(Photo Credits: Maarit Kytöharju) Opening Berwaldhallen’s 2024 Baltic Sea Festival, on August 24th, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gerard McBurney produced a tastefully contemporary and neo-Wagnerian rendition of Modest Mussorgsky’s unfinished “national music drama,” “Khovanshchina,” to a ravenous public. Awarded, and rightly so, with three ovations, ten soloists from across Europe and three choirs successfully produced one of the most expressive versions {…}
(Photo: Monika Rittershaus) Due to the pandemic, the new production of “Khovanshchina” planned for 2020 could only be realized this season at the Staatsoper unter den Linden. Now, Modest Mussorgsky’s monumental, melancholy music unfolds in all its splendour, not least thanks to the phenomenal performance of the chorus. “Khovanshchina” is an unfinished opera in five acts by Modest Mussorgsky, which {…}
Opéra de Paris has canceled its performamce of “Khovanshchina” on Feb. 6 2022. The company noted that due to the identification of COVID-19 positive cases, the company has had to cancel the performance. The Paris Opera previously canceled the Feb. 3 presentation of the opera and was also forced to cancel its opening of “Manon” on Feb. 5 at the {…}
Opéra de Paris has canceled its performamce of “Khovanshchina” on Feb. 3 2022. The company noted that due to the identification of Covid-19 positive cases, the company has had to cancel the performance. The announcement comes a day after it was forced to cancel its opening of “Manon” scheduled for Feb. 5 at the Opéra Bastille. As a result, ticket {…}
The Opéra de Paris has announced cast changes for its productions of “Khovanshchina” and “Le Nozze di Figaro.” The company noted that Olga Busuioc has withdrawn from “Khovanshchina” and as a result, the role of Emma will be sung by Anush Hovhannisyan. Hovhannisyan made her Paris Opera debut during the first performance on Jan. 26 and once again joins a {…}
The Opéra de Paris has announced a cast change for its premiere of “Khovanshchina.” The company noted that Anush Hovhannisyan will replace Olga Busuioc in the role of Emma for the performance on Jan. 26, 2022. The performance will mark Hovhannisyan’s Paris Opera debut. The soprano has performed with the Scottish Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, {…}
(Credit: Irina Arkhipova Foundation) Russian tenor Vladislav Piavko has died at the age of 79. Piavko began his career as a student at the Moscow Conservatory before continuing his studies in Milan. The tenor performed major roles at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow for over 25 years, including the role of Radames in Verdi’s “Aida” and Manrico in “Il Trovatore;” {…}
Opera Vision will start streaming Mussorgsky’s “Khovanschchina” starting on April 26, 2019. The performance will be broadcast live from the Moscow State Stanislavsky Music Theatre. The gigantic work will feature such artists as Dmitry Ulyanov, Nikolay Erokhin, Najmiddin Mavlyanov, Ksenia Dudnikova, Anton Zaraeva, Denis Makarov, Chingins Ayusheev, Natalia Muradymova, Dmitry Polkopin, and Maria Makeeva, among others. Alexander Titel will direct a {…}
(Photo: Brescia/Amisano – Teatro alla Scala) Defeated by the Tsar, the Old Believers gather together, for a final act of defiance as they prepare for their mass suicide. Led by the monk, Dosifey, they crowd the stage and invoke the name of the Lord, in preparation for their deaths. The Moon, slowly moving towards the Earth, explodes into flames and {…}
Modest Mussorgsky is best-known for the opera “Boris Godunov,” but he also created “Khovanshchina,” which had its world premiere on Feb. 9, 1886. The opera was written between 1872 and 1880 and upon his death in 1881, Mussorgsky left it unfinished. Rimsky-Korsakov completed, revised, and scored the work, though in years later other composers, such as Dmitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky {…}
Mussorgsky’s epic masterpiece, “Khovanshchina,” like its predecessor “Boris Godunov,” is an exploration into a significant period of Russian history. However, whereas “Boris Godunov” focuses primarily on the individual tragedy of Boris, of a Tsar destroyed from within by his own personal demons, “Khovanshchina” is conceived on a far grander scale, one in which Mussorgsky seeks to lay bare the momentous {…}