'Die Fledermaus" in "Helikon-opera"

27.03.2012

'Die Fledermaus" in "Helikon-opera"

On the 27th of March, International Theatre Day, "Die Fledermaus" performance was shown in Moscow Musical Theatre "Helikon-opera" under Dmitry Bertman. The performance was dedicated to the memory of Mstislav Rostropovich, the outstanding musician and a big friend of the theatre, which would have been 85 by that day.

On a Maestro's jubilee day Helikon'a performance started with an archive record of "Die Fledermaus" (2000), which was staged by D. Bertman in Evian (France) and where Mstislav Rostropovich was musical director and principal coductor. So on the 27th of March in 2012 Maestro Rostropovich personally conducted the overture of Strauss' operetta! The traditional guests at Orlovsky's ball were the laureates of Russian and international contestsInna Zvenyatskaya, Alexey Tikhomirov and Konstantin Brzhinsky.

The history of this performance was connected with M. Rostropovich’s name. The authorities banned the work on “Die Fledermaus” operetta for M. Rostropovich just before his exile from Russia in 1974, that is why the production became his unrealized dream. The premiere of this performance at a festival in Evian in 2000 became the musical sensation. This work became one of the brightest pages of creative biographies of Helikon's artists, who took part in it.

“Helikon-opera” and Mstislav Rostropovich were tied with years of friendship, Mstislav Leopoldovich didn’t miss a single premiere, often visited rehearsals, knew personally the soloists of the theatre, visited the performances of the theatre in Russia and abroad. Once, speaking to Bertman, Rostropovich asked what “Helikon” was and Dmitry Bertman answered that this was a mountain in Ancient Greece, where Apollo met the muses and was making love with them. A musician answered that he would prefer to live on that mountain.