The national premiere of the opera "Cinderella" by Jules Massenet will be held in the Kharkiv theatre SKHID OPERA
On February 11, on the stage of the Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after M. V. Lysenko / SKHID OPERA, for the first time in Ukraine, the premiere of the opera "Cinderella" ("Cendrillon") by the French composer Jules Emile Frederic Massenet will be held in a new format of modern theatrical technologies.
The uniqueness of the production is due to a number of innovations and experiments that the theater has been striving for in recent years, and first of all – due to the complexity of requirements for directing and vocals, set by the composer Jules Massenet and the librettist Henri Cain, as a result of updating the world-famous fairy tale by Charles Perrault.
Despite the fact that the opera itself was created back in 1895, its staging is still considered a rare event for the theatrical world.
Thanks to the cooperation of the Kharkiv Opera Theatre with colleagues from France, as well as with the support of the Alliance Française de Kharkiv, for the first time in Ukraine, it became possible to obtain copies of the hand-written scores of the great composer, dated 1896, signed by Jules Massenet himself. "It is a great honour for our orchestra to read the scores of Massenet himself, filling them with the energy of modernity and the virtuoso technique of our musicians", – noted the Chief Conductor of the Theater, Honoured Worker of Arts of Ukraine Dmytro Morozov.
The modern approach to staging of the opera by the director Zhanna Chepela represents an attempt to combine such elements of emotional impact as sensuality, irony, love and hope, using the synergy of visual and musical components.
"It seemed to us that after the incredible success of the ballet "Spartacus" directed by Georgy Kovtun, it would be difficult for the theater to surprise our demanding and sophisticated audience. But the focus on integration of multimedia technologies, the arsenal of creative specialists and soloists that the theater now possesses, convinced us of the opposite. The synergy of European music, the multi-layered control of the theatrical space and going beyond physical reality make it possible to create a new aesthetics that forms the image of the theater of the future. We see great prospects for freedom of realization of new directing ideas, and hope that the audience will be impressed and appreciate the scale of our work", – noted the Project Manager, the First Deputy Director General of the Theater, Honoured Worker of Arts of Ukraine Igor Tuluzov.
For the opera "Cinderella" unique dynamic stage decorations and more than 200 designer costumes were created, equipped with special technological accessories capable of simultaneously "playing" with color and light in unison with the music. This idea of the stage designer, Honoured Artist of Ukraine Oleksandr Lapin and lighting designer Svitlana Zmieieva (Kyiv) became possible thanks to the theater sponsors: Bank Vostok, Denys Paramonov Charitable Foundation, the companies SUNOIL and Ananta Medicare (Great Britain).
The state and private business partnership on an ongoing basis enables the Kharkiv Opera Theater implementing the most challenging ideas and ensures stable successful development. "We are proud of the long-term and fruitful cooperation between Bank Vostok and SKHID OPERA. First of all, for us it is an opportunity to take part in the creation of iconic national premieres. I believe that a business should not only make money, but also be socially responsible. Supporting the arts is one of the strategic goals of Bank Vostok. I am sure that the opera will help the audience realize that even among everyday life and daily worries there is always a place for positive emotions", – noted Vadym Morokhovskyi, Chairman of the Board of Bank Vostok.
"New reality is not a fairy tale. But it is our duty, as a national theater, to use all our resources now, so that both new technical capabilities and the preserved traditions of classical music would harmoniously complement each other and form an image of modern cultural European Ukraine", – emphasized the Director General and Artistic Director of the Theatre, Honoured Worker of Arts of Ukraine Oleg Orishchenko.