Big American Tour. Diary. "Helikon" on wheels
08.02.2006
Big American Tour. Diary. Part 2: "Helikon" on wheels
Artists of "Helikon-Opera" are still touring United States of America.
Leaving Florida, Helikon people headed north-east of USA to Virginia. Two days journey (with an overnight stop in South Carolina) went easy and merrily. We watched films in buses, surveyed the beauty of american nature. During the short stops we drank coffee and did rollerskating.
Yuri Potseluev, a driver of the track in which 'Die Fliedermaus" decorations are carried with his dog Traxi |
A short halt during the journey: Sergey Kostiuk, honoured artists of Russia Igor Tarasov and Andrey Ponomarev
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Charlottesville is the place where Abraham Lincoln was born. Here you will also find the famous University of Virginia. Having two days-off the troupe got a bit tired from resting and full of strength and with desire to work everybody went to Carolina .
Theatre in Willmington greeted us very cordially, but the weather was very cold and the rooms for the orchestra was outside in the tent. But we were offered strawberries with cream, and after the performance we had a hot supper with cakes for dessert. Before the performance an excursion around the theatre for the students of the local musical college was held, after which they had an opportunity to meet "Helikon-Opera" artists.
Hot greeting from "Helikon-Opera" orchestra |
Scene from "Die Fledermaus"
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On the 30th of January Helikon people went to South Carolina, Greenvale city. We were amazed with the great waterfalls in the centre of the city, just outside the hotel. And of course the magnificent "Hyatt", where "Helikon-Opera" stayed, was really nice.
Waterfall in Greenvale |
Foyer of the "Hyatt" hotel |
February started with the moving to New Jersey, New Brunswick city. There we felt that New York is very near - the audience was very calm and stiff. But at the end of the performance... ovation as usually! Then we celebrated Elena Gracheva's (artist of the choir) birthday.
On the 3rd of February we arrived to the city of Hershey, the American chocolate Mecca. The theatre was built by Mr. Hershey, who ordered the architect the building similar to the Doges Palace in Venice. In the hall on the plafond of the ceiling the clouds were voyaging the sky and the stars were shining. The city also has a great number of ducks in the parks. There in Hershey Mikhail Seryshev successfully performed as Alfred for the first time and Andrey Palamarchuk performed as Blind, also for the first time. After the performance everybody gathered in Mikhail's room to greet the colleagues with their debutes. The party ended with chastushkas contest, the winners were Anatoly Ponomarev and Svetlana Rossiyskaya.
Andrey Palamarchuk and Mikhail Seryshev are repeating their parts before the premieres |
Yuri Potseluev, Tatiana Gurianova and Maria Koroleva are studying the program of the performance in Hershey |
On the 4th of February Helikon people came to Pennsylvania, Bethlehem. The city met us with heavy showers, which didn't stop the whole day. Not to get bored in the evening the artists went to disco after their performance.
On the 5th of February we performed in Sugarloaf. The performance was played in private theatre which was built by local citizens and creative projects are regularly held there. Our impressarios John Luckacovich и Eleanor Oldham came to see us. After the performance they congratulated the artists and informed us that many theatres in which we already performed would be very happy to invite us again someday.
Our American produsers and tour managers Clare and Bartolo Cannizaro, Eleanor Oldham and John Luckacovich with his dog Dotti |
Valentine's Day is very soon. America is already decorated with different hearts. Olga Zhilina and Elena Gracheva found such variant |
On the 6th of February in the city of ELmira Helikon people saw the first american snow. the snowstorm wasn't very long, but it caused a lot of mnostalgic feelings. By the way, in this city the famous book about Tom Soyer was written by Mark Twain (aka Samuel Langhorn Clemens) . "Helikon-Opera" performance was held in Clemens Performing Arts Centre.
So, "Helikon-Opera" is in New York state, in which we will be for about two weeks. 1/3 part of the performances is already behind, and beyond is excursion to New York, journey to the Niagara Falls, 34 performances, 1 concert and 55 days before coming back to deeply beloved Homeland.
Big American tour continues!