Organization

Libretto

Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Singer

Bass

Denis Makarov

Rene

Baritone

Andrei Potaturin

Robert

Tenor

Najmiddin Mavlyanov

Count Vaudemont

Elchin Azizov

Ibn-Hakia

Ivan Maksimeyko

Almeric

Vladimir Komovich

Bertrand

Soprano

Anna Nechaeva

Iolanta

Contralto

Svetlana Shilova

Marta

Guzel Sharipova

Brigitta

Mezzo-soprano

Anna Bondarevskaya

Laura

Stage director

Sergey Zhenovach

Conductor

Anton Grishanin

Andrey Lebedev

Alexander Soloviev

Tugan Sokhiev

Vladimir Fedoseyev

Lighting designer

Damir Ismagilov

Set designer

Alexander Borovsky

Chorus master

Valery Borisov

Bolshoi Theatre

Russian

Iolanta, op. 69 -  (Iolanta)

Moscow

Russia

Beethoven Hall

Iolanta Tchaikovsky,P

Public

Approved

Iolanta and The Nutcracker were commissioned to Tchaikovsky by the directorate of the Mariinsky Theater. It is believed that the idea to combine a one-act opera and a two-act ballet in one evening belongs to the director of the Imperial Theaters, Ivan Vsevolozhsky. In July 1891 the composer began work on the opera, in September the clavier was ready, and in December the orchestration was completed.

In the fall of 1892, rehearsals began at the Mariinsky Theater. The opera was conducted by Eduard Napravnik, the ballet by Riccardo Drigo. On December 5, 1892, a dress rehearsal took place in the presence of Alexander III. “The sovereign was delighted, called to the box and uttered a lot of sympathetic words. The staging of both is magnificent, and in ballet it is even too magnificent - the eyes get tired of this luxury , ”the composer wrote. The premiere took place on December 6, 1892 with great success. Despite the enthusiastic reception of the public, critics reacted coolly to the new compositions.

The opera is based on the dramatic poem of the Danish playwright Heinrich Hertz "The Daughter of King Rene" about the miraculous healing of a blind princess. Although the story is completely fictional, the characters have real historical prototypes - Yolanda of Anjou, her father Rene of Anjou and her husband Frederic II of Vaudemons. This plot has already been mastered by the Russian theater scene. In 1888, the play, revised by Vladimir Zotov, was staged at the Maly Theater. The play lasted several seasons in the repertoire. It is on Zotov's alteration that Modest Tchaikovsky's libretto is based.

A year after the St. Petersburg premiere, on November 11, 1893, Iolanta was first presented at the Bolshoi Theater. Conducted by Ippolit Altani, staged by Anton Bartsal, and designed by Karl Waltz. The title role was performed by Margarita Eichenwald (it was her that Tchaikovsky wanted to see in the Petersburg production as well).

In total, the opera was staged on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater seven times (in 1893, 1899, 1917, 1940, 1974, 1997 and 2015). The performances of 1940, 1974 and 1997 became real long-livers, "holding out" in the repertoire for nineteen years, twenty-three years and seventeen years, respectively.
The directors Romuald Vasilevsky, Vladimir Lossky, Titian Sharashidze, Oleg Moralev, Georgy Ansimov worked on the productions. The performances were designed by leading theater artists, including Konstantin Korovin, Sergei Barkhin. At various times, the most prominent conductors of the Bolshoi turned to this opera: Emil Cooper, Samuil Samosud, Alexander Melik-Pashaev, Mark Ermler, Alexander Lazarev, Fuat Mansurov, Pavel Sorokin. The title role was performed by outstanding singers: Antonina Nezhdanova, Glafira Zhukovskaya, Elizaveta Shumskaya, Natalia Shpiller, Bela Rudenko, Tamara Sorokina, Tamara Milashkina, Makvala Kasrashvili, Larisa Rudakova, Maria Gavrilova.

A well-known director, a recognized master of the "theater of great literature", artistic director of the Theater Art Studio (and now the Moscow Art Theater) Sergei Zhenovach worked on the stage implementation of the play. This was his first production at an opera house.

The performance is not tied to a specific time or place. The directors put at the forefront not everyday life, but the poetry of presentation. In their opinion, as soon as the action begins to acquire an everyday character, this opera - “thin, fragile, naive” - simply begins to fall apart. Their goal was to tell a real human story, passing it through poetic images and trying to find answers to the questions of what is light, what is darkness, what is blindness and insight, what kind of "two worlds - the flesh and the spiritual." “Iolanta” is a very clean, naive, light opera, but not at all as simple as it seems, ”says Sergei Zhenovach. - By its nature, I would compare it with Mozart's The Magic Flute. This is a fantastic tale with its own philosophical meaning and serious overtones. For all its naivety, there is a huge drama in it ”.

English

Iolanta by Tchaikovsky, P. I., From (2021/2022), Directed by Sergey Zhenovach,, Conductor Anton Grishanin, Andrey Lebedev, Alexander Soloviev, Tugan Sokhiev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Russia

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues