<Translated from Russian automatically, will be edited later>
Alexander VEDERNIKOV, Chief Conductor of the Bolshoi, after conducting a concert for Georgy Sviridov's 90th anniversary, spoke to Sergey KHODNEV about the theater's plans.
— The Bolshoi's reconstruction will begin this year. How will the theater's operations be restructured in light of this?
— The most important thing during the reconstruction period is to maintain the creative intensity, and this requires new productions. And a wide presentation of existing productions, as widely as possible, because it's impossible to transfer all the productions from the Main Stage repertoire to the New Stage.
— How many premieres will there be per year?
— Recently, we've been producing seven new productions per year. After the closure, that number will be four, five at most: for example, in the 2005-2006 season, there will be three opera premieres and two ballets—I think that's quite a few. And there will also be more touring. It's been commonly believed, ever since Soviet times, that touring is a very profitable business. Unfortunately, this is far from the case today. Nevertheless, we need touring—to promote our theater, our brand. It would be completely wrong to hide the fact that there was a period when this brand lost its position in the international market. And in such cases, the reality always changes somewhat faster than the reputation. For example, when things at the Bolshoi Theater weren't so good, its reputation held up for a while. But now it's the opposite—its reputation is lagging. We have four tours planned for this summer, which will allow the Bolshoi Theater, after a long hiatus, to appear at several of the world's largest opera festivals. And next summer, 2006, we have an appearance on the Metropolitan stage planned. Besides all this, during the reconstruction period, it's worth turning our attention to Russian audiences.
— How detailed are your plans for the post-reconstruction period?
— I wouldn't be entirely sincere if I said I understood every detail. How the main stage will reopen after the renovation is a process that depends about 30 percent on the theater itself. We haven't even been able to close for renovations on the dates we planned. Because of this, contracts with directors for the period after the reopening are extremely complicated, because there's no full guarantee that the theater will be open at that time.
— Has there ever been a situation where a director, after reviewing the current state of the main stage, said, 'No, just do the renovation first, and then we'll talk'?
— No, that's not a problem. Let's say Peter Konwitschny is eager to continue collaborating with us in any case. Specifically, we're planning a production of Richard Strauss's Salome on the main stage in 2008. Directors generally aren't interested in things like the state of the stage and so on. Set designers—maybe.
— What's determined first — the director or the opera?
— First, the title is chosen, the season is put together, and only then do negotiations with directors begin. You know, I often hear this question on this subject: "What's the Bolshoi Theatre's repertoire policy?" A repertoire policy doesn't exist in isolation. It should be based on the theater's mission and its creative strategy, which, in our view, can be summarized in three main areas. First, an appeal to Russia's classical heritage. Second, masterpieces from national schools. And third, the creation of new works by contemporary Russian composers in the opera genre.
— And how do rentals of other theaters' productions and co-productions fit into all of this?
— If you think that rentals of productions are a result of the creative weakness of the management, you're mistaken. Yes, renting other people's productions (our upcoming premiere of Verdi's "Falstaff," in particular, the production we rented from La Scala) is also one way to implement our own creative strategy. Because it gives our audiences the opportunity to experience not only musical masterpieces but also staging masterpieces — and Giorgio Strehler's production of "Falstaff" is certainly one of them. Not to mention that rentals and co-productions are now widely practiced around the world. And in Russia, our theater is the only one that does this.
Source
Alexander VEDERNIKOV, Chief Conductor of the Bolshoi, after conducting a concert for Georgy Sviridov's 90th anniversary, spoke to Sergey KHODNEV about the theater's plans.
— The Bolshoi's reconstruction will begin this year. How will the theater's operations be restructured in light of this?
— The most important thing during the reconstruction period is to maintain the creative intensity, and this requires new productions. And a wide presentation of existing productions, as widely as possible, because it's impossible to transfer all the productions from the Main Stage repertoire to the New Stage.
— How many premieres will there be per year?
— Recently, we've been producing seven new productions per year. After the closure, that number will be four, five at most: for example, in the 2005-2006 season, there will be three opera premieres and two ballets—I think that's quite a few. And there will also be more touring. It's been commonly believed, ever since Soviet times, that touring is a very profitable business. Unfortunately, this is far from the case today. Nevertheless, we need touring—to promote our theater, our brand. It would be completely wrong to hide the fact that there was a period when this brand lost its position in the international market. And in such cases, the reality always changes somewhat faster than the reputation. For example, when things at the Bolshoi Theater weren't so good, its reputation held up for a while. But now it's the opposite—its reputation is lagging. We have four tours planned for this summer, which will allow the Bolshoi Theater, after a long hiatus, to appear at several of the world's largest opera festivals. And next summer, 2006, we have an appearance on the Metropolitan stage planned. Besides all this, during the reconstruction period, it's worth turning our attention to Russian audiences.
— How detailed are your plans for the post-reconstruction period?
— I wouldn't be entirely sincere if I said I understood every detail. How the main stage will reopen after the renovation is a process that depends about 30 percent on the theater itself. We haven't even been able to close for renovations on the dates we planned. Because of this, contracts with directors for the period after the reopening are extremely complicated, because there's no full guarantee that the theater will be open at that time.
— Has there ever been a situation where a director, after reviewing the current state of the main stage, said, 'No, just do the renovation first, and then we'll talk'?
— No, that's not a problem. Let's say Peter Konwitschny is eager to continue collaborating with us in any case. Specifically, we're planning a production of Richard Strauss's Salome on the main stage in 2008. Directors generally aren't interested in things like the state of the stage and so on. Set designers—maybe.
— What's determined first — the director or the opera?
— First, the title is chosen, the season is put together, and only then do negotiations with directors begin. You know, I often hear this question on this subject: "What's the Bolshoi Theatre's repertoire policy?" A repertoire policy doesn't exist in isolation. It should be based on the theater's mission and its creative strategy, which, in our view, can be summarized in three main areas. First, an appeal to Russia's classical heritage. Second, masterpieces from national schools. And third, the creation of new works by contemporary Russian composers in the opera genre.
— And how do rentals of other theaters' productions and co-productions fit into all of this?
— If you think that rentals of productions are a result of the creative weakness of the management, you're mistaken. Yes, renting other people's productions (our upcoming premiere of Verdi's "Falstaff," in particular, the production we rented from La Scala) is also one way to implement our own creative strategy. Because it gives our audiences the opportunity to experience not only musical masterpieces but also staging masterpieces — and Giorgio Strehler's production of "Falstaff" is certainly one of them. Not to mention that rentals and co-productions are now widely practiced around the world. And in Russia, our theater is the only one that does this.
Source
Sergei KHODNEV, Kommersant, February 2, 2005
Alexander Vedernikov: Repertoire decisions should align with the theater's mission
