Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre welcomes an extraordinary premiere - Sergei Prokofiev's opera "The Gambler" on February 12, 14 and 15. She will bring back two soloists missed by the audience: Asmik Grigorian and Vladimir Prudnikova, to the performances of this theater after a ten-year break.
Before that, the last time the audience heard V. Prudnikova singing in this theater was in the opera "Love and Other Demons" in 2010. in January, and A. Grigorian - in the opera "The Marriage of Figaro" in September of the same year.
A. Grigorian, who was recognized as the best opera singer at the International Opera Awards last year and was chosen as the Singer of the Year by the influential "Opernwelt" magazine, will receive the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Award this week.
At the press conference of the "Lošeja" premiere, the soloist said that LNOBT, where her parents sang, has been her home since childhood. "Being here is extremely warm and good. And a lot of memories," admitted A. Grigorian.
Speaking about whether it is easy to rehearse together with her husband, the director of the production of "The Gambler" Vasilis Barchatov, the soloist said that she completely trusts him: "He knows very clearly what he wants, so I can just follow the instructions and not think. Such directors are rare", asserted the world-renowned opera star.
However, A. Grigorian added that she and her husband usually do not share advice on how to work and adhere to the agreement not to comment on each other's work. And at home he tries not to talk about work in general.
"The Gambler" is the second play directed by V. Barchatov at LNOBT. in 2012 In Vilnius, he created a production of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's opera "Eugene Onegin", which opened the way for him to European theaters: after the premiere in Vilnius, the audience of St. Petersburg, Wiesbaden and Stockholm opera houses saw the same version of "Eugene Onegin" on their stages.
V. Barchatov moved the characters of S. Prokofiev's opera "The Gambler" from the fictional resort of Ruletenburg by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a classic of Russian literature, to the guest house of today's western metropolis, where emigrants from various countries are staying. This guest house resembles a small village, because the residents, when they meet in common spaces, get a lot of insight into each other's affairs.
According to the director, the main characters of the opera balance on the edge of destruction in one way or another: Alexei (Dmitry Golovnin), enchanted by the mania of roulette, forgets about his love for Polina (Asmik Grigorian), she realizes that the money won will not save her future, and the General (Vladimir Prudnikov) breaks down, having lost his beloved Blanša (Ieva Prudnikovaitė) and losing hope of receiving Bobulytė's (Inesa Linaburgytė) inheritance...
"Why am I satisfied with one line-up of soloists? This is dictated by the global practice of theaters. There used to be several ensembles when opera houses relied on their troupes of soloists when staging operas. Now, with guest stars playing the main parts, multiple lineups would mean several completely different performances.
Can you imagine what would be left of the famous movie "The Godfather" if you changed all its actors? It would be a different movie, not necessarily worse, but completely different. The same thing happens with opera performances: after all, it is impossible to find several identical singers for each party", said V. Barchatovas at the press conference.
The first premiere of "The Gambler" directed by him in 2018. came out at the Basel Theater in Switzerland. A. Grigorian and Russian tenor D. Golovninas also sang the main parts in it, and the same conductor Modest Pitrėnas was the music director of the production.
In Vilnius, he worked together with LNOBT chief conductor Ričardas Šumila, who emphasized that the production of "The Gambler" united different generations of Lithuanian opera performers.
