CHEREVICHKI
PREMIERE
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
CHEREVICHKI
Comic-fantastic opera in 4 acts, 8 scenes
Libretto by Y. Polonsky based on the "Christmas Eve" novel by N. V. Gogol
Director: Sergey Novikov
Conductor: Filipp Selivanov
Set designer: Rostislav Protasov
Costume designer: Mariya Vysotskaya
Lighting Designer: Denis Enyukov
Choirmaster: Evgenij Ilin
Choreographer: Edvald Smirnov
Video designer: Dmitrij Ivanchenko
Duration 2 hours 30 minutes with intermission
«Cherevichki» by P. I. Tchaikovsky – is a wonderful opera that reveals the national diversity of the Russian people. The Little Russian theme is a great love of the composer, which has repeatedly become the central theme of his symphonic and operatic works. But in this opera, two of our geniuses are united: Tchaikovsky and Gogol. There is no need for any adaptations and updates here. The combination of Dikanka and St. Petersburg during the time of Catherine II today answers the questions of our time as well as possible. Boldness brings forth a miracle, and true love breaks through household materialism. The characteristic Zaporojian color and the Christmas holiday will give the viewers a charge of positivity and confidence in the triumph of good over evil».
Sergey Novikov, stage-director
Not by accident the composer gave to the «Cherevichki» the subtitle - «comic-fantastic opera» - it's Tchaikovsky's most cheerful opera, a real winter fairy tale in which seriousness and humor, reality and fantasy, comedy and touching moments intertwine, and sometimes the line between these elements almost disappears. Against the backdrop of colorful images of Little Russian nature and folk life, a touching love story of Oksana and Vakula unfolds.
The main message of this opera is that love is not mercantile. «As it is written in the epistle to the Corinthians, «Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things» - says the stage-drector Sergei Novikov. «It seems to me that this thought is very convincingly conveyed here. Oksana understands that she loves her beloved, the smith Vakula, simply for himself, not for any material blessings».