Moscow news
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14-Feb-2008
Show Goes On for Bolshoi Theater
After undergoing a $569 million makeover, the jewel in the crown of Russian performing arts, the Bolshoi will be as magnificent as it was in 1856. "The Bolshoi belongs not just to Moscow but to all of Russia," the press secretary for the famous ballet and opera house, Katerina Novikova, told The Moscow News. Meanwhile, the Bolshoi performers are still captivating audiences at its temporary address next door.
The iconic red and gold auditorium and main halls will return. The originally envisaged 11 entrances will make access rather easier than the paltry three that were provided in the last century, and the facades and coats of arms will be restored to their original condition. "The renovators have consulted the archives, and it transpires that there will be a few differences, but they will be minimal" Lyuba Bushueva, a spokeswoman for the Bolshoi's renovation project press office, told The Moscow News.
Closed since the summer of 2005, the eagerly anticipated reopening of the Bolshoi's historic building is due in autumn 2009. "The absolute priorities of the Bolshoi's renovation are the preservation of the Bolshoi's historical building, now in critical condition; giving more space and the creation of modern security features for the public and artists. Also, the modernization of scenic equipment, to bracket the Bolshoi with the best modern musical theaters," said Bushueva.
Originally planned for completion this year, the revamping is taking longer than expected, the scale of the project is ambitious and a century's worth of ill advised amendments now need to be corrected. The theater was built on swampy ground and so the foundations have always been weak. A number of both temporary and drastic measures have kept the structure sound, but a drastic overhaul was unavoidable.
Modern technologies have made a complete renovation possible, but it has imposed restrictions as well. New fire regulations require more space and more leg room, which inevitably means fewer seats. The expansion of the orchestra pit (which will accommodate 130 rather than the former 90 musicians) also reduces audience capacity. "Overall there will be 100 foot less in the auditorium. The fire rules mean that there must be a gap of a few centimeters between the seats but I don't think it will be greatly different," Bushueva said.
"The Bolshoi has undergone numerous renovations, but never on such a grand scale. Meanwhile, each attempted improvement did irreparable harm to both the national landmark itself and to its acoustics," admitted the Bolshoi's Associate Director General, Vyacheslav Yefimov, in December 2004. The theater was so run down that the authorities installed a concrete substrate under the wooden floor, which saved the building but destroyed the acoustics. The concrete is now being removed and the auditorium's floor replaced with pine, the best material for the job. German experts in the field, Bosch Rexroth AG have been charged with the task, and are also creating underground storage space to replace the unsightly storage wings that flank the Bolshoi.
The problem of combining opera with ballet is that the two require different sorts of stage. An opera stage should reflect and reverberate the sound and send it out towards the audience. A ballet stage should absorb it. While the structure of the theater will be geared towards opera, a second stage is being built.
The newly expanded orchestra pit will allow for the huge scale productions required for Wagner and Richard Strauss. The company has recently performed Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer on the New Stage, where productions have been staged since 2005. It was co-produced with Bayreuth and heralds an expanded core repertoire that already included a certain range of foreign operas. Foreign opera companies and productions have long been a feature of the Bolshoi, rubbing shoulders with its Russian classics, and once reconstruction is finished a number of tours to major international houses are hoped for. Discussions are currently underway with Paris, La Scala, Covent Garden and the Met.
Tickets to the New Stage are now available and may be bought next door (left side) to the Bolshoi Theater, behind the Okhotny Ryad metro.
By Tom Washington
Program at the New Stage for February:
?Friday 15, 7:00pm - Iolanta Tchaikovsky, Opera in 2 acts
Saturday 16, 12:00am - Cipollino Khachaturyan, Ballet in 2 Acts
Saturday 16 and Sunday 17, 7:00pm - The Bright Stream Shostakovich, Comic Ballet in 2 acts
Sunday 17, 12:00am - Tosca Puccini, Opera in 3 Acts
Wednesday 20, 7:00pm; Thursday 21, 7:00pm; Saturday 23, 7:00pm - Premiere La Sylphide Levenskold, Ballet in 2 Acts
Sunday 24, 7:00pm - The Perm Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Company - The Four Seasons Verdi, Ballet in one act, Concert Chopin, Ballet in one act
Monday 25, 7:00pm - Mariynsky Theatre - Serenade Tchaikovsky, Ring 2H Company - The Awakening of Flora Drigo
Wednesday 25, 7:00pm - Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet - Apollo Stravinsky, Ballet in one act, Whisper in the Dark Glass, Ballet in one act, Serenade Tchaikovsky, Ballet in one act
The Moscow News