#roman burdenko

[contemporaryclassicalfan]

Dutch National Opera presents Rigoletto as a mental wreck in a psychiatric clinic

Under dramatically dissonant orchestral sounds, the curtain rises on Rigoletto, Verdi’s 17th opera, in the Amsterdam Music Theatre. Instead of the ballroom in the ducal palace from the libretto, we find ourselves in a frigid room in a psychiatric clinic. In this 2017 revival, director Damiano Michieletto presents Rigoletto as a mental wreck, broken by grief and guilt. The hunchbacked jester who…

[mozart2006]

Bayerische Staatsoper - Pikowaja Dama

Foto ©Wilfried Hösl Non ho difficoltà ad ammetterlo: anche se amo alla follia Pikowaja Dama, che considero uno tra i capolavori assoluti del teatro d’ opera ottocentesco, Continue reading Bayerische Staatsoper – Pikowaja Dama

[sorinkavglazy]

How about some social distancing? Nope. Even if kitchen is your stage)))

[demoura]

UMA NOITE NA OPÉRA” ; CANTORES DE GRANDE QUALIDADE ,UMA ORQUESTRA EM BOA FORMA E UM MAESTRO TALENTOSO BRILHARAM NO ÚLTIMO CONCERTO ANTES DO ENCERRAMENTO DA GULBENKIAN: embora os espectáculos caleidoscópio não sejam das minhas preferências musicais ontem “ uma noite na ópera” foi uma despedida em beleza na hora do encerramento de todas as actividades culturais até 30 de janeiro (por agora ) ...Sorte nossa a data da assinatura ! Os solistas eram de alto nível a começar pela soprano coqueluche Alyn Perez . Todas as criticas às suas actuações nas grandes casas de ópera exaltam a “ morbidezza “ de seu canto. Tebaldi e de Los Angeles são as referências evocadas para “o som delicado, de textura fina, mas dramaticamente incisivo da voz de Pérez cujo rosto reflecte toda a emoção vívida da música. “ Não tem atitudes de diva e trazia o vestido de Rene Ruiz ( fotografia de Dário Acosta) Cantou árias famosas da Tosca com o tenor Guerrero mas para mim o maior impacto veio das exigentes árias “Carlo Gérard?”“La mamma morta”de Andre Chenier e de S’ khorosho… (Como tudo aqui é belo…), op. 21 nº 7 de Sergei Rachmaninov. Mas a grande surpresa foram os cantores russos .Margarita Gritskova meio -soprano e o barítono Roman Burdenko . Desde 2012 a mezzo russa integra o elenco da Ópera Estatal de Viena, onde em 2018 cantou com grande êxito Carmen de Bizet da qual ouvimos árias ontem . A russa entra no palco e assume o controle .Desde sua primeira aparição , a voz acaricia seduz ; um belo timbre, segurança nas notas altas e uma atraente presença cénica . Teve prestações notáveis em peças raramente ouvidas como “Da, chas Nastal!”da Donzela de Orleães de Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky, a Ária de Marfa da Khovanchtchina de Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov,e e “I am easily assimilante”do Candide de Leonard Bernstein. Finalmente o elogio para o barítono russo Burdenko solista do teatro Marinsky desde 2017 que depois de uma ária de Escamillo da Carmen de Bizet cantou de forma magistral “Nemico della pátria” da opera Andrea Chénier de Umberto Giordano e a ária de Robert de Iolanta de Tchaikovsky. A Orquestra Gulbenkian está em boa forma e o seu jovem e talentoso maestro titular Lorenzo Viotti respondeu de forma brilhante aos desafios do programa . No final todos em polifonia cantaram Granada perante o entusiasmo do público . Foi a despedida ,por enquanto temporária ,da época 2020- 2021.A ver vamos ..

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[joaquimblog]

Ekaterina Semenchuk i Gregory Kunde, Samson et Dalila Teatre Mariinski 2016

Ekaterina Semenchuk (Dalila)

Samson et Dalila, acte 3er Producció de Yannis Kokkos

https://infernemland.blog/2016/11/17/samson-et-dalila-al-regio-de-tori-kunde-barcellona-sgura-comelli-jaianisteinberg/

Samson et Dalila, acte 1er Producció de Yannis Kokkos

Una setmana justa després del cap de setmana “Gergiev” a Barcelona, divendres amb l’orquestra del Mariinski i dissabte i diumenge amb un mix entre l’orquestra russa i l’OBC tots tres a l’Auditori, us porto al director rus dirigint el Samson et Dalila de Saint-Saëns en un streaming en diferit que ha ofert el Canal Mezzo, gravat al Mariinski en les representacions que van tenir lloc a finals de maig i principis de juny de l’any passat.

Gergiev potser no carrega lles tintes més dramàtiques de la partitura però la seva direcció està carregada de sensualitat i d’una precisió sonora i un detall virtuosístic, extraordinari. Els temps són excessivament pausats i jo diria que es recrea en excés per el sensual melodisme de la partitura, però el resultat és indiscutiblement bell. Hem escoltat bacanals més enceses o segons actes més erotitzats, mentre que dubto que el primer acte l’hagem escoltat més íntim que sota la direcció del director rus. És una pregaria d’intensitat mística, que fins que no entra Dalila en escena esdevé un oratori en tota regla.

Interessant direcció que segurament no agradarà a tothom però que en a mi m’ha convençut plenament, no així la producció de Yannis Kokos que cau en el ridícul i sovintejat recurs de recórrer a l’estètica del nazisme per situar el patiment i submissió del poble hebreu, amb una barreja estètica a estones poc digerible. Samson et Dalila és una òpera complexa d’escenificar, però això no justifica aquest recurs fàcil,, sobretot si està resolt de manera tan poc brillant.

Coreografia decebedora per a un teatre rus, on hi ha tants bons ballarins per fer de la bacanal un moment especialment brillant.

Vocalment la parella protagonista està notablement servida per Gregory Kunde, en millor forma vocal que en les representacions torineses que ja van ser motiu d’un apunt a IFL i Ekaterina Semenchuk de poderosa vocalitat mezzosopranil i una mica escasa en el registre acontraltat que requereix la part. No arriba a les cotes d’excel·lència i sensualitat d’Anita Rachvelishvili a París, però és una bona Dalila.

De la resta del repartiment cal destacar el vell hebreu del baix Stanislav Profino, mentre que Mikhail Petrenko és un insuficient Abimélech i Roman Burdenko un més que suficient Gran Prëtre de Dagon.

Magnífiques les dues formacions de la casa, amb una orquestra inspirada i un cor d’una ductilitat i qualitat extraordinària.

Camille Saint-Saëns

SAMSON ET DALILA

Llibret de Ferdinand Lemaire

  Ekaterina Semenchuk (Dalila)

Gregory Kunde (Samson)

Roman Burdenko (Le Grand Prêtre de Dagon)

Mikhail Petrenko (Abimélech)

 Stanislav Profino (el vell hebreu)

 Vitaly Dudkin (Missatger Filisteu)

 Yuri Alexeyev (Primer Filisteu)

 Yuri Yevchuk (segon filisteu)

  Orquestra i Cor del Tetre Mariinski de Sant Petersburg

Andrei Petrenko (Director del cor)

Direcció musical: Valery Gergiev 

Director d’escena: Yannis Kokkos

Disseny de vestuari: Yannis Kokkos, Paola Mariani 

Dramaturgia: Anne Blancard 

Disseny de llums: Michael Bauer

Coreografia: Maxim Petrov 

Concepte videogràfic: Eric Duranteau

Théâtre Mariinski (Saint- Pétersbourg maig/juny del 2016

No em vaig poder retrobar amb Gergiev la setmana passada perquè com sabeu era a París per assistir al retorn de Kaufmann als escenaris i per tant aquí no hi ha hagut la crònica, com alguns m’heu demanat, dels concert amb el tercer acte de Tristan, ni tampoc la col·laboració amb l’OBC que tothom diu que va ser especialment reeixida, el comentari d’aquest streaming del Samson et Dalila amb algun que altre problema a la banda sonora, supleix ni que sigui en part, aquesta absència i encara que no sigui de rabiosa actualitat té suficient interès com protagonitzar un apunt. Espero que hi estigueu d’acord.

GERGIEV DIRIGEIX SAMSON ET DALILA (Kunde-Semenchuk-Burdenko-Petrenko-Profino;Kokkos-Gergiev) Una setmana justa després del cap de setmana "Gergiev" a Barcelona, divendres amb l'orquestra del Mariinski i dissabte i diumenge amb un mix entre l'orquestra russa i l'OBC tots tres a l'Auditori, us porto al director rus dirigint el…

[rolflovesclassicalmusic]

Blog post #460 — Concert review, ★★★★½, Valery Gergiev, Mariinsky Orchestra, Irina Churilova, Najmiddin Mavlyanov, Roman Burdenko, Mikhail Petrenko, Evgeny Nikitin @ Lucerne, KKL, 2019-01-09 — Tchaikovsky: Opera "Iolanta", op.69 (excerpts); Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.5 in E minor, op.64 #rolfsmblog

[teleindiscreta]

Endiablado "Stiffelio"

Endiablado “Stiffelio”

«Stiffelio», de Verdi. Voces: Roberto Arónica, Angela Meade, Roman Burdenko, Simon Lim, etc. Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa y Coro de Ópera de Bilbao. Director musical: Francesco Ivan Ciampa. Director de escena: Guy Montavon. Palacio Euskalduna. Bilbao, 21-I-2017.

ABAO ofrece esta temporada «Stiffelio» dentro de su proyecto «Tutto Verdi», habiendo presentado en 2009 la versión revisada de este…

[nakaji5876-blog]

ロレックスコピー販売 中国は傑出している

ロレックス 心力を傾けた大会決勝戦満場の先生はドミンゴを指揮している。 唯一の影 受賞作リストに一覧。 W.The Culturarte Prize 賞金ドルだ。10,000Bertita Martとは提供Guillermoínezイタリアのテノールがアントニオである。 ポリ(Antonio Poli)(26) The Don Plcido Domingo、W.、ázarzuelaPrize.Sr 賞金ドルだ。10,000中国で声楽家、バリトン。ワンウン氏(24)が勢いよく宙 W.The Pepita Embil Domingo Zarzuela Prize 賞金ドルだ。 ロレックスコピー 10,000アジアは米国のソプラノ(29)、ロレーナ?占めた。(Janai Brugger)ブルグ 3等賞を受けた。 二つは 各10,000だ。ロシアバリトンがロマンとロシアは科挙に及第した見た。 メゾソプラノ(Roman Burdenko)(28)であるジェイがそののヤシン師をキャリー。(Nadezhda Karyazina)(25) 2等賞を受けた。 二つは 各20,000だ。米男子はそれぞれ共同受賞者テナーのブライアン?と中国で、恐らくディネザード大統領は"(Brian Jagde)(32)ワンウン、女性(24)を勢いよく宙の受賞者のソプラノだ。 ロレックスコピー販売 中国は傑出している(29) 1等に当選した。 二つは 各30,000だ。米男子はそれぞれ共同受賞者テナーの高いアンソニー?ロス補佐とモンゴルとスタンバリトン(Anthony Roth Costanzo)(30歳)の写真アマレ?ストドゥマイオ、女子部の受賞者の夫を幸せだ米国(Amartuvshin)(26)。女子高のロレーナ?41.アジアブルグ(Janai Brugger)(29) 最も多くの視聴者の愛の二つの賞を受賞した。 ロレックスはそれぞれ一つの腕時計を提供する。そのソプラノ歌手は米国のロレーナ?とアジア、中国で男ブルグ"(Janai Brugger)(29)がぶんを決めた。 ワンウン氏(24) 二つだ。?Birgit Nilsson Prizes(-ワグナー?シュトラウスプログラム) 各15,000だ。米国に賞を授与する男テナーのブライアン?世界多分ディネザード大統領と提携して先発でイェーガールクルトゥルジャオウェイ(Brian Jagde)(32)デート女性時計シリーズだ。 2012年06月29日、腕時計の出典:09:07の作成者:家のドアを転載する。 ロレックススーパーコピー 有 第15回上海国際映画祭の開幕を控え、首脳級の時計メーカー、イェーガールクルトゥルスイス製上海映画館で開かれたブリーフィングを通じてヒョンサンが盛大なブランドで全世界に先発で仲良し約束ジャオウェイシリーズだ。腕時計だ。(Rendez-Vous)女性 映画祭の開幕がとても幸せだったイェーガールクルトゥルを控えて国際的な協力を深度ある俳優ジャオウェイを開き、ブランドの親友はジャオウェイに現れた一連の資格で世界祭り行事がイェーガールクルトゥルだ。

[sorinkavglazy]

Just returned from seeing Strauss’ Salome live for the first time. Not gonna bore you with what an absolute goddess Elena Stikhina was. This is her star role after all and she, well, shined. I also really liked ‘Narraboth’, whoever sang him - didn’t recognize the guy but he did a very good job of his short part. ‘Jochanaan’ was sang by Vadim Kravetz, who looked rebelious and properly sexy to be lusted after but I’ve had the same problem with his sound I had when I last saw him as ‘Jack Rance’ in La Fanciulla del West several months ago - not enough volume! Sometimes the orchestra simply drowned him and that’s not the sound I expect to hear from the ill-fated prophet. I kept wishing for Roman Burdenko or Vladislav Sulimsky... or any number of lesser Mariinsky baritones - they have like a lot of those to choose from! Usually the tenor is the problem... But not today - Andrey Popov delivered a great ‘Herodes’ - horny, pathetic and believably hopeless to rule over his own and other people’s passions. Popov has a type of screechy tenor voice I usually rather strongly dislike but here he is so much in his proper place with both singing and acting that I ended up really impressed! Not so much so with ‘Herodias’ - I’m not sure whether it was the singer or the part itself but she just didn’t do it for me. On the pit side of the thing... Well, Gergiev was predictably late 20 minutes+ As if anybody had been expecting anything else... This man is simply pathological! On the quality of the music-making - I can’t really judge - everything kind of sounded good to me after Valeriy Abisalovich finally graced the audience with his presence. The production is very modern but it’s good modern. I liked everything about it except for the famous veil-dance part. They’ve muddled it and made it way too safe! Otherwise a really solid staging. 

Well, Donizatti’s rarity Gemma di Vergy’s next on Thursday. No idea who’s going to sing... Very common with these consert performances *sigh* have to wait and hear...

Also, if anyone wishes to have a reason (or a dozen) to join the church of Elena, here’s my playlist of the goddess herself: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0V75_MitlSxKXygs0W6Wn7bi7JZxkrQ3 Just in case)

[sorinkavglazy]

‘Nobody compares to my Mathilde!’ I’ll be humming it for some time) Roman Burdenko delivered this famous aria in today’s Iolanta like he was living and breathing it! And it, I think, is as it should be in opera. Overall Iolanta was fine. Solidly good. Especialy for something so fairytalish and lighthearted! I liked all of the performers and the staging’s fine - I think you all probably saw it - it’s the same famous one Netrebko premiered. Today we had the same ‘Vaudemont’ from that video and Sergey Skorokhodov still owns this wish-pining role wholeheartedly. I loved his performance but actually everyone was on point tonight from ‘King Rene’ sung by Mikhail Petrenko (I actually like him the most as ‘Maluta Skuratov’ in The Tsar’s Bride with his hardened criminal appearence but he was really good as a kind king tonight) to the blind princess herself sung by Ekaterina Goncharova, who I heard as ‘Mimi’ this summer and as ‘Micaela’ once... I think... But, of course, Burdenko and Robert’s famous ode to Mathilde got the most enthusiastic reaction and not only because it was superbly sung but also because the phrase ‘Nobody compares to my Mathilde’ has become a catchphrase in Russian) I don’t think most people who use it as lighthearted, a-bit-of-having-fun compliment to a woman realise it’s from this opera at all) Ok, in case anybody wants to refresh their memories, I’ll leave it here)

The Enchantress is next on Wednesday. I love Tchaikovsky! What can I say?)

[sorinkavglazy]

So, ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ yesterday. First of all, let me tell you - it was hell of a week. But not anymore. The hell stopped yesterday. Thanks to Donizetti’s masterpiece superbly delivered by Olga Pudova, Sergei Skorokhodov and Roman Burdenko. You know, during one of the round tables of Digital Opera 2.0 they lamented in a rather amused manner that in most modern operatic reviews everything from lighting to costumes to all of the director’s quirks is usually discussed in detail while the singing is given a cursory look at best. Being the contrarion I am, I’ll continue to talk about the singers first and foremost with or without your permission (bows rebeliously). 

Firstly, the murderous bride herself -I’ve heard Olga Pudova before a couple of times and she has always been superb! 

When this particular staging of ‘Lucia’ premiered last year I had to buy a ticket for the premiere run not knowing who was going to sing when (Mariinka can be a mess this way). I hoped for Pudova in the main part but ended up with Aigul Hismatullina instead, if I remember correctly. I can’t say she had been bad but nothing special comparing to the flooring rendition by Pudova this time round. I prefer deeper, darker, rounder voices in general so it’s a special task for a coloratura soprano to make me like her, but Pudova succeds. Yesterday she was everything I love in an opera singer - vulnerable in her portrail of ‘Lucia’ but oh so confident as a musical professional - I really like it when this part is sung bloomingly without me in the audience getting that treacherous feeling that soprano is wearing a diaper under her costume because it’s impossible to screech all those extreme high notes in this fashion without actually wetting herself... While the rest of singing of such sopranos is usually just ‘meh’ so you understand why they need those high notes. Right. Pudova is nothing like that. I hope to hear more of her. Like a lot more! Definitely as ‘Snegurochka’ and some bel canto parts. (The links are not from yesterday but the photos are - credit to  Natalia Yashina)

Sergei Skorokhodov is a pro. Out of all three leads he has most of an international career and he has sang ‘Edgardo’ like a lot and knows all ins and outs of the part and it shows. When I look at the guy I’m always amused because like Sergei’s career choises were 1. professional boxer (like his dad and two brothers) 2. operatic tenor... And tenor is was! It’s not an up-to-date video here but I can attest he still sound as youthful and fresh as he did back then!

I heard Roman Burdenko during the original run back in December with Aigul Hismatullina and Migran Agajianyan and he was good: menacing, conniving and tortured as every ‘Henry Ashton’ should be. However, Roman seems to a team player - I’ve noticed it several times already - in the presence of really good partners his own performance gets infinitely better. And that’s exactly what happened last night!

Also Evgeny Akhmedov (the other guy in the photo) might not be as good as Skorokhodov - hence not ‘Edgardo’, but he’s definitely tooo good for ‘Arturo’)

Oh... and staging, I’m supposed to say something about staging... Well, there was some. Some ideas were good, some bizarre. I really liked several bits and pieces - esp. the storm background of ‘Edgardo’ and ‘Henry’s duet. But there were a couple of ‘let’s pull the curtain down and change something for way too long’ moments and after the curtain was up not much actually had been altered... so I don’t know - back to the drawing board on the technical part? 

Can’t really say anything much about the orchestra and the conductor this time... kind of didn’t notice them much for better or for worse. All together a great night in the opera! Premiere of ‘Aida’ with Olesia Petrova, Richardo Massi and Tatyana Melnichenko in Mikhailovsky next. On Wednesday - can’t wait!

[sorinkavglazy]

Went to see Verdi’s ‘Atilla’. Gergiev was late - count me not surprised. Everything else was mostly better than expected. I had been rather peeved when another singer replaced Evgeniy Nikitin (who I really like and wanted to hear) in the tituliar role but the substitute did a very solid job, so no complaints here. Curiously enough, I heard both Roman Burdenko (who was Enzio today) and Evgeniy Akimov (Foresto) recently in ‘La Boheme’ - and they both sounded much better (IMHO, obviously) today... Like they were comfortable singing? Tatyana Sergian was good though the whole thing seemed a bit too ‘upbeat’ to sound really tragic and the ending... Does it feel abrupt because of all the changes made to the libretto or is it just me? No, not just me... I’ve heard a couple of girls discussing it confused-puzzled-angrily in the ladies’ room))) Also in view of my last night’s discussion with devlishlyoperatic I couldn’t walk past the display of Fiodor Shaliapin’s Boris Godunov costumes) The white nights are on the decline but still the lighting afterwards was sublime so after failing to find any otters in the water next to Novaya Gollandia island (I only got some ducks and a black cat - lucky me!) I took a selfie with the Kisses’ Bridge in the background - may it bring me luck)

[sorinkavglazy]

So, I need to write about yesterday’s Sadko. It deservs to be told about. But I’m also crazily tired and there’s no one making me write this. Just me, myself and opera! I was unsure about it all at first but ended up getting if not the blast... at least some serious amout of raw, pure emotions opera’s so good at invoking. I’m not sure there were moments I completely lost myself in music but I felt at home for certain. 

Throughout all the noise around me in real life I needed exactly that: an extremely traditional, dusty production of this endulgent, lavish score. Rimsky-Korsakov’s librettist Vladimir Bel’sky didn’t have the luxury of a Pushkin’s text to base his libretto on. As a result, we (well we the Russians) kind of know the story and who ‘Sadko’ as a character supposed to be (they often call him the Russian Tannhauser - I’m not exactly sure I completely agree) but it was easier to feel how stupid the actual words were. Most of operatic texts are sheer nonsense but when they aren’t in Russian I can just let it slide very easily. It’s obviously a lot more difficult with the Russian ones (especially when it’s clearly sung which was the case yesterday) and here usually Pushkin comes to the rescue! Here Bel’sky stands alone supported only by a vage idea of a plot in people’s minds and his distinctive ability to write in a fake old-Russian style language convinsingly.

O’k, I’m not really done with this preamble - not by a long shot, but let’s just leave it here or I’ll ramble the night away) The yesterday’s performance was good, if a bit uneven, and for a rare change I had a lot of feelings on a visual front which usually comes as no more than an afterthought for me. I’m kind of torn on this one. I kept wishing through the whole thing to see a different staging. Came up with two ideas eventually: on the one hand, I think, a kind of Robert Wilson style one would be nice. But when haven’t I thought almost any opera would look nice with Wilson’s touch? I simply love how his goes about his business! On the other hand, I think a Georges Méliès style production might be really great! I know i’s just because I saw Tonight, tonight music video by Smashing Pumpkins oh so many times as a teen that it’s kind of ingrained into my soul! And maybe, just maybe either approach - ‘Wilson’s’ and ‘Méliès’  doesn’t actually contradict the other! 

And BTW - when Sadko premiered in 1897 Georges Méliès was already making his crazy movies so why not go with what was modern during the composer’s life?

On the singing side I admit, I wasn’t sold immediately but the crux of the first act I was completely there in the imaginary Novgorod) The singers all did admirable job probably fiered up by the leading man’s enthusiasm - Najmiddin Mavlyanov has recently sang this part in Dmirty Chernyakov’s new (contravercial - who would expect anything other than?) production in the Big Theatre in Moskow and now he has brought it to Mariinsky. I’ve heard the guy before a couple of times but this role he sings as if it’s his last part ever! And that an ear-sight to behold! But lose the wig me lad... please lose that stupid light brownish wig... you have a nice dark mane and to hell with all those old Russian folk heroes stupid stereotypes!

The rest of the men in this opera have small if remarcably colourful parts - out of three famous ‘guests’ Roman Burdenko’s ‘Venecian’ was the best IMO and he also got the sturdiest round of applause! But I’ll leave you with my favourite ‘Varyazsky’ guest recording at the bottom of the post - yesterday it was nothing like that (sigh) but still good. 

On the female side, I must admit it was the first time I truly liked Maria Bayankina! ‘Volhova’ is so her part! Please, please, do more of thosw lighter roles! And no more Puccini! Her ‘Minni’ is still one of the cringiest things I’ve ever heard on the operatic stage!

Ekaterina Sergeeva’s ‘Luibava’ was also on point! Another singer who’s much better in her native repertoire than as another medium-rare ‘Carmen’... Another sigh - I’ll spare you my musings on the matter how impossible it is to build an operatic career on the Russian stuff for a mezzo.

I could’ve added a lot of other stuff but it’s late... So, I hope my rant is bearable! Stravinsky’s The Nightingale’s next on Sunday with my fave Olga Pudova and they’ve just announced that Elena Stikhina is premiering ‘Renata’ in Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel in May - you can bet I’ll be there! 

Oh... the orchestra and the conductor... well the were there and didn’t spoil the thing which is already a lot) 

It’s the day before yesterday! I will correct the errors tomorrow. Maybe. Right now I’m simply exhausted, hence GOOD NIGHT or whatever time of day it is where you are and best of the sleepy luck from me!

The old rec of the whole thing if anyone is interested:

[sorinkavglazy]

So, Queen of Spades was GGGREEEEAT! All of it was. What I'd like to mention specifically beside everything? Well, staging was pleasantly modern and on point and worked extremely well with the costumes and the dancers/statues make-up. I'm unable due to the lack of sufficient musical education to give an opinion on the conductor and orchestra's job but I went with my business partner who's actually a trained piano player and she's found no fault. Singers. Up to the last 2 days it wasn't stated on the site who was going to sing Hermann and I was hoping sooo much it would be Vladimit Galouzun who I loved so much as Calaf recently. But alas he's going to be Hermann next time on May 12... Today we've got Michail Vekua instead. He was good, just not as excelent as some other parts of the production. Especially at first. You know, when he started singing in the Summer garden in his first scene I kept wondering why he was choosing those particular vowels and not the others to press on? It's been some time since I listened to the Russian opera but.. and so no exuses to 'I don't know the language so maybe it's the way it's supposed to be' this time. Luckily by the time he had to sing 'Prosty nebesnoe sozdanie' he seemingly found his mojo and sound and stopped being overwhelmed by the orchestra. Why is it so important? Not only because he had Irina Bogacheva on the stage with him singing the countess and owning the part as she has done for years but because of Lisa... Elena Stihina really got to be a revelation for me! I'm oficially in love and really dissapointed that the next time I can see her in Mariinsky will be in ... October. But I definitely will. Both nerdy (though cute) Eletsky (Vladimir Moroz) and Tomsky (Roman Burdenko) did a nice solid job. My friend and everyone around seemed to like Eletsky a lot more than his moody rival! My overall impression is I loved it even though I didn't get everything(body) I wanted... Isn't a tiniest bit of dissapointment somewhat spicy?