The soloists of the major opera regions of Europe will sing Tosca and Il Trovatore in Chelyabinsk theater programs, as well as at the concluding gala concert. In neighboring Ekaterinburg the audience bade farewell to the Italians with tears: our public had received the guests as their own.
The idea for the unique festival belongs to Boris Statsenko. Born in the city of Korkino in the Chelyabinsk Region, the greatest Verdi baritone in Europe, he knows full well that opera must be heard live, but that the Chelyabinsk public will be unlikely to go to Italy. Hence, Italy must be brought to South Ural.
Nowadays the festival has expanded its geography, encompassing Perm and Ekaterinburg, where the Italians performed the gala concert alone. On the Chelyabinsk grounds, however, the long-awaited guests will take part in two of our theater's «Italian» productions — Tosca and Il Trovatore. Moreover, this year the entire Chelyabinsk theater is prepared to perform in the original language.
Renowned base Luigi Roni, greatest Puccini opera performer Maria Pia Gionata, young perfomers Laura Brioli, Renzo Giulian, Francesco Medda, Kristina Martufi, orchestral director Stefano Rabalia, and, of course, Boris Statsenko himself — all these names are well known to the European frequenter of theaters such as La Scala, Arena di Verona, the Metropolitan Opera, and Covent Garden.
«For our performers, cooperation with famous Italian singers is a master class of sorts. But what about for the Italians?»
«I have spoken with the director,» replies Boris Statsenko, «and according to him he not only teaches the orchestra, but learns from it as well. For the Italians it is a chance to see Ural. They are happy to see the snow, to see the Russian people — in particular they note that people here are very open. They say that even if the sun is behind the clouds, the people are still sunny.»
«You are prepared to present the public with German and even Greek opera?»
«If any theater agrees. In Chelyabinsk they have never heard Wagner’s operas. I can gather a company of German singers and bring a German director. It can happen — German opera, and French, and Greek. My aim is to popularize original opera. Look how many works have been performed to date that the public has never heard. Of course, new music is a little strange to the ear, and hence meets with less success. It is easier to sing „La Donne Mobile — Heart of a Beauty“: a resounding success is assured. But we wanted for the public to become acquainted with Italian music.»
At the gala concert the Italians sang arias from the Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci, Macagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, and Puccini's Madame Butterfly. The first section the house indeed met with marked coolness — at first the applause and shouts of «Bravo!» came loudest from Luigi Roni himself in the director’s box. By the second section, however, the Chelyabinsk public had had time to learn the Italian names and remember who had sung and how, became accustomed, and began themselves crying, «Molodtsy!» When Boris Statsenko rolled the grand piano out onto the stage, to the accompaniment of which the Italians energetically played Neapolitan songs, the Ural public received the young producers with outright warmth. When Laura Brioli ran to the table with the page of a song not yet learned by heart, they took her as one of their own. From the very first chords the house pretended that it had long been familiar with Neapolitan songs. Laura smiled, nodded, made a Neapolitan gesture a la Carmen — and Chelyabinsk forgave the Italians both their unquestionable perfection and their indubitable superiority. At present Chelyabinsk is awaiting Tosca and Il Trovatore, the concluding gala concert, and, perhaps, even Wagner — if Boris Statsenko's plans come to pass.