Valentin Uryupin, a young conductor, who won the prestigious George Solti International Conductor competition two months ago, will direct the musical part of the play “Pagliacci”, which premiere shows will be performed in NOVAT on 13 and 14 April. He is currently considered as one of the most popular and the most promising musicians of our time, who’s CV includes winning three other prestigious competitions and more than 20 clarinetist competitions. The Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s famous play will be the first work on NOVAT’s stage for Valentin, who is called one of the adherents of the outstanding conductor Theodor Currentzis.
“I wouldn’t conduct the orchestra with too much noise and passion, like they usually do it with “Pagliacci” - says the conductor – I assume, in this play we will start with depicting the real life and move towards empathizing with the main characters.”
As the conductor tells, there is a real story behind the play’s plot, when an actor of an Italian troupe killed his wife out of jealousy, and that’s why the characters seem so real and the soundtrack is so vivid and correct, you can’t but empathize alongside the composer. “Nedda, the actress, dies so blankly, with no romantic touch, and the life itself is shown as it is – notes Valentin – no wonder it has so much in common with Georges Bizet’s “Carmen”, which might have been the ancestor of Verism.”
Valentin Uryupin was born 11 December 1985 in Lozovaya town, Kharkov district. He studied at the Central musical school at the Moscow Conservatoire, then at the conservatoire itself. He studied clarinet under professor Eugene Petrov, conducting – under Gennady Rojdestvensky, chamber ensemble under Alexander Bonduryansky.
Valentin has won more than 20 clarinet competitions, including the oldest and the most prestigious one in Geneva. Moreover, he won the Conductor Contest in Kostroma (2011), the second all-Russian Musical Competition in Moscow (2015), and the fifth Gustav Mahler International Conductor Competition (Bamberg, 2016). In February 2017 Valentin has won the VIII George Solti International Conductor Competition and became the first Russian to win the first prize. “Before Berg’s "Wozzeck" and Shostakovich’s "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" the history knew no better play to show the real life so straight and true as it is done in “Paggliacci – notes Valentin Uryupin – Beside that, it’s been 33 years since Ruggiero Leoncavallo was staged in Novosibirsk, and that fact makes this premiere an important event, that we produce together with the director Irkin Gabitov and the choreographer Gali Abaydulov.”
The premiere shows of “Pagliacci” on the main stage of NOVAT will be performed 13 and 14 April at 19.00. Tickets are available at the theatre box office and on the website.