UK/RUSSIA: KIROV COMPANY ENJOYING SUCCESS IN LONDON'S ROYAL OPERA HOUSE WITH OPERA OF TOLSTOY'S "WAR AND PEACE"

Record ID: 389690

  • Title: UK/RUSSIA: KIROV COMPANY ENJOYING SUCCESS IN LONDON'S ROYAL OPERA HOUSE WITH OPERA OF TOLSTOY'S "WAR AND PEACE"
  • Date: 28th June 2000
  • Summary: LONDON UK (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) SCU (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) GERGIEV CONTINUING I would say its a production of the end of the Twentieth Century for sure, and the music is also very much of the Twentieth Century."
  • Embargoed: 13th July 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UK / ST.PETERSBURG
  • City:
  • Country: Russian Federation United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA48ODBTOZ8OBMZDLSSOE9UDUJE
  • Story Text: The world-famous Kirov Opera company are currently enjoying a highly-acclaimed season at the recently refurbished Royal Opera House in London, performing lavish productions of three Russian Operas.
    Over their two week run, the Kirov Opera are bringing sheer spectacle to the stage of London's Royal Opera House.
    Despite ongoing controversy over the costly overhaul of the Covent Garden venue, and continued debate over affordable ticket prices and cost-effective management of the theatre, the arrival of Russia's foremost opera company has given the opera-world something else to talk about.
    Their stagings of three full length works, two by Prokofiev and one by Tchaikovsky (Mazeppa), as well as a concert-style performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden are delighting both audiences and critics alike.
    Singer, Yuri Laptev thinks this is party due to the universal themes that the operas deal with.
    "This production, you can understand our minds about our history, our minds about the life of our country ....I think the public can understand... because love, and death ....people understand this."
    The Kirov, known in Russia by it's pre-revolution name of the Mariinsky Opera, under the direction oF Valery Gergiev, has re-invigorated it's repertoire, retaining and updating their lavish production values to their stagings including the rarely performed Prokofiev opera Semyon Kotko, which was written during the Stalinist era.
    It is essentially a simple love story set against a backdrop of post-revolutionary struggles in the Ukraine.
    Originally with a heavy pro-Communist agenda - this element has been toned down slightly, and Kotko is still considered one of Prokofiev's finest pieces. Gergiev is well-known for championing Prokofiev's work, as well as preserving the reputation and values of the company, but nevertheless is keen to update the way it is performed.
    "Very very beautiful opera and very good production, exciting, by the way absolutely modern production, nothing to do with the traditional Russian way of staging opera, with very sophisticated lighting and costumes and movement on stage, it's quite, I would say its a production of the end of the Twentieth Century for sure, and the music is also very much of the Twentieth Century."
    There has been much discussion in Britain in recent years over the not just the accessibility of the arts, but also the breadth of their appeal to the general public.
    Gergiev accepts that not everyone will want to see opera, but also considers that everyone's tastes are subject to change.
    "It's very difficult to imagine very young people to go and lose a hundred pounds just for the pleasure to see some unusual opera, but after ten, fifteen, twenty years, they look at something else and when they are forty, when they have a family, when they are more serious about their professional and human responsibilities, they suddenly discover opera, or maybe they discover some writers, serious ones.
    "There is a difference between opera written by Britten or Prokofiev and opera written by Mozart, but there is also a very big difference between Mozart operas and soap operas, so there are differences, so we shouldn't try to eat everything, it's like what is good for you may not be necessarily good for me, but once you introduce me to something I will say oh, I like it.
    "And I start to belong to this group of people who enjoy sport or music or jazz, or American films. Some people don't like American films but they like very old traditional European French or Italian movies, it's natural."
    Of all the works being performed during the London run, perhaps the most anticipated is "War and Peace" - also by Prokofiev.
    With almost 70 named roles, over a hundred extras and over a thousand costumes, this is opera on a truly grand scale. The Kirov Opera, with its 200- year old history, has always always had a reputation for sumptuous productions, and it was this combined with the spectacular quality of their singing which thrilled audiences in London when they visited Covent Garden for the first time.
    At the time the Kirov Opera was virtually unknown outside Russia, but now they are one of the best-loved and well-known companies in the world - and their London season proves why.
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