30th April is an important date in NOVAT’s history. A number of landmark performances premiered on this day throughout the years. 30th April 1947 young ballet company of the Novosibirsk theatre performed for the first time Tchaikovsky’s The Swan Lake for the Siberian audience. The first Siberian staging of this famous ballet was directed by ballet master Mikhail Moiseev. The company was still shaping up at that time, and for that reason, directors engaged students of the theatre’s ballet school to take part in the performances. Title roles were performed by principal dancers Marina Lentyaeva and Vera Yuvacheva. First Siberian staging of The Swan Lake saw the debuts of future ballet stars, incredible performers Lidia Krupenina (later entitled People’s Artist of the USSR), Tatiana Zimina (later entitled People’s Artist of the RSFSR) and Sergei Ivanov. Sixty performances were given in two seasons. The tenth rendition of Swan Lake is currently running at NOVAT – a well-known ballet master Mikhail Messerer revived Bolshoi’s renowned production choreographed by Alexander Gorsky and Asaf Messerer.
Full of Spanish charm Ludwig Minkus’ festive Don Quixote premiered on the Novosibirsk stage on 30th April as well, but in 1954. Kitri was brilliantly performed by legendary dancer Lidia Krupenina. This ballet was staged by Mikhail Satunovsky Chief Ballet Master of the company in 1952-1958. Mikhail Satunovsky fought in the Great Patriotic war; he carried off the battlefield ninety seven wounded soldiers and got wounded himself. His works represent another landmark chapter of the theatre’s history, since he directed the staging of The Bronze Horseman, Esmeralda, Swan Lake, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty. Don Quixote has almost always been included in the company’s repertoire, and since 2016 it runs in Mikhail Messerer’s rendition. Costumes and sets were designed by People’s Artist of Russia Vyacheslav Okunev.
Another significant entry is Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore turning sixty five years since its premiere on the Siberian stage. In spring 1955 Verdi’s masterpiece was staged by conductor Allan Zholents, director Roman Tikhomirov and designer Alexander Tsesevich. The performance involved Novosibirsk opera stars Lidia Myasnikova (later entitled People’s Artist of the USSR and honorary citizen of Novosibirsk), Natalia Kurtener, Nadezhda Pervozvanskaya, and Boris Kokurin.
First performance of Vladimir Rubin’s Sevastopol was given at the Novosibirsk opera and ballet theatre on 30th April 1970. A well-known Soviet composer defined the genre of his work as musical tragedy. Its libretto depicts one day of the Great Patriotic war - the death-day of the defenders of a small stronghold near Sevastopol in July 1942.
The heroic opera was staged by the creative team consisting of conductor Isidor Zak, directors Emil Pasynkov and Tatiana Smirnova, designer Albin Morozov. This production was quite unusual for those times; the singing was accompanied by commentary, dramatic dialogues and excerpts from actual letters of Sevastopol’s defenders.
The next interesting performance premiered on 30th April 1999. A game performance Let’s Make an Opera “The Little Sweep” by Benjamin Britten was staged at the Theatre for Young Audiences. The first part takes the form of a play in which the cast portray contemporary amateur performers conceiving, creating and rehearsing the opera about a little sweep. The actual opera is performed in the second part and involves active participation of the audience. The performance was conducted and co-directed by Alexander Bolshakov, Evgeny Volynsky; stage direction by Alexey Karatygin, design by Natalia Povago.
In the present century, 30th April 2011, the Novosibirsk stage saw the return of Aram Khachaturyan’s legendary Spartacus ballet with choreography by Yury Grigorovich and scenery design by Simon Virsaladze. One of the theatre’s most distinguished performances was revived with the assistance of tutor Vladislav Fedonin and designers Vladimir Rumyantsev (scenery), Mikhail Sokolov (lighting). Nowadays the performance astonishes the audience with NOVAT highly skilled modern ballet stars Roman Polkovnikov, Anna Zharova, Mikhail Lifentsev, Anna Odintsova, Natalia Ershova, Olga Grishenkova, Artem Pugachev, Ksenia Zakharova, Anna Germizeeva.
