Not every arts venue has finalized its schedule for 2018, and perhaps some want to keep a few events secret. But here are some events we’re ready to line up for. Buy your tickets as soon as they go on sale!
February 28: Jenufa
Czech treat
The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater will stage the Leos Janacek opera “Jenufa,” which is quite popular in Europe but hasn’t been performed in Moscow for nearly 60 years. It was first produced in Brno in 1904 and is often called the “Moravian national opera.” “Jenufa” (“Her Stepdaughter” in Czech) was the opera that made Janacek a world-famous composer. This is a rare treat for opera lovers and a great addition to the Moscow opera scene.
17 Bolshaya Dmitrovka, Metro Chekhovskaya, stanmus.ru
March 23: Anna Karenina
Surprising Anna
The Bolshoi Theater will present “Anna Karenina,” a unique production in cooperation with the Hamburg Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada. It is a ballet in two acts set to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Alfred Schnittke and Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam. Directed by world-renowned choreographer John Neumeier, this is one of the Bolshoi’s major premieres of 2018. Purists should stay home.
1 Teatralnaya Ploshchad, Metro Teatralnaya, bolshoi.ru
April: Zverev Gala
Celebrate an artistic genius
The Zverev Gala will be dedicated to the third anniversary of the AZ (Anatoly Zverev) Museum and will present about 300 works by the artist. The exhibition will cover all the different themes in Zverev’s oeuvre, including famous female portraits, self-portraits, landscapes, suprematism and still lifes. If you are unfamiliar with the work of this non-conformist artist, this will be a fine introduction. And it is expected to be one of the social highlights of the season.
20-22 2nd Tverskaya-Yamskaya Ulitsa, Metro Mayakovskayamuseum-az.com
June 6: Moscow International Biennale of Young Art
Find a new star
The theme of the 6th Moscow International Biennale of Young Art is “Abracadabra.” Curator Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti will focus on performance, video, and sound. The main project will take place at the Gogolevsky branch of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. The Moscow International Biennale of Young Art has been held since 2008, and is one of the largest and most ambitious projects in the field of contemporary art in Russia.
10 Gogolevsky Bulvar, Metro Kropotkinskaya, mmoma.ru
June 7:Aleko
An opera revived
Helikon-Opera’s first 2018 premiere is “Aleko,” an opera by Sergei Rachmaninoff directed by Rostislav Protasov. “Aleko” was the first completed opera by Rachmaninoff with a libretto written by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko based on the poem “The Gypsies” by Alexander Pushkin. The plot concerns the “noble savage” Aleko, who lives with a group of gypsies but doesn’t share their ways. The plot may be old-fashioned, but the talent is extraordinary.
19/16 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Ulitsa, Metro Arbatskaya, Tverskaya, helikon.ru
September 18: Mikhail Larionov
A blockbuster show
The solo exhibition of Mikhail Larionov, a leading representative of Russian avant-garde, is one of the most anticipated shows at the Tretyakov Gallery in 2018. More than 250 works from Russian and foreign museums including the Centre Pompidou, Tate Modern and Albertine will be presented, covering all the styles the artist worked in: cubism, primitivism, futurism and his own invention: abstract painting called “rayonism.” There will also be a section devoted to his collaboration as a set designer with Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in the 1910s and ’20s.
10 Krymsky Val, Metro Oktyabrskaya, tretyakovgallery.ru
September 17: Il Giardino Armonico
Italian import
The Tchaikovsky Concert Hall presents an evening of baroque and chamber music with Il Giardino Armonico, a Milan-based early-music ensemble. The conductor is the ensemble’s founder, Giovanni Antonini, who also plays the baroque transverse flute. The evening’s program includes music by Antonio Vivaldi, Joseph Haydn and other composers.
31/4 Tverskaya Ulitsa, Metro Mayakovskaya, meloman.ru
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