ROSTOV STATE OPERA AND BALLET

Rostov State Opera and Ballet celebrated its 75th anniversary in the 2005/2006 season. Originally founded in 1931, the company is today based in an architecturally unique theatre complex in Rostov-on-Don, the largest cultural centre in southern Russia. This magnificent new building with state-of-the-art technical equipment opened in 1999. It is now home to Rostov Opera and Rostov Ballet, who between them give nearly 300 performances a year. There are three auditoria which can seat altogether an audience of about 1,500: the main theatre seating 1004; a chamber venue seating 250; and a cabaret-style hall and restaurant with 200 seats.

The opening of the new building coincided with the development of the company, with the creation of an opera symphony orchestra of over 100 musicians, the enlargement of the opera and ballet companies to 54 singers and 60 dancers respectively, the creation of a children’s chorus, and the opening of the dance department of the Rostov State Regional School of Arts.

The company’s repertoire now extends to over 30 works, including operas by Tchaikovsky, Rossini, Verdi, Donizetti, operettas by Strauss, Kálmán, Lehár, and the ballets Giselle and Le Corsaire by Adam, Nutcracker and Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky, Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev, Walpurgis Night by Gounod and Ravel’s Bolero. The Rostov State Opera Symphony Orchestra gives regular orchestral concerts throughout and toured to Rome’s Citta della Musica, under Maurizio Dones, in November 2005.

Regular guest conductors Maurizio Dones, Robert Lyall, and Marcello Mottadelli, join resident conductors Valery Voronin, Alexander Goncharov and Alexei Shakuro.

Both opera and ballet companies have toured Europe with great success, performing in Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

In 2003 the Rostov Theatre received four nominations for the Golden Mask awards in St Petersburg and Moscow, and won the award reserved for Russia’s outstanding national theatrical festival. Its 2005 production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich, conducted by the company’s Principal Conductor, Alexander Anissimov, was awarded two Golden Masks in Moscow.

The 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons have seen the further development of the repertoire for both the opera and ballet companies of Rostov, to continued artistic acclaim. They also saw the exciting introduction of both companies to new international audiences.

The new production of Rigoletto which premiered in June 2006 received three Golden Mask nominations, the highest theatrical awards in Russia. This year the Governor of Rostov, Vladimir Chub, was awarded a special Golden Mask for support of theatrical art. He is only the third Governor to receive such a prestigious honour, the other two being in Moscow and St Petersburg.

In September 2006 Rostov was the first opera company to be invited to the United Arab Emirates with performances of Madama Butterfly in both Dubai and Abu-Dhabi. This led to an invitation for an almost immediate return in November/December 2006, this time for the ballet company with The Nutcracker and Giselle.

In December 2006 Rostov State Opera continued its relationship with the Middle East, taking Madama Butterfly to Qatar as part of the cultural programme for the XVth Asian Games.

A new production of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades was mounted in March 2007, conducted by the company’s principal conductor Alexander Anissimov and directed by Konstantin Balakin. This continues the expansion of the Russian repertoire, following the award-winning production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in 2005.

The creation of new work is also a major part of the plans of the Artistic Director, Viatcheslav Kuschev. He commissioned a new opera from the Russian composer Leonid Klinichev, The Gypsy, for the main stage of the Rostov State Musical Theatre in 2005 and in April 2007 commissioned a chamber opera for the studio theatre from Konopel’ko, Poprygunya, based on a short story by Chekhov (who was born in Taganrog near Rostov).

In the autumn of 2007 the opera company returned to the UK and Ireland for a month-long tour of Madama Butterfly and La Traviata plus a special one-off performance in London of The Tsar’s Bride.

March 2008 saw the premiere of the first production in Rostov of a full length Mozart opera: Die Zauberflöte, directed by Konstantin Balakin with designs by Stepan Zograbyan, and conducted by Valery Voronin. This was followed in October by a new production of Carmen, directed by Yuri Laptev, designed by the artist Yuri Kuper, and conducted by Valery Voronin. In May of the same year, the ballet company mounted a new full-length production of Hamlet to a specially arranged score of music by Shostakovich. This was choreographed by the Artistic Director of Rostov State Ballet, Alexei Fadeechev with designs by Viatcheslav Okunev.

The ballet undertook a very successful tour of Spain and Portugal over Christmas and New Year 2008/9 followed by a tour to Italy in February, presenting The Nutcracker, Giselle and Swan Lake.

This year sees the tenth anniversary of the opening of the theatre and amongst the celebrations to mark this will be new productions of The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by Alexei Fadeechev, designed by Alexander Vasiliev and conducted by Alexei Shakuro; and of Prince Igor, directed by Yuri Alexandrov, designed by Viatcheslav Okunev and conducted by Valery Voronin.