To honor St. Petersburg on its 300th birthday, the Golden Mask theatrical awards festival has this year, for the first time since its founding in 1994, moved out of Moscow and up to the northern capital, where it opened Thursday and continues through April 14.
But -- perhaps inspired by a feeling of guilt over depriving Muscovites of their annual opportunity to sample the previous season's best work on the Russian stage -- festival management has arranged to show a large share of the nominated productions in Moscow.
From the musical stage, six productions of opera, five of ballet and two of operetta have been picked to compete for the awards in their respective categories.
Initially, the opera competition included seven nominees. But St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater chose to withdraw its sole contender, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte," citing an inability to bring together a cast for the scheduled festival performance, which would include all of the production's five singers nominated for individual Golden Mask awards. A more important reason, perhaps, was a desire to save face. Last year, the Mariinsky staging of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh" walked off with awards for best opera production and best opera stage director. "Cosi Fan Tutte," tepidly received by the critics at its premier and facing stiff competition, seemed unlikely to follow in its footsteps.
Three of the remaining opera nominees are already known to Moscow audiences. Two are home-grown: the Helikon Opera's production of Alban Berg's "Lulu" and the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater's production of Giacomo Puccini's "Madame Butterfly." Perhaps another look at "Lulu," when it reappears on the Helikon stage on April 17, 18, 19 and 20, will lead to a more favorable assessment than the one made at its premiere last June. Insiders say the show has much improved with age. "Madame Butterfly," on the other hand, at its premiere a month earlier, turned out to be as beautifully wrought a production of opera as Moscow has seen in recent seasons, but will not play in Moscow during the festival.
Due to some obscure Moscow connection, a production of Vincenzo Bellini's "Norma" from Yerevan, Armenia, that played on the Bolshoi Theater New Stage in January has been deemed Russian enough in origin to qualify for a Golden Mask nomination. Though quite well sung when heard here, its amateurish staging and decor seem almost certain to put it out of the running. It plays during the festival only in St. Petersburg.
Among the shows scheduled to be seen here that are new to Moscow are Georges Bizet's familiar "Carmen" from the Novosibirsk Theater of Opera and Ballet, playing at the Bolshoi April 7; yet another "Madame Butterfly," this one from the Musical Theater of Rostov-on-Don, due at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater April 10; and that magical setting by English composer Benjamin Britten of a tale by Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw," from Yekaterinburg's Experimental Musical Theater, which plays at the National Youth Theater April 17.
Nominees for best conductor are the Helikon's Vladimir Ponkin, a Golden Mask award winner two years ago; the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater's Ara Karapetyan; the Yekaterinburg Experimental Musical Theater's Dmitry Luzin (for "The Turn of the Screw"); and Yerevan's Karen Durgaryan (for "Norma"). "The Turn of the Screw" also has a nominee for best stage director of opera, as does each of the productions of "Madame Butterfly."
The withdrawal of "Cosi Fan Tutte" has narrowed the field of nominees for best female singer from nine to six and for best male singer from four to a mere two. Of greatest interest locally among the former are the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater's Olga Guryakova, who may very well receive a second Golden Mask for her portrayal of the title role in "Madame Butterfly" to the one she received six years ago for playing another Puccini heroine, Mimi in "La Boheme," and the Helikon Opera's Tatyana Kuindzhi for her performance in the title role of "Lulu." The pair of male nominees are drawn from the casts of "Carmen" and "Norma."
Of the five Golden Mask ballet nominees, Moscow has unfortunately been denied a chance to see the two which come from the Mariinsky. Both are set to music of Sergei Prokofiev: "The Prodigal Son," in Georges Balanchine's classic choreography, and "Cinderella," a brand new work by the leading light among young choreographers, Alexei Ratmansky.
The Bolshoi Theater, in the past a recipient of few Golden Mask nominations and even fewer awards, finds itself in contention this year with its double bill of Roland Petit ballets, "Passacaille" and "The Queen of Spades," which make a festival appearance on the Bolshoi stage on April 19. No doubt the Petit duo and the Mariinsky's "Cinderella" rank as frontrunners for the best ballet production award.
A second Moscow nominee, "Lea," from the Alexei Fadeyechev Dance Theater, with music by Leonard Bernstein and choreography once again by Ratmansky, has also been denied a local festival appearance. The fifth ballet nominee, a double bill of two new works -- "Roden" (music by Claude Debussy) and "Wedding Cortege" (music by Dmitry Shostakovich) -- from St. Petersburg's Theater of Choreographic Miniatures and choreographed by Leonid Yakobson, is due to be danced on the stage of Novaya Opera Theater on April 16.
In the running to receive the award for best female dancer are three familiar ballerinas, the Bolshoi's Nina Ananiashvili ("Lea") and Ilze Liepa ("The Queen of Spades") and the Mariinsky's Diana Vishneva ("Cinderella"). The competition for best male dancer pits the Bolshoi's Nikolai Tsiskaridze ("The Queen of Spades") against the Mariinsky's Andrei Merkuryev ("Cinderella"). Petit and Ratmansky vie for the award for best balletmaster/choreographer.
Following last year's operetta fiasco, in which the Golden Mask jury declined to give an award to the one and only nominee, a misbegotten Novosibirsk staging of Franz Lehar's "The Count of Luxembourg," the festival organizers have apparently decided that traditional operetta has pretty much had its day on the Russian stage and have turned for operetta nominees to that newly popular form of entertainment known as the "myuzikl." Those chosen to compete are Moscow's own "Nord Ost" and "Notre Dame de Paris."
Tickets for local Golden Mask performances are available at the box offices of the respective venues or at the festival's own box office, located at 10 Strastnoi Bulvar. Metro Pushkinskaya, Chekhovskaya. Tel. 933-3200.
The Bolshoi Theater is located at 1 Teatralnaya Ploshchad. Metro Teatralnaya. Tel. 250-7317.
The Helikon Opera is located at 19 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Ulitsa. Metro Pushkinskaya. Tel. 291-1323. Reservations 290-0971.
The Novaya Opera is located at 3 Karetny Ryad. Metro Mayakovskaya, Chekhovskaya. Tel. 200-0868.
Click here for John Freedman's interview with Yelena Kovalskaya, co-organizer of the Golden Mask's Russian Case program.
But -- perhaps inspired by a feeling of guilt over depriving Muscovites of their annual opportunity to sample the previous season's best work on the Russian stage -- festival management has arranged to show a large share of the nominated productions in Moscow.
From the musical stage, six productions of opera, five of ballet and two of operetta have been picked to compete for the awards in their respective categories.
Initially, the opera competition included seven nominees. But St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater chose to withdraw its sole contender, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte," citing an inability to bring together a cast for the scheduled festival performance, which would include all of the production's five singers nominated for individual Golden Mask awards. A more important reason, perhaps, was a desire to save face. Last year, the Mariinsky staging of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh" walked off with awards for best opera production and best opera stage director. "Cosi Fan Tutte," tepidly received by the critics at its premier and facing stiff competition, seemed unlikely to follow in its footsteps.
Three of the remaining opera nominees are already known to Moscow audiences. Two are home-grown: the Helikon Opera's production of Alban Berg's "Lulu" and the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater's production of Giacomo Puccini's "Madame Butterfly." Perhaps another look at "Lulu," when it reappears on the Helikon stage on April 17, 18, 19 and 20, will lead to a more favorable assessment than the one made at its premiere last June. Insiders say the show has much improved with age. "Madame Butterfly," on the other hand, at its premiere a month earlier, turned out to be as beautifully wrought a production of opera as Moscow has seen in recent seasons, but will not play in Moscow during the festival.
Due to some obscure Moscow connection, a production of Vincenzo Bellini's "Norma" from Yerevan, Armenia, that played on the Bolshoi Theater New Stage in January has been deemed Russian enough in origin to qualify for a Golden Mask nomination. Though quite well sung when heard here, its amateurish staging and decor seem almost certain to put it out of the running. It plays during the festival only in St. Petersburg.
Among the shows scheduled to be seen here that are new to Moscow are Georges Bizet's familiar "Carmen" from the Novosibirsk Theater of Opera and Ballet, playing at the Bolshoi April 7; yet another "Madame Butterfly," this one from the Musical Theater of Rostov-on-Don, due at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater April 10; and that magical setting by English composer Benjamin Britten of a tale by Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw," from Yekaterinburg's Experimental Musical Theater, which plays at the National Youth Theater April 17.
Nominees for best conductor are the Helikon's Vladimir Ponkin, a Golden Mask award winner two years ago; the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater's Ara Karapetyan; the Yekaterinburg Experimental Musical Theater's Dmitry Luzin (for "The Turn of the Screw"); and Yerevan's Karen Durgaryan (for "Norma"). "The Turn of the Screw" also has a nominee for best stage director of opera, as does each of the productions of "Madame Butterfly."
 Itar-Tass The Helikon's Vladimir Ponkin competes against Ara Karapetyan, Karen Durgaryan and Dmitry Luzin for best conductor this year. |  |
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Of the five Golden Mask ballet nominees, Moscow has unfortunately been denied a chance to see the two which come from the Mariinsky. Both are set to music of Sergei Prokofiev: "The Prodigal Son," in Georges Balanchine's classic choreography, and "Cinderella," a brand new work by the leading light among young choreographers, Alexei Ratmansky.
The Bolshoi Theater, in the past a recipient of few Golden Mask nominations and even fewer awards, finds itself in contention this year with its double bill of Roland Petit ballets, "Passacaille" and "The Queen of Spades," which make a festival appearance on the Bolshoi stage on April 19. No doubt the Petit duo and the Mariinsky's "Cinderella" rank as frontrunners for the best ballet production award.
A second Moscow nominee, "Lea," from the Alexei Fadeyechev Dance Theater, with music by Leonard Bernstein and choreography once again by Ratmansky, has also been denied a local festival appearance. The fifth ballet nominee, a double bill of two new works -- "Roden" (music by Claude Debussy) and "Wedding Cortege" (music by Dmitry Shostakovich) -- from St. Petersburg's Theater of Choreographic Miniatures and choreographed by Leonid Yakobson, is due to be danced on the stage of Novaya Opera Theater on April 16.
In the running to receive the award for best female dancer are three familiar ballerinas, the Bolshoi's Nina Ananiashvili ("Lea") and Ilze Liepa ("The Queen of Spades") and the Mariinsky's Diana Vishneva ("Cinderella"). The competition for best male dancer pits the Bolshoi's Nikolai Tsiskaridze ("The Queen of Spades") against the Mariinsky's Andrei Merkuryev ("Cinderella"). Petit and Ratmansky vie for the award for best balletmaster/choreographer.
Following last year's operetta fiasco, in which the Golden Mask jury declined to give an award to the one and only nominee, a misbegotten Novosibirsk staging of Franz Lehar's "The Count of Luxembourg," the festival organizers have apparently decided that traditional operetta has pretty much had its day on the Russian stage and have turned for operetta nominees to that newly popular form of entertainment known as the "myuzikl." Those chosen to compete are Moscow's own "Nord Ost" and "Notre Dame de Paris."
Tickets for local Golden Mask performances are available at the box offices of the respective venues or at the festival's own box office, located at 10 Strastnoi Bulvar. Metro Pushkinskaya, Chekhovskaya. Tel. 933-3200.
The Bolshoi Theater is located at 1 Teatralnaya Ploshchad. Metro Teatralnaya. Tel. 250-7317.
The Helikon Opera is located at 19 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Ulitsa. Metro Pushkinskaya. Tel. 291-1323. Reservations 290-0971.
The Novaya Opera is located at 3 Karetny Ryad. Metro Mayakovskaya, Chekhovskaya. Tel. 200-0868.
Click here for John Freedman's interview with Yelena Kovalskaya, co-organizer of the Golden Mask's Russian Case program.
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