The modern version of the classical opera will premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre on March 6, 2019. The most famous opera by Antonin Dvorak, The Mermaid was staged by the director Timofey Kulyabin at the Bolshoi Theatre. This is the second collaboration of Timofey Kulyabin with the Bolshoi Theatre. Last season, he staged the comic opera Don Pasquale at the Bolshoi Theatre. The Mermaid is conducted by Ainars Rubikis from Latvia, one of the winners of the Gustav Mahler Conductor Competition in 2010.
“I will not tell you what has been devised; otherwise it will turn out a spoiler. Everything is quite complicated there. - Timofey Kulyabin said to the THEATRE magazine. - There are several changelings, where everything becomes different from what it first seems. I had quite a difficult task, and here's why. In both opera and drama, I make stories about the present day and my characters exist in reality around us. With The Mermaid, as you know, that could be a challenge, as most of the characters are fairytale-like. These are fantasy worlds. So my major task was to find the circumstances and situations in the modern world, where such characters could remain themselves - Mermaid, Water Sprite, and Baba Yaga ...”

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As the fairy tale goes, beautiful Mermaid falls in love with Prince and dreams of meeting him again and again. She feels sad that they cannot be together. Even the playful dances of the elves and their funny songs cannot please the beauty. She shares her grief with Water Sprite and begs him to help her.  He apprehends the danger of her passion and warns the girl. When she insists, however, he advises her to go to an old witch. The sorceress undertakes to help, but the payment for her charms will be exorbitant: Mermaid will lose her voice, and in case her beloved pushes her away, she might turn into a wandering light. But nothing can stop Mermaid. 

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Then one day on the lake shore, Prince meets her as a girl of unearthly beauty and falls in love. Their wedding day is approaching. However, Prince is known for his frivolity, and soon it turns out to be a disaster for Mermaid. He falls for another beauty, a foreign Princess. When he is leading Princess to the altar, Mermaid in despair blocks the way for their kiss, and her ex pushes her away. The witchcraft takes place and Mermaid turns into a wandering light. From this moment, the life of Prince has lost its meaning, making him look for his lost beloved everywhere. Once, having come to the lake, he sees Mermaid and rushes to her. Mermaid warns Prince of the danger, but he is unstoppable and they both sink to the bottom of the lake.

The Mermaid is the ninth and the most famous opera by the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. It is probably the only one that is often staged beyond his homeland, the Bolshoi Theatre website says. The music in “The Mermaid” is not only penetrated with the national color but is surprisingly poetic and unusually lyrical.
The opera is performed in the Czech language with Russian supertitles.

When: at 7 pm on March 7 and 9, 2019.
Where: the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre at the address 1, Theatre Square, next to Okhotny Ryad metro station, Moscow.