02.02.2012

Eugene Onegin premiere opens 30th Shaliapin Festival

(Kazan, February 2, Tatar-inform, Maria Kirukhina). The premiere of an opera Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky last night took place in Kazan, opening the 30th International Shaliapin Opera Festival.

The event had been eagerly anticipated by the Kazan opera lovers, testified to by a full house.

The production was directed by one of Russia’s most sought-after opera directors, Mikhail Panjavidze. The conductor was the famous musician, composer and pianist Mikhail Pletnev.

Practically each scene was followed by shouts “bravo”, which were especially lengthy after the Lensky's aria “Where, where, where have to gone”. The Mariin Theatre soloist Sergey Skorokhodov, who performed the part last night, said he had performed it about 20 times.

“I like the part very much. It was not long ago that I came to it. Many tenors sing it right after the conservatoire but I for some reason was out of it at that age. I first sang it 3-4 years ago,” Skorokhodov told the Tatar-inform correspondent.

“Every time I try to bring something new into the part. I do not like the character normally being considered a weak, shattered person. In fact, he is a courageous guy who will not put up with disgrace.”

The Tatiana Larina part’s performer, Amalia Gogeshvili, a soloist at the Moscow’s Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre, said, “My strongest memory from the evening was the audience. They sat very quietly and were motionless. I heard specks of dust falling as I sang.”

The team who had made the play had worked as a coherent mechanism, Gogeshvivli shared. “If I am once more invited to take part in the Shaliapin Festival, I will certainly agree. Kazan is now like a second home for me,” the singer enhanced.

Eugene Onegin runs at the Tatar Opera and Ballet Theatre on 2 and 3 February. The Shaliapin Festival runs until 17 February.