Novaya Opera Theatre
Encyclopedia
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, located at 3 Karetny Ryad. It was founded in 1991 by Russian conductor Yevgeny Kolobov
Yevgeny Kolobov
Yevgeny Vladimirivich Kolobov was a Russian conductor.Upon graduation from the song-school under the Glinka Chapel in Leningrad and the Urals State Conservatory, he started his career as a principal conductor in 1974 of the Ekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre .In 1981 he became a conductor at...
and then Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov. It is accessible via metro from Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya or Mayakovskaya.
The theatre is a member of the Opera Europa International Association, since 1999.
History
A theatre originally began in the Hermitage Garden in 1892 under the initiative of Yakov Shchukin and opened in 1894 as an open air theatre. It attracted tens of thousands of people and opera singers, orchestras and circus artistes from across Europe. In 1910, a modernist "Mirror Theatre", designed by NovikovNovikov
Novikov, Novikoff or Novikova is one of the most common Russian surnames. Derived from novik - a teenager on military service who comes from a noble, boyar or cossack family in Russia of 16th-18th centuries...
, was inaugurated with a spot designated for open air performances. After the demise of the Soviet Union, the central government passed it to the Novaya opera, who, with the Austrian contractor Lennex and chief architect Vladimir Kotelnikov
Vladimir Kotelnikov
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kotelnikov was an information theory and radar astronomy pioneer from the Soviet Union...
, built a new theatre, utilising some of the architectural elements of the Mirror Theatre. It opened on 27 December 1997 in a new building with a gala concert featuring artists such as Dmitry Khvorostovsky, Paata Burchuladze
Paata Burchuladze
Paata Burchuladze is a Georgian bass opera singer.Born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, he graduated from the Tbilisi State Conservatory and began his operatic career at Tbilisi and Moscow, with subsequent appearances at Covent Garden , Salzburg Festival under Herbert von Karajan , Metropolitan Opera in...
, soloists of the Ebony Opera. The premier was viewed by then mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov, then Russian President's wife, Naina Yeltsin and other eminent persons.
Architecture and fittings
The building is of Art NouveauArt Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
style. It has a seating capacity for over 700. The Opera Theatre has modern acoustics, lighting, video and audio recording facilities.
Features
The Opera Theatre is organized under three specialized branches namely, the Novaya Opera Soloists, the Novaya Opera Orchestra and the Novaya Opera Choir. The renowned artists drawn from these disciplines undertake tours, under the Theatre’s banner, all over the world.The Novaya Opera Soloists are opera singers of the theatre, many of whom have won accolades for their singing prowess. They also collaborate with other leading theatrical establishments in Russia; the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
, Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, Arena di Verona are some of the leading thetres where they give performances.
The Orchestra branch is integral to the theatre's operatic performances and involves participation of distinguished conductors of the theatre. This branch also undertakes performances of symphony programmes (the "repertoire" covers symphonies and symphonic compositions of many artists who are well known in the field) in other concert halls also; some the famous halls in Russia are the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall both in Moscow and the St.Petersburg Philharmonic.
The Novaya Opera Choir provides the essential amalgamation of “professional singers with fine voices and good acting abilities”. The touring branch of the Opera Theatre has performed in many countries such as Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the USA, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Belorussia, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and many cities within Russia.
Performances
Various performance types have been associated with this venue, including opera, orchestral concerts, and ballet. The operas performed at the theatre are almost entirely classical, those of note being VerdiGiuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's Onegin
Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin.It is a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of Russian literary heroes . It was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832...
, and Rimsky Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
's Snow Maiden
The Snow Maiden
The Snow Maiden: A Spring Fairy Tale is an opera in four acts with a prologue by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composed during 1880–1881. The Russian libretto, by the composer, is based on the like-named play by Alexander Ostrovsky .The first performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera took place at the...
. The theatre plays host to an annual “Epiphany Week” festival, which runs for slightly more than two weeks.
Notable people
Yevgeny KolobovYevgeny Kolobov
Yevgeny Vladimirivich Kolobov was a Russian conductor.Upon graduation from the song-school under the Glinka Chapel in Leningrad and the Urals State Conservatory, he started his career as a principal conductor in 1974 of the Ekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre .In 1981 he became a conductor at...
(1991–2003) was its first conductor until his death in 2003. Subsequent conductors have been Felix Korobov
Felix Korobov
Felix Korobov is a Russian conductor and cellist. A graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory, cello and conducting , he was the conductor of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia and joined the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre in 1999 and the Novaya Opera Theatre...
(2004–2006) and Eri Klas
Eri Klas
Eri Klas, is an Estonian conductor.Klas is of Jewish ancestry. Klas graduated as an opera and concert conductor in both Tallinn and Leningrad , beginning his conducting career at the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn and at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow...
(2006–present). Eri Klas is the theatre's music director. The artistic staff includes Natalya Popovich who is head of the theatre's Artistic Board and serves as Chief Choirmaster. Sergey Lysenko was the initial general director, while Valery Raku was the vice-director and chief of casting.