On June 29 NOVAT is presenting a renewed version of Tosca opera by Giacomo Puccini. Veronika Djioeva will debut in the main role.
Opera productions that are loved by audience do not lose charm despite their long stage life. But even the brightest production that remains in the repertoire for a long time needs "a breath of fresh air": it is necessary to improve the accuracy of staging details and music score edition, tidy up scenery, costumes and props. At the end of the theatre season NOVAT is presenting a renewed Tosca opera to the audience.
Stage director Irkin Gabitov came to the city specifically in order to work with the Novosibirsk Company. During several weeks he has been rehearsing with the performers, working on mise en scenes, characters, plasticity of singers. Partial restoration of scenery and costumes is being made in Theatre’s workshops.
"Tosca is a huge part and a colossal amount of work that I’ve planned a long time ago; I am all into it and I’m happy that this is happening in a theatre that is so dear to me", — Veronika Djioeva, the opera stage star, comments on her upcoming debut. Maestro Mikhail Tatarnikov, the musical director and principal conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre, is working on the renewed music score with the Orchestra.
One of the most dramatic pieces by Puccini, where human passions run high in pure Italian style storyline and are combined with amazing music, Tosca has become known as one of the world’s top opera productions not by coincidence. The production is on the stage of the Novosibirsk opera and ballet theatre for the last 25 years already: the premiere took place on December 8, 1991. Since then Tosca never left the playbill. In 1996 the production went on tour to Portugal; in 2001 it was successfully performed in South Korea, where Puccini’s opera became a jewel in the tour programme. On June 29 the opera will be performed for the 109th time.