nbsp;hear the&nbsp;danger in&nbsp;the&nbsp;music of&nbsp;<em>Faust</em>. I know Gergiev will conduct it&nbsp;astonishingly, he&nbsp;is&nbsp;particularly brilliant at&nbsp;bringing out different emotions&nbsp;&ndash; the&nbsp;beauty and the&nbsp;beast in&nbsp;the&nbsp;same sound.</p> <p>&nbsp;<strong>&ndash; Who is&nbsp;the&nbsp;central character in&nbsp;your version? Or&nbsp;are&nbsp;they equal? </strong><br /> &nbsp;&ndash; Really it&rsquo;s impossible to&nbsp;separate Faust and M&eacute;phistoph&eacute;l&egrave;s. But&nbsp;it is&nbsp;Faust&rsquo;s journey. However the&nbsp;way the&nbsp;opera is&nbsp;written you become very interested in&nbsp;Marguerite. She could be&nbsp;any girl; any girl who&nbsp;to&nbsp;him represents purity and youth, it could be&nbsp;a&nbsp;Gretchen or&nbsp;a&nbsp;Helge or&nbsp;someone. Faust is&nbsp;not&nbsp;much interested in&nbsp;who she is. She is&nbsp;simply an&nbsp;idea. A&nbsp;woman to&nbsp;fall in&nbsp;love with. During the&nbsp;overture I have two identical Marguerites in&nbsp;bed, sleepwalking. Faust sees this beautiful woman, but&nbsp;he could see any beautiful young girl and he&rsquo;d fall in&nbsp;love with&nbsp;her. But&nbsp;the&nbsp;story is&nbsp;about him falling in&nbsp;love, he wants&nbsp;the&nbsp;experience of&nbsp;being in&nbsp;love, and he does&nbsp;not&nbsp;care about her in&nbsp;any other way&nbsp;&ndash; she is&nbsp;just part of&nbsp;the&nbsp;process of&nbsp;him feeling &lsquo;love&rsquo;. <br />So, to begin with&nbsp;we care about Faust/ M&eacute;phistoph&eacute;l&egrave;s but&nbsp;we transfer some of&nbsp;our affection to&nbsp;Marguerite as&nbsp;we see what happens to&nbsp;her. The&nbsp;opera finishes focussed almost entirely on&nbsp;Marguerite&rsquo;s salvation, but&nbsp;in&nbsp;fact we should be&nbsp;thinking of&nbsp;the&nbsp;contrast of&nbsp;Faust&rsquo;s damnation. <br />It&nbsp;is&nbsp;her salvation that&nbsp;makes Faust all the&nbsp;more alone...</p> <p><em>Speaking with&nbsp;Nadezhda Koulygina</em></p>http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_bayvoter/http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_bayvoter/