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“Can you believe it, I’ve got a ticket for Il viaggio a Reims!” said one shop assistant in delight.
… At the start of February the Norwegian town of Tromsø was speaking of nothing other than the Mariinsky Theatre’s tour. Two performances of the opera Il viaggio a Reims! and an opera gala proved the jewel in the crown of the programme of the Nordlysfestivalen (Northern Lights Music Festival), this year being run for the twenty-fifth time in this enchanting small town three hundred and fifty kilometres from the Arctic Circle. Tickets were unprecedentedly expensive for the town, costing up 950 Norwegian Krone, but they were snapped up within thirty-five minutes. The organisers put a great deal of effort into making sure the project took place, as the city has neither a musical theatre nor a concert hall. There is just a Kulturhuset (House of Culture) which plays host to all – pop, rock and classical musicians alike. The stage is small and seven rows of seats had to be removed and the stage extended. As a result the number of seats was reduced to five hundred. But the townspeople of Tromsø were determined to be the first in the country to invite the Mariinsky Opera Company! And they succeeded. Just as, two years ago, they were the first to invite the Mariinsky Ballet Company and Ulyana Lopatkina to Norway. They consider both to be historic events, indeed almost incredible.
Tromsø’s handsome new mayor Jens Johan Hjort, who bears a striking resemblance to Pierce Brosnan, is not just a well-educated man – he also knows a great deal about culture. At the mention of the Mariinsky Theatre he sighs and says:
“Oh! Before this year’s visit by the opera company the strongest impression had been that created by the Mariinsky Ballet Company. I am proud that we succeeded in inviting these companies from St Petersburg. True, back then it was a bit frightening to watch the dancers – when they jumped one had the impression they would hit the wall, our stage is so small. Of course, Tromsø needs a new concert hall. That will be expensive, but other towns in Norway have done it, so we will try as well.”
The sixty-five thousand-resident town of Tromsø creates an impression of a surprisingly cultural place. First, there is a university here (the furthest north in the world), which is home to neither more nor less than nine thousand students! Among them are students of the conservatoire, a kind of faculty of the university. It may be small, but it has a good reputation: the conservatoire organises some two hundred and fifty concerts a year! The people are incredibly proud of their very own Arctic Symphony Orchestra – also the furthest north in the world. Established only recently, it has already appeared at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre (2010). There is also the Arctic Sinfonietta chamber ensemble, which regularly performs contemporary music, and extremely popular jazz bands. Each year the town plays host to an international film festival, there is a Gallery Of Modern Art and a Polar Museum with real hair-seals that swim in a huge pool. Lastly, of course, countless tourists come here from all over the globe to see the northern lights – naturally weather allowing and clear skies. Here they are quite magnificent – a real show of light where the shapes and colours depicted in the sky change constantly.
So despite the cold, the wind, the polar night and the remoteness from the mainland (the town is located on a small island), living here is anything but dull – life is in full swing and the tourists and residents alike are cheerful, happy, curious and highly involved in all that goes on.
Larisa Gergieva, Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers:
“I feel a certain sense of kinship between St Petersburg and these places. I just love when our art is performed in the north. Regardless of the “northern-ness” people are so welcoming that it doesn’t seem that it could be real. Perhaps because there is no music theatre here, no ‘high art’, and perhaps because there is come connection between the people of Norway and the people of Russia.”
“Norwegians even call them Scandinavian Russians…”
“Yes, I definitely feel something of that kind. And then when you see our good-looking and confident young people on the streets (it is my aim to instil them with a feeling of confidence) it creates the right impression. After all, what we do is in great demand all over the world, and our young singers sense their greatness. In Italy, for example, the number of good voices has fallen.”
Like the town’s mayor, Tromsø’s Regional Governor Pia Svensgaard are fascinated by Russian culture. Her daughter, a student in St Petersburg, speaks Russian and she herself can say a few worlds in Russian, though generally she speaks Norwegian or English:
“I am inspired by our co-operation with Russia. Russia is a very cultured nation, you have scaled great heights in literally every art form. Thanks to our contacts with Russia we too are learning a great deal.”
“Whose idea was it to invite the Mariinsky Theatre?”
“Our town is famous for such crazy ideas. I would actually say that we are a small town with immense ideas. Nevertheless, going to St Petersburg and seeing Valery Gergiev was a challenge, a crazy step that required a great deal of courage and energy.”
“And did the festival Director Ulf Jensen have all these qualities?
“Yes. Having contact with the Mariinsky Theatre is a new experience for us, for orchestral musicians in particular, and it has been an inspirational experience.”
“Perhaps in time you could open your own opera house?”
“I dream of something like that.”
Apropos, the Mariinsky Theatre’s young singers received a rapturous welcome in Tromsø and were treated to a lengthy standing ovation. It seemed as if the audience had fallen in love with them all – Anastasia Kalagina, Dmitry Voropaev, Mikhail Kolelishvili, Eduard Tsanga, Daniil Shtoda, Anna Kiknadze and Irina Vasilieva among others. Olga Pudova who performed another lead role in the opera “Il viaggio a Reims, was awarded particularly lavish praise: one year ago when she came to the festival with a concert she created a sensation with her virtuoso coloratura. The public remembered her and this time welcomed her as “one of their own.” Incidentally, the audience was extremely knowledgeable: it transpired that many in the auditorium understood Italian and were able to catch the humour in the recitative dialogues, even though the opera had supertitles neither in Norwegian nor in English.
Delighted at the reception they had received, the performers took to the streets and looked upwards to the sky. And they were in luck! That very evening they saw a miracle – the northern lights!
Olga Rusanova
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