CONGRATULATIONS ON THE PREMIERE OF THE RAKE’S PROGRESS BY IGOR STRAVINSKY!

The premiere of the opera The Rake’s Progress, one of the most amazing and many-sided works by Igor Stravinsky, took place at the Helikon-opera theater in the hall named after the composer on 9 July.

The long-awaited meeting with the masterpiece of the 20th century, whose relevance is timeless, was a great success, and the audience received the production with a standing ovation.

Helikon has a special attitude towards Igor Stravinsky, because it was Mavra that became the first performance of the Moscow theater, which was born 35 years ago. Now, as for completing the circle, Helikon has turned to the last opera of the great master, The Rake's Progress.

The production's team includes director Dmitry Bertman, conductor Valery Kiryanov, production designer Hartmut Schorghofer (Austria), lighting designer Denis Enyukov, choirmaster Evgeny Ilyin and choreographer Edvald Smirnov.

Dmitry Bertman first staged The Rake's Progress in 2000 at the Vienna Volksoper, then there was a production at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki in 2016, and now The Rake's Progress is conquering Moscow!

"I am fascinated by how the composer has managed to show the eternal struggle between spirit and flesh, between high and low, between love and egoism. Tom of the XVIII century and Tom of the XXI century are, in fact, the same person. In our lives, only the "scenery" changes, the essence of the relationship remains unchanged," says Dmitry Bertman.

This musical parable contains the whole truth about the human soul, about how easy it is to succumb to the temptation of rapid success and how dearly one has to pay for it.

This story of temptation and repentance, presented by the brilliant artists of the theater, touched everyone who was in the Stravinsky Hall that evening. The premiere cast included Valentina Pravdina, Sergey Ababkin, Elisey Laptev, Ksenia Vyaznikova, Alexander Kiselev, Irina Reynard, as well as our amazing choir and orchestra.

The day before the premiere, a unique, without exaggeration, exhibition The Theatrical World of Igor Stravinsky opened in the Foyer Zimin.

Rare exhibits for the Helikon exhibition were provided by the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve, the Russian National Museum of Music, the Bolshoi Theater Museum, the Andrey Cheglakov Foundation, the auction house Artcollection, Alexander Dadiani, Olga and Elena Rostropovich and others.

For the first time, the audience saw in the theater space the very series of Hogarth's engravings, which ignited a spark of inspiration in the heart of the great composer and became the basis for the libretto of the opera. Also in the Foyer Zimin, theater guests admired the priceless works of theater graphics by the masters of the Stravinsky circle, created for his performances: Leon Bakst, Natalia Goncharova, Serge Sudeikin, Alexandre and Nicola Benois, Mikhail Larionov, Aleksandr Golovin, Ivan Bilibin — artists who elevated theatrical sketches to the rank of high art..

We would like to thank the entire production team for their incredible work and creation! Congratulations on the premiere!

The opening of the new 36th season awaits the audience on August 21. The Rake’s Progress will once again delight fans of the greatest composer of the 20th century.