Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Francesca da Rimini” opera premiered on 10th April at Isidor Zak concert hall. There were no empty seats in the house for that performance and once the last notes of Rachmaninoff’s great piece faded away, the hall went silent for a short moment just to burst with applause. According to the audience’s feedback all features of the new production are touching and moving you – the powerful and impressively dramatic sound of the orchestra under maestro Ara Karapetyan, lively vocal parts featured with exquisite movement pattern designed by stage movement artist Sergey Zakharin, a tragic and majestic voice of chorus, an impressive, charming lighting solution designer by Sergey Skornetsky.
This production introduces a new genre of Immersive theatre to the Novosibirsk audience: the action takes place both on stage, on the gallery and in the audience hall – artists performed right next to the people.
“The musical world celebrated 145 years since the birth of Rachmaninoff on 1st April. His anniversary will stand out through the entire month of April – we have prepared two opera premieres and a concert. “Francesca da Rimini” opera is rarely performed and we came to a conclusion that the first staging of this opera at NOVAT needs to happen in the anniversary year exclusively – tells Chief Stage Director Vyacheslav Starodubtsev, the performance’s producer – It’s a great pleasure to stage such performance on the stage of the unique Isidor Zak hall, which we have turned into a real castle. This space pushes you to use unexpected solutions. In this new work it was interesting to me to bring artists and audience closer to each other. The distance between the audience, the orchestra, the soloists and the chorus was minimal, and that required a very subtle work”.
Soloists of the Novosibirsk opera won the audience with convincing acting and brilliant singing. Thank to Zhanna Usacheva’s costumes they looked like paintings of Italian masters. A soul-stirring, elegant Francesca performed by Sophia Bachaeva; a manly Lanciotto by Alexey Zelenkov who has created an image of a man full of passion and suffering; a noble Paolo in love, accurately performed by Sergey Kuzmin, Kirill Nifontov as Dante, Gury Guriev as Virgil’s ghost – young artists did a great job on mastering Rachmaninoff’s intricate music and complex psychological pattern designed by the director.
Next performances of Sergey Rachmaninoff’s “Francesca da Rimini” opera will take place June 18th, 19:00, Isidor Zak concert hall.
