Diary of Wagner / Verdi festival: a new life of "Aida"

07.10. 2013

Diary of Wagner / Verdi festival: a new life of "Aida"

On October 4 and 6 "Aida" in Dmitry Bertman’s production was performed in the context of the festival Wagner / Verdi in "Helikon- Opera" theatre. Music director of the performance - Kirill Tikhonov, set and costume designers - Tatiana Tulubieva and Igor Nezhny.
"Aida", an African blockbuster by Giuseppe Verdi, was written in honor of the opening of the Suez Canal. Hot passions and war between Egypt and Ethiopia are raging in it. In 1996 "Aida" was set on a small stage of "Helikon" in Nikitskaya street. No matter how small the scene was to fit it with the pyramids of Ancient Egypt and the sarcophagus. The tragedy on favorite Bertman’s themes of love and power was developed in this Egypt, the topics which long ago replaced the opera classic themes of love and duty.

Almost twenty years ago, Helikon’s "Aida" was radical and tough performance for the Russian stage. 1996 left its mark in it, the military realities. Today , in the new century,"Aida" is performed on a different stage and in a little bit another country.
The soloists of " Helikon-Opera" Elena Mikhaylenko , Honored Artist of Russia Kseniya Vyaznikova , Maya Barkovskaya , Honored Artist of Russia Vadim Zaplechny, Dmitry Skorikov , Honored Artist of Russia Sergey Toptygin, Mikhail Guzhov, Mikhail Seryshev are engaged in the performance.

Conductor Vladislav Karklin conducted Helikon- Opera’s orchestra for the first time. Dmitry Bertman met him at the Mariinsky Theatre in May 2013 during the celebrations on the occasion of the opening of the Mariinsky-2, where the performance of " Nabucco" with Maria Guleghina and Placido Domingo staged by Dmitry Bertman was the part of the program.

Vladislav Karklin was born in 1971 in Leningrad. His musical career began as a clarinetist . He graduated with honors from St. Petersburg Conservatory and finished post-graduating clarinet studies there. During his studies at the conservatory Vladislav attended classes of professor Ilya Musin, and in 1999, when he was a second year student of Dusseldorf Conservatory of Robert Schumann, Karklin trained with professor Alexander Titov in a class of symphony conducting. In 2002, Vladislav Karklin graduated with honors from the Düsseldorf Conservatory with a degree in piano and symphony conducting. Over the years of study he became the winner of national and international competitions as a clarinetist , pianist and conductor. Vladislav Karklin began his professional career as a clarinetist, playing first in the "Peterhof" orchestra, then in the "St. Petersburg Chamber Opera" theatre and finally , in the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. As a conductor, he worked in Russia, Europe and America. Currently V. Karklin is a guest conductor of the GAMAC Symphony Orchestra in the U.S. city of Anderson, of the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, a conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg , the Darmstadt Opera House (Germany). Since 2011, Maestro collaborates with Gelsenkirchen theater (Germany ) and is a guest conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg).

Photos by Roman Mambetov