The premiere of "Eugene Onegin" in Dmitry Bertman's production

06.04.2013

The premiere of "Eugene Onegin" in Dmitry Bertman's production

On the 6 of April on stage of “Vanemuine”, the oldest Estonian theatre, the premiere of "Eugene Onegin by P. I. Tchaikovsky, directed by Artistic Director of Moscow musical theater "Helikon-opera” Dmitry Bertman, is held.

This production is a historical reconstruction of legendary performance of 1922 by K.S. Stanislavsky’s Opera studio, the 150th anniversary of which is widely celebrated by the world theatrical community this year.

More than 100 singers from the different countries took part in a casting, which was held in the theatre more than a year ago. On April. 6 on stage of the Small house of “Vanemuine” theatre there are soloists from Sweden, Estonia, Finland and Lithuania: Onegin – Linus Börjesson (Sweden), Tatyana – Maria Fontosh (Sweden) and Karmen Puis (Estonia), Olga – Jovita Vaskeviciute (Lithuania) and Teele Jõks (Estonia), Lensky – Merunas Vitulskis (Lithuania) and Ronald Liiv (Finland), the Nurse – Valentina Kremen (Estonia) and Merle Silmato (Finland), Larin – Annaliisa Pillak (Estonia), Gremin – Koit Soasepp (Finland) and Märt Jakobson (Estonia), Trika – Aivar Kaseste (Estonia).

The musical director and the conductor of performance is the famous Estonian maestro Paul Mägi. For D. Bertman this collaboration isn't casual. For the first time they met at the Wexford festival during the production of "The Mermaid" by Dargomyzhsky exactly twenty years ago in 1993. Dmitry Bertman's international career began since that. Further Paul Myagi many times cooperated with "Helikon-Opera": he conducted theatre performances on its tours in Tallinn, in Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and in Festspielhaus in Salzburg.

Set and costume designers Igor Nezhny and Tatiana Tulubieva, Bertman’s constant co-authors, also worked upon this production of “Eugene Onegin”
"Vanemuine" theatre in Tartu is the oldest Estonian theatre, one of the best musical theatres in Europe. Tartu is a crossroad of European cultures, cradle of the Dorpat University, permanently shaded by the name of Pushkin, thanks to the genius of Yuri Lotman.

This place and the name are highly symbolic for Dmitry Bertman: "This year, Konstantin Stanislavsky’s double anniversary, 150 years since his birth and 75 years since his death. Creator of the world-famous system, he divided the last twenty years of his life between drama and opera. In a turbulent 1918, he led the opera studio of the Bolshoi Theatre, but only four years later, the play, which began with the history of modern music producing, was born. It was a "Eugene Onegin." Young artists have played in modern dress, there were no orchestra, but very soon the play was staged in several theatres, and it lives to this day.

The things that were in fashion in 1922, today are perceived as retro, like an old black-and-white photo. I restored the "Eugene Onegin" in Stanislavsky’s production as retro. Still, the main goal is not to reproduce once again the scenery in Leontievski Lane mansion with its famous columns, but to go the same way as Stanislavski went in 1922 and to re-work every mise en scene with all the actors upon his method.

I produced "Eugene Onegin" seven times from Krasnodar to Stockholm, each time coming up with a solution, each time inventing something more and more new. After seven productions, there comes a desire not to invent and go back to the old tradition. Nothing, except the director's work with the actor. No artificial "food supplements" and "flavor enhancers" only natural "bio-product", so the taste of it would be as in childhood."

EUGEN ONEGIN

Composer: Pjotr Tšaikovski
Musical director and conductor: Paul Mägi
Conductor: Lauri Sirp
Director: Dmitry Bertman (Helikon-Opera, Moscow)
Designer: Igor Nezhny (Helikon-Opera, Moscow)
Costume Designer: Tatyana Tulubyeva (Helikon-Opera, Moscow)
Light Designers: Imbi Mälk, Andres Sarv

Performances: