The Golden Cockerel
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
THE GOLDEN COCKEREL
Stage Director: Dmitry Bertman
Music Director: Vladimir Fedoseyev
Conductor: Valery Kiryanov
Set and Costumes Designer: Ene-Liis Semper (Estonia)
Lighting Designer: Thomas Hase (USA)
Chorus Master: Evgeny Ilyin
Choreographer: Edwald Smirnov
Duration – 2 hours 40 minutes with one intermission
"I want to write without jokes
"A Golden Rooster"
Hee, hee, hee, and ha, ha, ha…"
The last opera by the brilliant Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was never staged during the lifetime of its author. "...How many tortures the poor opera of Rimsky-Korsakov had to go through! It turned out that for a cock is not easier than for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle of the theater censorship. So many feathers have been plucked, so many many colors have been erased...", – that is how the contemporary of the composer commented on the history of the production of the opera "Golden Cockerel", which was released only after the death of the composer. The premiere took place on September 24, 1909 at the Zimin Opera house in Moscow, located in the same house in Bolshaya Nikitskaya street, where Helikon is situated now.
90 years later Dmitry Bertman presented a bold and challenging "The Golden Cockerel" on the stage of "Helikon- opera", which caused a storm of delight and controversy. The Director turned to the works of Rimsky-Korsakov several times later, the repertoire of "Helikon" includes "The Tsar's Bride", "Sadko", and "Kashchey the Immortal". But «The Golden Cockerel» is a special opera. The most paradoxical, brightest, most multi – valued- but you never know how many more the superlatives "the most" you can assign!
However, there are quite number productions of “The Golden cockerel” nowadays. Ingenious work of Georgiy Ansimov in the “Bolshoi theatre” in the 1988 left a mark in opera history. At that time the conductor was Evgeny Svetlanov. By the way, Dmitry Bertman (the student of Georgiy Pavlovich) took a part in this production as the director’s assistant.
“The Golden cockerel” is the co-production of “Helikon-opera” and Deutsche Oper am Rhein. These theaters are connected by long-standing strong friendship and partnership relations, moreover, Moscow and Düsseldorf are sister cities (recently, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of sister-city relationships).
First night of “The Golden cockerel” in Düsseldorf took place in 2016’s. With the best theatre masters of Europe Dmitry Bertman created bright and courageous show. And at the very height of summer of 2018 this performance will be presented on the stage of the Stravinsky Big Hall in the “Helikon-opera”.
Where is good, but where is evil? And what will the Golden Cockerel sing for us? We will find it out.