The company is preparing to premiere Iolanta opera dedicated to NOVAT’s 75th and Tchaikovsky’s 180th anniversary, which will be celebrated by the world musical community on May 7th. Music Director of the production is Chief Conductor of NOVAT Dmitri Jurowski, Stage Director – Honored Artist of Russia Irkin Gabitov, Production Designer – People’s Artist of Russia Vyacheslav Okunev. Leading soloists of the Novosibirsk opera company are mastering their parts at home and consult the Music Director remotely.
“It is indeed a beautiful piece of art, which I really love - Iolanta by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. This one is his last opera, and it probably is his brightest and most moving creation – tells Dmitri Jurowski – this opera is not that long, but its content is incredibly emotional. I will use the same approach as I did with Eugene Onegin and other lyric operas: what’s very important to me is the “heart line”– the pulse of life, speeding up and slowing down from time to time. The main thing for us, participants, is to find our own pace that will correlate with Tchaikovsky and to avoid “inner blindness” and clichés common to many other Iolanta productions. That thing is crucial for me when working with the singers and the orchestra; luckily, we managed to practice all together before the situation has changed”.
Irkin Gabitov, an experienced master of opera direction, who has already worked several times with the Novosibirsk opera company stated the following: “In recent years there were quite a few Iolanta productions, a lot of contradictory ones, and therefore I set my goal to stage this opera as it was designed by Tchaikovsky – a fairy-tale full of deeper sacred meanings, about divine providence being the main aspect of human life, when the true enlightenment is finding God, love and willingness to self-sacrifice”.
Dear friends! By the links below you can find videos recorded by NOVAT artists, where they practice performing Iolanta opera at their homes: