THE RAKE’S PROGRESS
The Stravinsky Hall
PREMIERE
Igor Stravinsky
THE RAKE’S PROGRESS
Opera in three acts
The libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman is based on engravings of William Hogarth
Performed in Russian
Russian translation by Natalia Rozhdestvenskaya
Stage-director — Dmitry Bertman, People's Artist of Russia.
Music Director — Valery Kiryanov, laureate of the Moscow Prize
Set designer — Hartmut Schorghofer (Austria)
Lighting designer — Denis Enyukov
Choirmaster — Evgeny Ilyin, Honored Artist of Russia
Choreographer — Edvald Smirnov, Laureate of international competitions
Make-up designers — Maria Krysenkova, Natalia Blinkova
The premiere took place at the Teatro La Fenice (Venice, Italy) on 11 September 1951.
The premiere at the Helikon-opera will take place on 9 July 2025.
The première series of performances will take place from July 9 to July 13, 2025.
35 years ago, Stravinsky's Mavra was performed for the first time on the small stage of the newborn Helikon - this was the start of the theater which is now famous all around the world. Now, as for completing the circle, Helikon turns to the last opera of the great master The Rake’s Progress.
On July 9, Muscovites and guests of the capital will meet in the Stravinsky Hall with a masterpiece whose relevance is timeless.
The opera The Rake’s Progress was first staged in Russia at the Moscow Chamber Musical Theatre on "Sokol" in May 1978. This production has become a legend, because it was created by brilliant creators — Boris Pokrovsky, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Iosif Sumbatashvili… The famous singer and translator Natalia Rozhdestvenskaya (mother of Gennady Rozhdestvensky) translated the libretto from English into Russian at Pokrovsky's request. It is the translation that will be used in Dmitry Bertman's production at Helikon. By the way, this will be his third reference to Stravinsky's great work — Dmitry Bertman staged The Rake’s Progress in 2000 at the Vienna Volksoper and in 2016 at the Finnish National Opera.
What is it about this opera that makes you want to turn to over and over again? Is this a parable? A satire? A tragedy? All together and something more. This is a story of how a person loses himself exchanging his soul for the trumpery of fake glitter. Egoism, a wasted and aimless life it is always tragic. How often we lose sight of what truly matters in the pursuit of a mirage of happiness.
True culture is defined not by what a person consumes, but by what he is able to create. Stravinsky created a world in which every note is penetrated by the prophetic vision. He looked through time, as random passers-by look through the pane of glass at the transitory life. But most passers-by see only the reflection of their own faces and Stravinsky saw the essence of the human soul.
The stage-director Dmitry Bertman turns this parable into a poignant story about how it is easy to lose yourself in the pursuit of illusory happiness. How vice is devastating and destructive, if you let it. How it is important to be Human, in every situation and in all circumstances of life… It's not for nothing that Wystan Hugh Auden, the co-author of the libretto, said in an interview at the premiere at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice: "This story is a real mythologeme, a situation in which each of us finds himself as each of us is a human."
The Rake’s Progress is a true, vivid and detailed reflection of our world.
The finale will surprise everyone – it is said Stravinsky himself "suggested" it to the director. It will not leave anyone indifferent…