(Source: http://mosday.ru/news/item.php?290692)

The Moscow premiere of the opera performance by Igor Stravinsky “The Nightingale” (“Solovei”) will take place at the theatre “Helikon-Opera” staged by the artistic director of the theatre, the famous opera director Dmitry Bertman, on May 7.

The theatre timed the release of the new play “Solovei” by Stravinsky to the centenary of the world debut of this opera by the composer that first saw the spotlight on the stage of the Paris Opera in May 1914. The libretto is based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

The opera “The Nightingale” by Stravinsky is considered one of the most complicated operas of its time - for soloists and choir, as well as for the orchestra. Despite this, the fate of the opera is glorious. “This music is very theatrical, it seems to be written specially for the theatre, and each role has its actor’s intonation” - Bertman told to RIA Novosti. “Stravinsky is a special author for our theatre. “Helikon-Opera” was opened by staging of his opera “Maura”. As for “The Nightingale”, as far as I know, this work is still not included into the repertoire of Russian theatres. And today when there are so many fakes, when artificial things are declared to be genuine, this work is extremely important.”

The action of the play takes place in a conventional fairy state invented by the director jointly with the artists Igor Nezhnyi and Tatiana Tulubieva. In addition to the Chinese theme, Bertman introduced an exotic ethnic element - the ritual drums of the African People of Ashanti (Ghana) were introduced into the play, they have become the points of energy attraction during the performance.

“I am glad that the repertoire of the theatre includes these rare titles alongside with popular opera classics” - Bertman said. “Fortunately, the troop of “Helikon-Opera” has singers who are able to perform these difficult roles. The performance involves several casts of our artists. These include the singers who already sang in the opera “The Nightingale”, but the Moscow premiere involves only young people who tried to perform the work of Stravinsky for the first time in their career”. The first show of “The Nightingale” was held in Lebanon within XXI “Al-Bustan” festival in Beirut. According to the director, the tour with the show is planned. The negotiations are held on giving performances in Spain, France and Estonia.

Dmitry Bertman is a People's Artist of Russia, a professor, the head of Musical Theatre Directing and Acting Department in GITIS (State Institute of Theatre Art). In 1990 he created a musical theatre “Helikon-Opera” and became its artistic director. He directed about one hundred performances in his theatre and on foreign stages, including Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Austria and other countries.