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Opera Ruslan and Lyudmila (Opera in five acts)
World famous Bolshoi Ballet and Opera theatre (established 1776) - Marvellous Main (Historic) Stage

Running time: 4 hours 10 minutes

The performance has 2 intermissions

Schedule for Ruslan and Lyudmila (Opera in five acts) 2022

Composer: Mikhail Glinka
Choirmaster producer: Valery Borisov
Stage Director: Dmitriy Chernyakov
Light Designer: Gleb Filshtinskiy
Costume Designer: Helen Zaytseva
Costume Designer: Yelena Zaytseva
Conductor: Vladimir Yurovsky
Conductor: Ralf Sochaczewsky
Chief conductor: Alexei Bogorad
Chorus Master: Valery Borisov
Music Director: Vladimir Jurowski

Orchestra: Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra

Opera in 3 acts

Premiere of this production: 2 November 2011

Ruslan and Lyudmila is an opera in five acts (eight tableaux) composed by Mikhail Glinka between 1837 and 1842. The opera is based on the 1820 poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin.

Bolshoi Theatre presents first premiere on its refurbished Main Stage

Ruslan and Lyudmila will be the first premiere to take place on the refurbished, historic Bolshoi Theatre Main Stage. And this outstanding opera with its truly epic scale is ideally suited to the opening of the Theatre. One of the high points in the Russian operatic repertoire, it is an integral part of Bolshoi Theatre history. On the Theatre’s Main stage there have been over 700 performances in 9 different productions (not counting revivals!) of this opera. Its Bolshoi Theatre debut was 165 years ago. Members of the Ruslan and Lyudmila production teams have included the following illustrious figures — director Boris Pokrovsky, conductors Vyacheslav Suk, Nikolai Golovanov, Alexander Melik-Pashaev, scenographers Konstantin Korovin, Alexander Golovin, Vladimir Dmitriev...

And today this list is continued by Bolshoi guest conductor in residence Vladimir Yurovsky and director and scenographer Dmitri Tcherniakov.

The new production promises to live up to the historic occasion which will precede it — the ceremonial opening of the Bolshoi Theatre Main Stage.

It ‘records’, as it were, former productions of Ruslan and Lyudmila at the Bolshoi. But at its core is an absolutely authentic psychological account of the ordeal of love, and of faithfulness and strength of spirit. The spectator will find not one enigmatic twist, attributable solely to magic, in the storyline. At one and the same time, Tcherniakov steeps the opera in the space of its myth and frees it of its shackles, presenting the story in an exceptionally lively and ‘true-to-life’ way.

In so far as concerns the scenography, designer Tcherniakov remains true to himself too: his sets are maximally functional, serving in the first instance his staging concepts.

Maestro Vladimir Yurovsky, together with his assistants Ralf Sochaczewsky and Alexei Bogorad, is responsible for the musical side of the production. The opera which, as is well known, is fairly lengthy, will be presented in slightly cut form by comparison to the original score (and this has been a tradition ever since its first staging), but the musical structure will in no way suffer: all the musical numbers are preserved, the cuts being limited to repeats of music within the form.

When it comes to interpreters, this opera has always been lucky at the Bolshoi. Here is a list of some of the stars who have appeared in it: Stepan Trezvinsky, Georgy Baklanov, Leonid Sobinov, Elena Stepanova, Mark Reyzen, Bronislava Zlatogorova, Ksenia Derzhinskaya Maxim Mikhailov, Nikandr Khanayev, Valeria Barsova, Irina Maslennikova, Ivan Petrov, Elizaveta Antonova, Sergei Lemeshev, Evgeny Nesterenko, Bela Rudenko, Tamara Sinyavskaya, Alexei Maslennikov, Artur Eizen. And among those who participated in the dance scenes are: Marina Semenova, Vera Vasileva, Maya Plisetskaya, Evgeniya Farmanyants, Lyudmila Cherkasova, Rimma Karelskaya...

The title roles in the present-day cast will be sung by: Bolshoi Young Opera Program graduate and today soloist with the Opera Company Ulyana Aleksyuk and Albina Shagimuratova, a young singer who has already left her mark on the world opera stage; and Mariinsky Theatre soloist Mikhail Petrenko and Helikon-Opera soloist Alexei Tikhomirov, who have likewise garnered for themselves a successful international career; Finn will be sung by the American Charles Workman; Finn’s eternal antagonist Naina will be performed by Elena Zaremba. The part of Ratmir will be interpreted by two marvelous counter-tenors — Yury Minenko and Vladimir Magomadov, while the Bulgarian singer Alexandrina Pendachanska and Bolshoi guest soloist Veronika Dzhioeva will sing the part of Gorislava. Mariinsky Theatre soloist Vladimir Ognovenko and former Bolshoi soloist Gleb Nikolsky will sing Svetozar, and the Lithuanian singer Almas Shvilpa and Mariinsky Theatre soloist Alexei Tanovitsky — Farlaf.



Photos




Act 1

In Svetozar's banquet hall, the wedding feast for Ruslan and Lyudmila is taking place. The guests listen to Bayan sing a song foretelling misfortune for the bride and groom, followed by happiness from true love. Lyudmila, saddened by the prospect of leaving her father, offers words of comfort to her unsuccessful suitors, Farlaf and Ratmir, and then pledges herself to Ruslan. Svetozar blesses the couple. All of a sudden everything goes dark and there is a crash of thunder. The people are paralysed by a spell while two monsters carry Lyudmila away. When light returns and everyone recovers, they panic over Lyudmila's disappearance. Svetozar promises half his kingdom and Lyudmila's hand to the man who brings her back. The three suitors ready themselves for the journey to find Lyudmila.

Tableau 1
Ruslan comes upon the cave of the kindly wizard Finn, who tells him that the evil sorcerer Chernomor has absconded with Lyudmila and that Ruslan is the man who will destroy him. Ruslan asks Finn why he lives in this deserted place, and Finn relates the story of many years ago, when he was a shepherd in his distant homeland (he says he is "a Finn") and fell in love with a beautiful girl named Naina. When she rejected his declaration of love, he went off to do battle with enemies for booty. Returning with this booty, he presented it to Naina, but she yet again spurned him. Then he resolved to study magic to win her; many years went by, and through sorcery he finally summoned an old, grey-haired, humpbacked woman – it was Naina, who now was mad with passion for him. He ran away from her and has been hiding from her ever since. For abandoning her, Naina is consumed by vengeful hatred, which will likewise fall upon Ruslan. Assuring him that Lyudmila will not be harmed, Finn instructs Ruslan to head north, and the two of them exit in opposite directions.

Tableau 2
In a deserted place, the cowardly Farlaf wonders whether he should continue searching for Lyudmila, when the decrepit Naina approaches him. She promises to get Lyudmila for him and send Ruslan far away. She disappears, and Farlaf rejoices in his triumph.

Tableau 3
Ruslan, having come upon a foggy desert strewn with weapons and bones from a past battle, wonders at the cause of this scene and whether he, too, may end up the same way. He chooses a new shield and spear from the ground to replace his broken weaponry, but cannot find a sword heavy enough to complete his new set of armor. When the fog lifts, a giant Head is revealed and blows through its lips to bring up a storm so as to drive Ruslan away. When Ruslan strikes the head with his spear, the Head falls back and reveals a sword underneath. He takes it and asks the Head whence it came. As it is dying, the Head explains that it once was a giant, and his dwarf brother is the evil sorcerer Chernomor. The sword was destined to kill both of them; so, in order to forestall fate, Chernomor tricked the giant, beheaded him, and flew his live head away to the distant desert to keep the sword protected underneath it. With the sword now in Ruslan's hands, the Head calls for vengeance on Chernomor.

Act 3

Young maidens are luring passing travelers to enter Naina's magical castle. Gorislava appears, looking for Ratmir, who had taken her captive and then abandoned her. After she goes away for a moment, Ratmir himself comes on the scene and falls under the spell of the maidens, who seduce him with dance. The final guest attracted to the castle is Ruslan, who finds himself forgetting Lyudmila upon seeing Gorislava. Suddenly Finn appears; and, after pronouncing a happy fate for Ratmir with Gorislava, and for Ruslan with Lyudmila, the castle turns into a forest as they resolve to rescue Lyudmila.

Act 4

Within Chernomor's magical gardens, Lyudmila longs for Ruslan and resists the influence of the enchanted surroundings. Chernomor with his retinue arrives; dances are performed. A trumpet call signals a challenge from Ruslan. Chernomor puts Lyudmila under a sleeping spell and goes off to fight Ruslan, who shortly comes on the scene triumphantly wearing Chernomor's beard around his helmet. Although he is disheartened by Lyudmila's condition, Ruslan, along with Ratmir and Gorislava, resolve to return to Kiev with Lyudmila to seek the aid of the magicians there. Chernomor's former slaves freely come along.

Act 5

Tableau 1
In a moonlit valley, Ruslan, Ratmir, and Gorislava, with Lyudmila, have camped for the night. Ratmir, who is standing guard, worries about Ruslan, and then expresses his happiness at his reunion with Gorislava. Suddenly the slaves report that Lyudmila once again has been abducted and that Ruslan has left in search of her. Finn appears, gives a magic ring to Ratmir that will awaken Lyudmila when she is brought back to Kiev.

Tableau 2
Lyudmila lies asleep in Svetozar's banquet hall. It turns out that Farlaf, with Naina's assistance, kidnapped Lyudmila and brought her to Kiev so as to appear to have been her rescuer. However, he cannot waken her. Horses approach, and Ruslan, Ratmir, and Gorislava arrive. Ruslan brings the magic ring to Lyudmila, and she awakens. As the tableau opens onto a view of Kiev, the people rejoice in their gods, their fatherland, and the young couple.





Schedule for Ruslan and Lyudmila (Opera in five acts) 2022


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