Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich has been staged at the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theatre

On March 13, 2025, a meeting of the artistic council was held for the upcoming premiere of the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Dmitry Shostakovich's, which will be presented by the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater in June of this year.

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is one of the most iconic Russian operas of the 20th century. Shostakovich called his work "tragic satire". The opera, which combines bright and exciting music with violence and passion, became an instant hit.

The stakes in the opera are love, primitive and all-consuming for the Russian Lady Macbeth, the merchant's wife Katerina Lvovna. Over the two years since the premiere, it was performed almost 200 times in Leningrad and Moscow, and staged in theaters from London to New York and Argentina. In early 1936, three different productions of the opera were staged in Moscow alone.

“Turmoil Instead of Music” is an editorial that erased the outstanding operatic creation of the era from existence for almost thirty years. Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk almost completely disappeared until the 1960s and reappeared in a new, less controversial version. It was the criticism of this work in the newspaper “Pravda” that launched the campaign against formalism in Soviet art.

Today, the original score is listened to and admired for what it is - destructive, but at the same time beautiful, filled with messages that remain with the listener long after the curtain falls.

The Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater turned to one of the first editions of this work, considering it as a primary source. The production team is working on minor cuts, since the opera is truly large and requires a serious approach.

“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is not a simple performance. Its complex symphonic and polyphonic language makes it a real challenge for both perception and performance. This work was meant to find its place on the stage of our theater, and we are confident it is significant.

Our theatrical designers managed to accurately convey the growing tension of this story. Evil, as the engine of the plot, becomes a source of reflection for each of us. The scenography and costumes proposed by Evgenia Shutina and Elena Bodrova acutely reflect the atmosphere of the performance, and I am sincerely grateful to them for their work,”

Artistic Director and Chief Conductor

of the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater Valery Voronin

The Conductor Director is Valery Voronin, the Stage Directo is Alexey Smirnov, the Costume Designer is Elena Bodrova (Moscow), the Theatrical Designer is Evgenia Shutina (Moscow).

The plot seems completely unhumorous, but Shostakovich composed a rather amazing piece, which we can musically consider sinister sarcasm. The audience will see the drama of a woman's soul.

We will try to discover what the passion was that turned the main character's life upside down and made her a serial killer.