29 and 30 October at the Mariinsky-II will see the premiere of a new production of Gioachino Rossini’s opera Il barbiere di Siviglia, staged by Alain Maratrat.
The tone of attitudes to Rossini in Russia was very precisely defined by Pushkin in his novel Eugene Onegin: “the ravishing Rossini, spoilt child of Europe, Orpheus,” whose music is “like young lovers’ kisses, always so gentle, yet incandescent; or like the hissing streams and golden spray of champagne...” This tone has remained unchanged for almost two centuries now.
Pushkin first discovered Rossini’s operas when performed by the Italian Company in 1823. It was the re in 1821 that the Russian premiere of the opera Il barbiere di Siviglia took place, soon afterwards in early 1822 being performed by the Italian Company in St Petersburg, while at the end of the year the opera was translated into Russian and staged at the Imperial Bolshoi (Stone) Theatre on Theatre Square.
Il barbiere di Siviglia is Rossini’s most popular opera, although he composed over forty othe rs. This operatic masterpiece based on Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’ comedy Le Barbier de Séville, ou la Précaution inutile was written by Rossini at a time when he had already composed sixteen operas by the age of twenty-four. In a record short time just over two weeks the opera was ready for the annual carnival in Rome. The unsuccessful premiere on 20 February 1816 had no effect whatsoever on its subsequent dazzling stage history.
At the Mariinsky Theatre the opera Il barbiere di Siviglia has been staged on seven separate occasions in 1882, 1912, 1924, 1940, 1958 and 1996 at the old the atre and in 2009 at the Concert Hall.
This new version of Rossini’s masterpiece at the Mariinsky Theatre is being staged by director Alain Maratrat. This is the French director’s fourth work for the Mariinsky Theatre, following after productions of Il viaggio a Reims, The Love for Three Oranges and Die Zauberflöte. All of Maratrat’s productions are notable for the ir distinctly French refinement, lightness, humour and vivid the atricality.
Stage director Alain Maratrat sees the love story in de Beaumarchais’ comic plot as contemporary: “I am telling the audience a story from life that is close to the m. That’s why you have to include the element of the miracle after all, today we really need hopes and dreams. I want to tell an unusual story in order to talk about everyday things.” The production promises to be a dazzling and enchanting one, with magnificent costumes and imaginative headwear. The stage director is also preparing some surprises for the audience, as he is deeply convinced that “people love being part of the on-stage action. And I always try to stage a production so that it is an event, a celebration for the audience.”
Working on the opera are: Alain Maratrat (Stage Director and Production Designer), Zaurbek Gugkaev (Conductor), Larisa Gergieva (Musical Preparation), Mireille Dessingy (Costume Designer), Stéphane Clément (Puppet Designer), Gregoria Recio (headwear), Pascal Noël (Lighting Designer) and Pavel Teplov (Chorus Master).
The roles are being rehearsed by: Yevgeny Akhmedov and Ilya Selivanov (Count Almaviva), Dmitry Garbovsky, Viktor Korotich and Vladimir Moroz (Figaro), Evelina Agabalaeva, Antonina Vesenitsa and Olga Pudova (Rosina), Nikolai Kamensky, Fyodor Kuznetsov and Edward Tsanga (Don Basilio) and Edem Umerov and Edward Tsanga (Bartolo).
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