The audience fell in love with Rusalka!

The opera by Alexander Dargomyzhsky opened the new 29th theatrical season

Connoisseurs of classical art were looking forward to the opera Rusalka, which continued the musical project Russian Operas in the Astrakhan Kremlin”. All tickets had been sold out at the theater box offices already a week before the premiere. The impressions from the dramatic social and everyday drama about love and betrayal, calculation and retribution, which was presented in the historical exteriors of the Kremlin, exceeded the expectations of many opera lovers.

The fact that the once forgotten opera Rusalka by the composer Alexander Dargomyzhsky was performed in a new, fresh and powerful way on the Cathedral Square in Astrakhan is the result of the collective work of a talented, passionate creative team: the conductor, the production director, the production designer, outstanding performers, including the artists from the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater.

For the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the theater Valery Voronin, the opera Rusalka became another large-scale work in the open-air format and another notable production that continued “Russian Operas in the Astrakhan Kremlin” and has already become one of the best musical projects of the South of Russia, leaving exciting emotions and unforgettable impressions.

Rusalka was composed by Alexander Dargomyzhsky under the influence of the opera Ivan Susanin by Mikhail Glinka. As to our project, the social psychological drama is also presented exactly one year after Glinka's historical-patriotic opera,” said Valery Voronin on the eve of the premiere, “And, of course, this is a tribute to our great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, whose poem this musical work was created on.”

The interpretation of the Chief Conductor of the production is sharp and strong, it’s got lyrical charm, conveying dramatic, tragicomic, and genre-household themes.

From the very first chords of the overture to the opera, the audience plunged into the element of Russian music. Sergey Novikov, the director from Moscow, is especially partial to it. He subtly feels the music, the message, the main essence of the work, and does everything to convey its depth and drama to the viewer, to make the most of the capabilities of each artist.

The guest soloist from the Bolshoi Theatre, the Honored Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan, the laureate of international competitions Alexey Tikhomirov vividly and deeply revealed the image of his character, Miller. The precise intonations and tragicomic sound, by his own admission, he found in the recordings of the famous Russian bass Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin.

It is the constellation of soloists in solo parts, but especially their virtuoso performance in ensembles that reveal the content of the work, the inner world of the characters, their feelings and emotions. For the soloist of the Mariinsky Theater Natalia Pavlova, performing in the open-air format is always exciting. “When you go on stage, you realize that there is no second take. It is a great responsibility to the audience who have been waiting for this concert. They, in turn, fill you with unique energy; and when you feel it, you realize that you are doing something special,” the artist admitted.

Igor Morozov from the Helikon Opera Theater, who performed the role of the Prince, captivated the audience with his artistry, especially his thrilling performance of the cavatina in the opera's finale.

Roman Arndt, the guest soloist from the Mariinsky Theater, admitted on the eve of the premiere that his great-great-great-grandfather faced the same difficult choice as the Prince. But his ancestor chose love for a serf girl, losing his parental blessing and inheritance.

The performance of the soloists of the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater once again convinced everyone of their professional skills and the highest level of performance of the most difficult parts. The opera Rusalka is very demanding of voices and acting talent. Dmitry Sharmanov, who perfomed the role of the Miller managed to artistically convey the character of his personage, transforming from a miller into a quack, a loving father, a businessman, a crazy old man, while emphasizing the drama of the action with his marvelous performance.

Natasha in this work is the first tragic female character in Russian opera. Emilia Ablaeva, who was participating in the Kremlin project for the first time, was nervous to go on stage, as she admitted. As a marvelous dramatic soprano, she managed to convey the emotions and feelings of her personage, as well as the change of mental states, the passion and depth of her nature.

The artists of the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater Chorus, together with their colleagues from the State Chorus of the Republic of Kalmykia, helped to create a large-scale scene of the production, its monumentality, both in visual and powerful vocal sound. The united chorus coped with the complex performance tasks set by the chief choirmaster of the theater Alexei Melkov. They managed to reflect in various acts of the opera the national character, the solemn festivity, and the subtle musical psychology of the finale.

The set design and costumes created by the theater designer Maria Vysotskaya laid special emphasis in the performance. By the way, about 250 of them were made for this opera. Bright and original, they accentuated the image and characters of the personages. Video content organically supported the action on stage, complementing it with scenes and details, which reflected the psychological state of the personages. The design of the stage area in the style of a Russian field with thin feather grass leaves above the bank of the Dnieper, thanks to the amazing lighting, turned into a blue-green carpet of the underwater kingdom.

This project was highly appreciated at the federal level. The performance is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization “Russian Seasons” as part of the celebration of the 225th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin.

The audience applauded for a long time and did not want to let the opera performers and the production team leave the stage. Love for Rusalka indicated the level of musical culture in the region that has formed over the years of the project, the creative expectations of Astrakhan residents and new discoveries that their favorite theater gives them.

The production in the Kremlin opened the new 29th theater season at the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater; it demonstrated the high potential of the creative team and became an excellent gift to the connoisseurs of classical art.