<Translated automatically, it will be edited later>
Alexander Vedernikov, the chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre, is leaving his post ahead of schedule
I want to have at least something unshakable in my life - the Moscow Art Theater, circus, zoo, planetarium (it would be nice at last), and the Small Theater, and the Big One, of course. It's not for nothing that all the news about the reconstruction of the old (with columns) building of the Bolshoi Theater is so eagerly read... I want to have at least something unshakable in my life - the Moscow Art Theater, circus, zoo, planetarium (it would be nice at last), and the Small Theater, and the Big One, of course. It's not for nothing that all the news about the reconstruction of the old (with columns) building of the Bolshoi Theater is so eagerly read in the first lines of the news. But over the past week, the news has been full of the name of its chief conductor and musical director, Alexander Vedernikov.
It's like some kind of Volochkova number two! Vedernikov had just "waved off" Chernyakovsky's "Eugene Onegin" on a tour of the theater in La Scala — and immediately resigned from this prominent post, without waiting for the expiration of the contract.
When, in the time of troubles at the end of the 90s, one bright musical director was offered to head the Bolshoi Theater (what would you think!), he preferred a confident personal career to a showdown with moody singers and ballerinas. There has been no position of chief director at the Bolshoi Theater for thirty years. Now, apparently, it's the turn of the chief conductor.
Vedernikov, the son of the legendary Bolshoi bass Alexander Vedernikov Sr., came here as music director in 2001, not too famous. Just at this time, in order to protect the theater from tyranny (there was a case!), the position of artistic director was abolished. And 36-year-old Vedernikov, for whom it was an honor to be invited here anyway, came under direct subordination to the director.
It seemed that there was nothing to move in this mausoleum, on which both Vladimir Vasiliev and Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who did not last long, had already torn their nerves before him. The thorough, careful Vedernikov stood here for eight whole years. The main achievements: during his lifetime, Chilea's Adrienne Lecouvreur (for the first time in the Bolshoi), Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel (also for the first time in the Bolshoi! — isn't it a shame?), "Falstaff" directed by Strehler. And the order for Leonid Desyatnikov and the production of his new opera "The Children of Rosenthal" to a libretto by Vladimir Sorokin were absolutely sensational. The performances were staged by the incredible Francesca Zambello, Peter Konvichny, Graham Wick, Bob Wilson. And what a breakthrough Alexey Ratmansky made in ballet! And did we dream about the performance of the "Songs of Gurre" by early Schoenberg with Klaus Maria Brandauer?
The big one became unexpected, like "Eugene Onegin" staged by Chernyakov. Disputes began around the performances, up to moral bruising and physical manifestations. It's as if people with firecrackers were launched into the Mausoleum. Not everyone liked it.
Alas, once upon a time violinist Tatyana Grindenko, who had a sad experience of communicating with the staff of the Bolshoi, noticed: there is a brain virus in these walls. Having received a place in the office of this impregnable institution, people seem to shift their minds. They go to work almost to the Kremlin every day, have lunch with the superstars in a beautiful buffet… And something jumps in their head that is not quite consistent with their true meaning.
Who's got the virus now? Not Ratmansky, who moved to the American Ballet Theater (what a loss for the Bolshoi!). And not Vedernikov — he has remained democratic in communication, ironic (and in relation to himself) all these years. In recent years, he has taken his orchestra members to a different line: he began to give symphonic concerts in the Great Hall of the Conservatory.
Perhaps director Anatoly Iksanov was completely upset about Europe, but he considers Vedernikov too radical. Iksanov said that their vision of the theater's prospects gradually diverged, and then life was painted without Vedernikov. And that in the coming seasons the Bolshoi expects to work with guest conductors: Vladimir Yurovsky, Theodor Currentzis, Alexander Lazarev, Vasily Sinaisky, Kirill Petrenko.
It is not for nothing that for at least a year there has been sluggish talk in the air about some future conducting board. But there is no lonelier profession in the world and there are no bigger weirdos than conductors. I would like to see this panel at one round table. It's like the painting "Slavic Composers" in the foyer of the Great Hall of the Conservatory, who have never met together. Wits have already dubbed the mythical organ the "five-boyar".
No, of course, the board will not determine the general line of the theater. But who? Suddenly, the not-yet-abolished position of music director will be taken over by the frantic leader of the Mariinsky? Valery Gergiev's shadow has been hovering over the Bolshoi since Putin appeared in Moscow and the idea of a joint directorate of Imperial theaters was raised from the coffin.
They were compared with Vedernikov all the time — not in favor of the former. Vedernikov turned out to be somehow "uncharismatic" and "non-authoritarian". But there was no hack in his work, which, sometimes, Valery Abisalovich sins, in his dream, going to the console almost from a helicopter of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
By indirect signs, it can be calculated that the "vision of prospects diverged" two years ago. But only now Vedernikov told about the reasons for his departure: his opinion is not taken into account, they demand quantity at the expense of quality; bureaucratic logic has largely defeated artistic logic.
On Friday, at the height of the scandal, the theater attacked by journalists finally unveiled its plans. This was usually done in the spring, at a large informative press conference, which the increasingly closed Bolshoi Theater has stopped bothering itself with over the past year. So, the first premiere in autumn is Berg's "Wozzeck" staged by Dmitry Chernyakov, conducted by Theodor Currentzis. Vasily Barkhatov will stage "The Bat", Christoph-Matthias Muller is invited to conduct. And then Currentzis will have a chance to work with director Anatoly Vasiliev on Mozart's Don Juan.
Perhaps in the coming days more will be known about Vedernikov's plans. Eight crazy years at the Bolshoi gave the conductor so much that now he is not afraid to take on any orchestra or theater. Who, perhaps, still recognizes him as a full-fledged music director.
Source.
Alexander Vedernikov, the chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre, is leaving his post ahead of schedule
I want to have at least something unshakable in my life - the Moscow Art Theater, circus, zoo, planetarium (it would be nice at last), and the Small Theater, and the Big One, of course. It's not for nothing that all the news about the reconstruction of the old (with columns) building of the Bolshoi Theater is so eagerly read... I want to have at least something unshakable in my life - the Moscow Art Theater, circus, zoo, planetarium (it would be nice at last), and the Small Theater, and the Big One, of course. It's not for nothing that all the news about the reconstruction of the old (with columns) building of the Bolshoi Theater is so eagerly read in the first lines of the news. But over the past week, the news has been full of the name of its chief conductor and musical director, Alexander Vedernikov.
It's like some kind of Volochkova number two! Vedernikov had just "waved off" Chernyakovsky's "Eugene Onegin" on a tour of the theater in La Scala — and immediately resigned from this prominent post, without waiting for the expiration of the contract.
When, in the time of troubles at the end of the 90s, one bright musical director was offered to head the Bolshoi Theater (what would you think!), he preferred a confident personal career to a showdown with moody singers and ballerinas. There has been no position of chief director at the Bolshoi Theater for thirty years. Now, apparently, it's the turn of the chief conductor.
Vedernikov, the son of the legendary Bolshoi bass Alexander Vedernikov Sr., came here as music director in 2001, not too famous. Just at this time, in order to protect the theater from tyranny (there was a case!), the position of artistic director was abolished. And 36-year-old Vedernikov, for whom it was an honor to be invited here anyway, came under direct subordination to the director.
It seemed that there was nothing to move in this mausoleum, on which both Vladimir Vasiliev and Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who did not last long, had already torn their nerves before him. The thorough, careful Vedernikov stood here for eight whole years. The main achievements: during his lifetime, Chilea's Adrienne Lecouvreur (for the first time in the Bolshoi), Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel (also for the first time in the Bolshoi! — isn't it a shame?), "Falstaff" directed by Strehler. And the order for Leonid Desyatnikov and the production of his new opera "The Children of Rosenthal" to a libretto by Vladimir Sorokin were absolutely sensational. The performances were staged by the incredible Francesca Zambello, Peter Konvichny, Graham Wick, Bob Wilson. And what a breakthrough Alexey Ratmansky made in ballet! And did we dream about the performance of the "Songs of Gurre" by early Schoenberg with Klaus Maria Brandauer?
The big one became unexpected, like "Eugene Onegin" staged by Chernyakov. Disputes began around the performances, up to moral bruising and physical manifestations. It's as if people with firecrackers were launched into the Mausoleum. Not everyone liked it.
Alas, once upon a time violinist Tatyana Grindenko, who had a sad experience of communicating with the staff of the Bolshoi, noticed: there is a brain virus in these walls. Having received a place in the office of this impregnable institution, people seem to shift their minds. They go to work almost to the Kremlin every day, have lunch with the superstars in a beautiful buffet… And something jumps in their head that is not quite consistent with their true meaning.
Who's got the virus now? Not Ratmansky, who moved to the American Ballet Theater (what a loss for the Bolshoi!). And not Vedernikov — he has remained democratic in communication, ironic (and in relation to himself) all these years. In recent years, he has taken his orchestra members to a different line: he began to give symphonic concerts in the Great Hall of the Conservatory.
Perhaps director Anatoly Iksanov was completely upset about Europe, but he considers Vedernikov too radical. Iksanov said that their vision of the theater's prospects gradually diverged, and then life was painted without Vedernikov. And that in the coming seasons the Bolshoi expects to work with guest conductors: Vladimir Yurovsky, Theodor Currentzis, Alexander Lazarev, Vasily Sinaisky, Kirill Petrenko.
It is not for nothing that for at least a year there has been sluggish talk in the air about some future conducting board. But there is no lonelier profession in the world and there are no bigger weirdos than conductors. I would like to see this panel at one round table. It's like the painting "Slavic Composers" in the foyer of the Great Hall of the Conservatory, who have never met together. Wits have already dubbed the mythical organ the "five-boyar".
No, of course, the board will not determine the general line of the theater. But who? Suddenly, the not-yet-abolished position of music director will be taken over by the frantic leader of the Mariinsky? Valery Gergiev's shadow has been hovering over the Bolshoi since Putin appeared in Moscow and the idea of a joint directorate of Imperial theaters was raised from the coffin.
They were compared with Vedernikov all the time — not in favor of the former. Vedernikov turned out to be somehow "uncharismatic" and "non-authoritarian". But there was no hack in his work, which, sometimes, Valery Abisalovich sins, in his dream, going to the console almost from a helicopter of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
By indirect signs, it can be calculated that the "vision of prospects diverged" two years ago. But only now Vedernikov told about the reasons for his departure: his opinion is not taken into account, they demand quantity at the expense of quality; bureaucratic logic has largely defeated artistic logic.
On Friday, at the height of the scandal, the theater attacked by journalists finally unveiled its plans. This was usually done in the spring, at a large informative press conference, which the increasingly closed Bolshoi Theater has stopped bothering itself with over the past year. So, the first premiere in autumn is Berg's "Wozzeck" staged by Dmitry Chernyakov, conducted by Theodor Currentzis. Vasily Barkhatov will stage "The Bat", Christoph-Matthias Muller is invited to conduct. And then Currentzis will have a chance to work with director Anatoly Vasiliev on Mozart's Don Juan.
Perhaps in the coming days more will be known about Vedernikov's plans. Eight crazy years at the Bolshoi gave the conductor so much that now he is not afraid to take on any orchestra or theater. Who, perhaps, still recognizes him as a full-fledged music director.
Source.
It is not the contract that has expired, but patience
Natalia ZIMYANINA,
Novaya Gazeta, July 20, 2009
Novaya Gazeta, July 20, 2009
