In the city of Aleksin, where the distinguished contemporary composer Rodion Shchedrin grew up, the Shchedrins' House-Museum will be established. This announcement was made at a joint press conference on 25 February by Valery Gergiev, General Director of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia and Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, and Alexey Dyumin, Governor of the Tula Region.
"It's impossible to imagine the Mariinsky's repertoire today without the works of Rodion Shchedrin. We are approaching the anniversary of Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya, the legendary ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre of the then USSR. We had known and been friends for many decades. It seems symbolic that we, her friends and the friends of the composer, are filled with the desire not only to preserve but to eternally engrain in the region and in Russia the name of the great Russian classic, Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin. At least five years ago, we thought about how this region would be enriched. Various circumstances did not allow it to fully unfold, but now, I am confident, this significant step binds us for a long time," said Valery Gergiev.
The creation of the house-museum is a joint project of the Valery Gergiev Foundation and the Government of the Tula Region. The Foundation purchased the house where Rodion Shchedrin spent his childhood and to which he often returned. His parents and grandfather lived there. Shchedrin often mentioned that it was in Aleksin that he absorbed the spirit of the Russian hinterland, the folk spirit. This is reflected in his works: the operas Not Love Alone, The Lefthander, the Russian liturgy The Sealed Angel, which first resounded in 2022 in Aleksin, in the Assumption Church where the composer's grandfather once served. The string orchestra cycle Russian Photographs also begins with the part Old City of Aleksin, in memory of the dear place to the composer.
"We hope that this will be more than just a museum, that the project will live and develop. We would like music to resound in the Shchedrins' estate, and creative events involving artists from the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres to take place," said Governor Alexey Dyumin.
The house-museum will collect and display unique materials about the life and work of Rodion Shchedrin. In turn, the museum will become another attraction for residents and visitors of the region and will promote the work of the great contemporary from Tula, whose name stands alongside such globally renowned composers as Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky.
The Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres are proud of their longstanding collaboration with Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin. The Bolshoi Theatre commissioned many of the composer's works, including the ballet The Little Humpbacked Horse and the opera Dead Souls. For his wife, the outstanding ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, Rodion Shchedrin created Carmen Suite and composed three more ballets based on famous literary plots – Anna Karenina, The Lady with the Dog, and The Seagull, with premieres held on the Bolshoi stage. Today, his operas and ballets, symphonic and choral works are regularly performed on the stages of the Mariinsky in St Petersburg, Vladivostok, and Vladikavkaz, and sound during the Mariinsky troupe's tours.
Shchedrin first appeared on the bill of the then Kirov Theatre in 1978. Director Boris Pokrovsky and conductor Yuri Temirkanov brought the staging of Dead Souls from the Bolshoi Theatre to St Petersburg. In 1983, choreographer Dmitry Bryantsev created his version of The Little Humpbacked Horse for the Kirov troupe. These performances ran until the mid-1980s, and the next wave of Shchedrin's stagings began under Valery Gergiev, with The Enchanted Wanderer (2007), and continues to this day. Over the years, Rodion Shchedrin has found remarkable interpreters of his music at the Mariinsky Theatre. First and foremost is Maestro Gergiev, to whom the composer entrusts all new scores, but also opera and ballet soloists, artists and directors, orchestra and choir artists, chorus masters, concertmasters, and coaches, who have become true "Shchedrin specialists". In 2013, the world premiere of the opera The Lefthander took place at the Mariinsky Theatre, in 2015 – the world premiere of A Christmas Tale, and in 2017 Not Only Love was staged for the first time. In December, the Mariinsky traditionally honors Rodion Shchedrin on his birthday. In 2022, to celebrate the composer's jubilee, a grand festival "Shchedrin – 90" was held – for nearly a whole month, the music of the distinguished composer resounded in the historic and new stages and in the Concert Hall.
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