Organization

Stage director

Alexey Veiro

Conductor

Alexander Zhilenkov

Valery Kritskov

Lighting designer

Aivar Salikhov

Choreographer

Sergey Satarov

Chorus master

Yulia Senyukova

Singer

Tenor

Anton Bochkaryov

Nikolas

Soprano

Nestan Meboniya

Natalie

Kristina Bikmaeva

Anna Sinitsyna

Marie

Ekaterina Mirzoyants

Bass

Dmitry Orlov

François

Andrey Fetisov

Ekaterina Kichigina

Madame Bersen

Aleksandra Saulskaya-Shultyaeva

Ilya Kuzmin

Valera

Alexander Popov

Video designer

Дарья Синцова

Novaya Opera

The Seller Of Toys

Moscow

Russia

Novaya Opera Theatre

The Seller Of Toys Shelygin

Public

Approved

The fantasy opera Toy Seller was commissioned by Alexei Shelygin , one of the most sought-after composers of theater and cinema, a laureate of the prestigious Golden Aries, Seagull, Nika, and Golden Rhino awards. The work of Alexei Shelygin is known to everyone: it is music for 150 films and TV series (including the films "Sky. Airplane. Girl", "Shadow Boxing", TV series "Brigade", "Penal Battalion"), to many TV programs, drama performances, documentaries as well as academic works and applied music.

The philosophical tale about a French toy seller who finds happiness and the meaning of life in the homeland of his ancestors, in Russia, has already become the reason for the creation of the play of the same name (2010), a movie (2012), a musical (2018), and now an opera. But the libretto of the opera is strikingly different from both the book and the film. The poet Kirill Krastoshevsky changed the plot twist, added, in his words, "a little theatrical action", created a whole world of toys, equal to the world of people.
In the opera, they will be performed by the choir artists, and each of them will be a unique toy!

The director Alexei Veiro conceived the opera as a parable performance so that everyone could find something important for themselves in it. "This format is good because it can exist in the form of a fairy tale at the level of a child, and as a parable at the level of an adult, with an important message for thoughtful self-reflection." What is happening on the stage is like the game of a certain child who came to his father's office, sat down at his desk, littered with newspapers and stock market reports, took out his toys and started the game.

The amazingly beautiful music of the opera is absolutely traditional; the influence of cinema is very much felt in it. As conductor Alexander Zhilenkov noted , "there are hits here that are easy to remember, you want to hum them." It was important for composer Alexei Shelygin to create an opera that would be pleasant for us to listen to and for singers to sing. “My opera is in constant dialogue with opera for the last three centuries, and sometimes even with the Baroque era. A toy is a strange phenomenon in which reality (for a child at the moment of play it is real life) and fantasy are combined. I hope the audience will feel this border of fantasy and reality in my music. "

English

The Seller Of Toys by Shelygin, From (2022/2022), Directed by Alexey Veiro,, Conductor Alexander Zhilenkov, Valery Kritskov, Novaya Opera Theatre, Moscow, Russia

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Program, About & Synopsis

Reviews

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues