A debut in the opera Un ballo in maschera

The story of the opera’s creation is a curious one. Initially, the plot was set not in the United States of America but in the Swedish capital, where King Gustav III was murdered in the late 18^th century. Not long before the premiere of the opera, an attempt was made to assassinate the French Emperor Napoleon III and the censors demanded that the composer make certain changes to the plot. The object of the murder became Riccardo, Count of Warwick and Governor of Boston (a post that has never actually existed).

According to Stage Director Andrei Konchalovsky, “In the process of deciding the imagery of the world on-stage, for me it was important to create an integral fabric of the plot which is not broken down into separate numbers where soloists take the place of the chorus and the chorus waits until the soloists stop singing before it sings once more. My aim was to create a lively, organic and breathing fabric where the chorus and soloists represent a living organism, the soloists reacting to the movements of the chorus and the chorus, living and breathing, reacting to the protagonists’ actions. When working on the piece I always had the idea of a dream infiltrating the opera. The idea of traversing an ocean, dreams of returning home...”

Soprano Yekaterina Shimanovich will be performing the role of Amelia, whose affair with Count Riccardo becomes the reason for the latter’s death at the hands of Renato, her handsome husband and his erstwhile best friend. The singer joined the Mariinsky Opera in 2003, and since then has performed lead roles in the Russian and European repertoires at the theatre, among them Yaroslavna (Prince Igor), Liza (The Queen of Spades), Odabella (Attila), Aida (Aida), Elisabeth de Valois (Don Carlo), Turandot (Turandot).