03.02.2015

Opera singer Lester Lynch: “In Kazan you can feel a special passion for the theatre”

UK’s Ronald Samm and US’s Lester Lynch will sing in Porgy and Bess for a third time.

(Kazan, 2 February, Tatar-inform, Alsu Gataullina). The singers Ronald Samm from UK and Lester Lynch from US are for a third time engaged by the Chaliapin Festival in the opera Porgy and Bess. On Monday, they took part in a press conference on the 33rd Chaliapin Opera Festival. Other speakers were Tatar Opera and Ballet Theatre director Raufal Mukhametzianov and casting manager Anna Bagautdinova.

Anna Bagautdinova remarked on the Porgy and Bess' unique cast. Lester Lynch performs the part of Crown, Ronald Samm plays Sporting Life. For the first time the festival has a new Bess, Miriam Clark from Germany. The part of Porgy is to be sung by Germany’s Derrick Lawrence.

“The Porgy and Bess show is unique for not being presented by any other theatre in the world. The production was earlier done in the form of a musical or was abridged. For the first time we present its full version,” Bagautidnova shared, adding that casting was a painstaking process and she normally began to prepare for the festival long in advance.

“I work with many famous European impresarios who let me know of new good voices. I then contact the person and offer cooperation. I also keep track of young talents who appear in provincial towns. We invite them for audition and they then take part in our performances,” she commented.

Ronald Samm said Kazan greatly attracted him because of its warm reception of Porgy and Bess. A short time ago, the singer performed in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Perm, and is now waiting for Kazan audience’s reaction.

Lester Lynch said he enjoyed the reception he was given in Russia. He enjoys working with the theatre’s orchestra and choir due to their proficiency as well. Kazan had a special passion for the theatre, he liked the citizens and local cuisine, he added.

Raufal Mukhametzyanov spoke about the meaning of Kazan opera turning 140 years old.

“We decided to emphasise the fact of Kazan opera turning 140. It is unfair that noone knows of what happened with the theatre before 1939. We have a very eventful history that we have never shared. On 26 August 1874, the Kazan opera company staged Glinka’s A Life For The Tsar for the first time, which date is regarded as the beginning of regular opera seasons in Kazan. We did everything to raise the audience’s awareness of this historical date,” he explained.

The theatre did not really need to promote itself, as it gave over 100 performances abroad annually, its playbill even being advertised by foreign airlines, he added.