From December 9th to 11th Orenburg hosted the V International Mstislav Rostropovich Festival, dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the great musician. The Opera Centre brought to the Festival Rachmaninoff’s Aleko and Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky.
On December 9th on stage of the Orenburg Philharmonic was presented Aleko by Rachmaninov in a concert. The performance of the soloists and the Orchestra of the Opera Centre was conducted by Hetag Tedeev, student of the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation.
Rachmaninoff’s Aleko is set in a modern time, the astonishing story of Aleko and Zemfira reveals in the beautiful and at the same time horrendous images of the megapolis, symbol of non free life and spiritual slavery. Remarkable voices and bright artistic individuality of the Opera Centre soloists let them not just to embody the tragedy of two rebellious souls, but to make the story of Aleko and Zemfira clear and close to the modern spectator.
The festival ended on December 11th with Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky. The performance of the Opera Centre took place on stage of the Orenburg State Drama Theatre. The orchestra of the Opera Centre was conducted by the winner of the Golden mask Andrey Lebedev.
According to the press reviews, “the performance of the Opera Centre combines both original directors vision, delicate approach to musical and theatrical material, laconic and expressive scenography. The exact embodiment of the author’s intention allows to name the setting perfect. Tchaikovsky wrote, he’d like to see young performers in the leading roles and here they are on the stage: Stanislav Lee, Ekaterina Petrova, Pavel Semagin (Onegin, Tatyana, Lensky). Brilliant performance, strong voices and artistry of young artists conquered the audience, and the performance ended as all the previous concerts with a standing ovation” (Orenburzhie).
This year the Festival celebrated its 5th anniversary. We hope, it will develop and prosper, make numerous music discoveries and have an appreciative audience.