The Bolshoi Theater of Russia was shocked by a loud resignation. Alexander Vedernikov left the post of music director — chief conductor. He has held this position from June 2001 to July 2009, a record of direction longevity in the recent history of the Bolshoi.
The chief conductor resignation has increased the feeling of disadvantage around the country's lead theater.
— Do you remember what you came to the Bolshoi Theatre eight years ago for?
— There were different motives. But the idea that such a position was not to deny was the last one.
— Are you bluffing?
— Not a bit. Why did I have to be delighted? When you come to a theater where almost nothing works as it should do, why become too puffed up and appeal to historical memory?
Well, for example, there was Rachmaninoff at the Bolshoi Theater. He endured two years and he left. I don't measure my life through career milestones.
— What do you measure?
— What I'm interested in doing in terms of creativity. But, unfortunately, it turned out that the Bolshoi Theater does not have any features of a creative organization.
— Did it take you so many years to find out this unfortunate fact?
— Yes. Because you can do some good things without having the features of a creative organization. And I still succeeded to a certain extent.
For example, I succeeded to make the theater much more open minded, incorporated into the international context. I insured that not only those who have their work-record book there could perform in the Bolshoi.
But alas, I’ve failed changing the nature of the Bolshoi Theater as a whole. As it turned out, this affects too significant a range of interests.
— Whose interests are that?
— It is about the interests of those who control the Bolshoi Theatre, managing powerful financial flows. Basically, the CEO should not have creative instincts. He must have a clear, correct instinct for sharing power.
— What do you mean by "correct"?
— "Correct" is when the CEO keeps out of creative issues. That's all. In the first half of my term as music director, my goal-setting had been coinciding with the management, but then they diverged. I think all the leaders of large corporations admitted to money are characterized by "pupation."
— At what point did your disagreements with CEO Anatoly Iksanov become insurmountable?
— With the idea of the administration to offer Yuri Temirkanov the post of chief guest conductor of the Bolshoi Theater. No one even considered it necessary to consult with me about this. As practice has shown, the idea was lifeless. The last thing I want to do is throw a stone at Temirkanov. He is an eminent musician, but he has long done everything he has ever wanted. The management has made as loud, so meaningless a PR move, instead of continuing to reform the theatre’s teams.
— Reforming what way?
— When I came to the Bolshoi Theater, there was urgent need to rejuvenate the choir and orchestra in order to give them a creative level consistent with the tasks. It turned out to be extremely difficult and did not work out right away but only four years later. I had to dismiss many people for being unsuitable.
— There are rumors that an orchestra player killed himself because of it...
— That’s not true. The man, who was moved from the second desk to the fifth, began to make the rounds of the courts and fatally undermined his health.
But after we managed to bring both the choir and the orchestra to good condition, it was necessary to immediately start reforming the opera company. A complete deadlock was there, since the general director was completely unprepared for further steps.
— To which ones?
— I believe that the Bolshoi Theater needed to switch to a system of forming an opera troupe comparable to that of La Scala, Covent Garden or Metropolitan. It is time to abandon the uncompetitive Soviet staff principle of recruiting soloists.
It makes no sense for a good singer to be on staff. These would be just shackles. The best soloists of the Bolshoi Theater, who have a lot of work around the world, rarely appear on its stage, considering the theater chiefly as a repository of their work-record book.
But it turned out that the management needed no development roadmap. The theater could just go round in circles from year to year performing the same plays. The main thing is that everything was calm and quiet.
Despite my desperate attempts, I failed to rid the repertoire of such "prehistoric" stuff as "Iolanta" or "The Royal Bride." It is improper to make one or two premieres a season. With that mindset, you can only produce "goodbye, youth" boots, and not work in a theater.
— But there is a financial crisis. I suppose there’s no money?
— No one has money to stage. And at the same time, no one cooperates with anyone — is that normal? First of all, the spectators suffer.
Iksanov used to tell me: "Why do we need all these cooperative and renting performances?" Meanwhile, a person who came to the theater still does not care if the performance is from Bologna, or if it was made Petrovka Street. The audience should constantly receive a new product for the soul and mind.
— Why were you dismissed from working in the theater de facto much earlier than de jure, on July 13 of this year you submitted an application to voluntarily resign?
— After I released "Kitezh", incredible troubles began. A concentrated acid environment began to arise around me. I removed myself from all actions only because many decisions were made bypassing me.
In particular, after I learned that "my" premiere — the production of the opera “Wozzeck” by Berg — was given to another conductor (Theodor Currentzis. — ed.).
— At such a difficult moment did you take advice with your father — once famous bass singer of the Bolshoi Theater Alexander Vedernikov?
— What for? He and I are absolutely autonomous persons. He was fine about my decision, there were no "tear-jerking" details.
In general, it is not accepted in our family to resolve any issues through excessive presence and pressure. My father entered the process of my upbringing only at the most critical moments. For example, when in the sixth grade I abandoned going to a music school and started playing hockey. Then Alexander Filippovich was called in. He broke my stick, and hockey was immediately over. But otherwise I always had freedom of choice.
— And leaving the Bolshoi without a scandal, if not feet-first, is it impossible?
— I believe I have left the Bolshoi Theater without any scandal. There would be a scandal if I were in that situation trying to assert my authority as per the contract.
— Why being so gentle?
— Either you swear, pushing for your rights, making lawsuits, or do what you are supposed to do, — you conduct orchestra. You can't do both at the same time.
Besides, I feel like I shouldn't bring myself down to my opponents. They’re much more determined than I am to have an armchair at the Bolshoi.
— What was the most significant mistake you made while working at the Bolshoi?
— At first I trusted too much sense of team and illusion that we all were doing a common cause, and I paid little attention to formal points of my contract. While I was immersed exclusively in creative issues, my authority was slowly taken away from me. This is an insurmountable temptation — to take as much power as possible, regardless of the fact that these powers are vested in someone else's.
— By the way, where’s your work-record book going to be now?
— I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it yet. Is that so important? I’m not concerned about getting a pension.
— What are you concerned about?
— I am concerned about the Bolshoi Theater current situation - as a citizen and as a musician.
— And so you withdrew yourself...
— I pour myself hope that with my departure from the Bolshoi Theater I will attract at least someone's attention to its problems. Today in our country no one cares about anything, if rated honestly. I can see it in the situation at the Bolshoi Theater. The only place I didn’t get a call after I announced I was leaving the Bolshoi Theatre was the Ministry of Culture.
I think that the Ministry of Culture should be interested in the fact that the Bolshoi Theater will no longer have a chief conductor. From my point of view, this is a real scandal. After all, the management of the Bolshoi Theatre, as well as any other creative mechanism, provides a fairly dense guardianship and formation of a unified style. Otherwise, five people will come, everyone pulling their own way.
It is clear to any a little bit artistically educated people that this idea is the lowest of the low. The situation would be very similar to Krylov's fable. As good as the general director will decide everything by himself, including for creative issues. I can’t even agree with that as an ordinary spectator. I sincerely wish the Bolshoi Theater that he has a musical director with real authority as soon as possible.
— By the way, let’s talk about the shell. What is going on with the immensely prolonged renovation of the Bolshoi Theatre historical stage, after the federal authorities handed over the construction to a Moscow company?
— This is the most frustrating thing for me. It is much more important how the work will be done, not the time frame. I just can't understand: Moscow already has the Hall of Church Cathedrals, the House of Music and the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater. And there is no acoustics anywhere! Now will it be the same with the historical stage of the Bolshoi Theater?
A representative of a famous German company ("Mueller BBM." — ed.), which was supposed to be engaged in acoustics, wrote me that they were pushed away from the construction plan. And the Research Institute of Construction Physics (StroyPhysics) was already hosting the site, everyone knowing well their "successes" in the field of acoustics.
So I have no reasons to be optimistic either about the Bolshoi Theater organization or about its premises renovation.
— So you have zero positive emotions from working in the Bolshoi Theater?
— No! After all, my main task was the performances. And many turned out to be successful. I have warm feelings toward both "Flying Dutchman" and "Fiery Angel". And even to "Falstaff", although we couldn’t get a singer to do the title part that would be proportional to the role.
Indeed, when you want to create some beautiful cast in the Bolshoi Theater, the directorate declares: "We have no money for this." And you have to take it for granted: the budget is opaque, and I can't dispose a penny.
There is a huge problem having actually a lot of money. This is much harder than having few of them. At every turn I came across the fact that the theater had opportunities, but we got slaps on the wrists all the time.
For example, representatives of the EMI, Deutsche Grammophone and Sony record companies contacted the theater, but all of them were refused. I say, "Are you crazy?." And they to answer: "We would have to monkey with, to look for sponsors. Why do we need this? We'd rather record it by ourselves." Or else they say: what going to trouble, organizing tours?
— Now "Eugene Onegin" travels quite a lot...
— It's just that Onegin is a very mobile performance. Any other one is almost twice the number of performers. We’ve been invited to tour many of our productions, even "War and Peace," and "Lady Macbeth," and the new "Boris Godunov" staged by Sokurov. But only “Onegin” went on tours.
— Will you go to the festival in Ljubljana with “Onegin” at the end of August?
— Yes, I will. I would feel embarrassed to completely let down the colleagues. Then I'll probably go to Covent Garden.
— You're talking about it with a tinge of tired doom.
— I'm really tired. If you do your job and see that there is neither perspective nor sense in it, finally you lose interest in it.
— Where do you intend to conduct now?
— The upcoming season is already planned out. The BBC Symphony, Washington National Symphony, Philharmonique de Radio France, Sydney Symphony, Danish Radio and so on are awaiting me.
— Will you work somewhere in Russia?
— So far I have no offers. After the Bolshoi Theater, I can consider offers from just a few institutions.
Source.
The chief conductor resignation has increased the feeling of disadvantage around the country's lead theater.
— Do you remember what you came to the Bolshoi Theatre eight years ago for?
— There were different motives. But the idea that such a position was not to deny was the last one.
— Are you bluffing?
— Not a bit. Why did I have to be delighted? When you come to a theater where almost nothing works as it should do, why become too puffed up and appeal to historical memory?
Well, for example, there was Rachmaninoff at the Bolshoi Theater. He endured two years and he left. I don't measure my life through career milestones.
— What do you measure?
— What I'm interested in doing in terms of creativity. But, unfortunately, it turned out that the Bolshoi Theater does not have any features of a creative organization.
— Did it take you so many years to find out this unfortunate fact?
— Yes. Because you can do some good things without having the features of a creative organization. And I still succeeded to a certain extent.
For example, I succeeded to make the theater much more open minded, incorporated into the international context. I insured that not only those who have their work-record book there could perform in the Bolshoi.
But alas, I’ve failed changing the nature of the Bolshoi Theater as a whole. As it turned out, this affects too significant a range of interests.
— Whose interests are that?
— It is about the interests of those who control the Bolshoi Theatre, managing powerful financial flows. Basically, the CEO should not have creative instincts. He must have a clear, correct instinct for sharing power.
— What do you mean by "correct"?
— "Correct" is when the CEO keeps out of creative issues. That's all. In the first half of my term as music director, my goal-setting had been coinciding with the management, but then they diverged. I think all the leaders of large corporations admitted to money are characterized by "pupation."
— At what point did your disagreements with CEO Anatoly Iksanov become insurmountable?
— With the idea of the administration to offer Yuri Temirkanov the post of chief guest conductor of the Bolshoi Theater. No one even considered it necessary to consult with me about this. As practice has shown, the idea was lifeless. The last thing I want to do is throw a stone at Temirkanov. He is an eminent musician, but he has long done everything he has ever wanted. The management has made as loud, so meaningless a PR move, instead of continuing to reform the theatre’s teams.
— Reforming what way?
— When I came to the Bolshoi Theater, there was urgent need to rejuvenate the choir and orchestra in order to give them a creative level consistent with the tasks. It turned out to be extremely difficult and did not work out right away but only four years later. I had to dismiss many people for being unsuitable.
— There are rumors that an orchestra player killed himself because of it...
— That’s not true. The man, who was moved from the second desk to the fifth, began to make the rounds of the courts and fatally undermined his health.
But after we managed to bring both the choir and the orchestra to good condition, it was necessary to immediately start reforming the opera company. A complete deadlock was there, since the general director was completely unprepared for further steps.
— To which ones?
— I believe that the Bolshoi Theater needed to switch to a system of forming an opera troupe comparable to that of La Scala, Covent Garden or Metropolitan. It is time to abandon the uncompetitive Soviet staff principle of recruiting soloists.
It makes no sense for a good singer to be on staff. These would be just shackles. The best soloists of the Bolshoi Theater, who have a lot of work around the world, rarely appear on its stage, considering the theater chiefly as a repository of their work-record book.
But it turned out that the management needed no development roadmap. The theater could just go round in circles from year to year performing the same plays. The main thing is that everything was calm and quiet.
Despite my desperate attempts, I failed to rid the repertoire of such "prehistoric" stuff as "Iolanta" or "The Royal Bride." It is improper to make one or two premieres a season. With that mindset, you can only produce "goodbye, youth" boots, and not work in a theater.
— But there is a financial crisis. I suppose there’s no money?
— No one has money to stage. And at the same time, no one cooperates with anyone — is that normal? First of all, the spectators suffer.
Iksanov used to tell me: "Why do we need all these cooperative and renting performances?" Meanwhile, a person who came to the theater still does not care if the performance is from Bologna, or if it was made Petrovka Street. The audience should constantly receive a new product for the soul and mind.
— Why were you dismissed from working in the theater de facto much earlier than de jure, on July 13 of this year you submitted an application to voluntarily resign?
— After I released "Kitezh", incredible troubles began. A concentrated acid environment began to arise around me. I removed myself from all actions only because many decisions were made bypassing me.
In particular, after I learned that "my" premiere — the production of the opera “Wozzeck” by Berg — was given to another conductor (Theodor Currentzis. — ed.).
— At such a difficult moment did you take advice with your father — once famous bass singer of the Bolshoi Theater Alexander Vedernikov?
— What for? He and I are absolutely autonomous persons. He was fine about my decision, there were no "tear-jerking" details.
In general, it is not accepted in our family to resolve any issues through excessive presence and pressure. My father entered the process of my upbringing only at the most critical moments. For example, when in the sixth grade I abandoned going to a music school and started playing hockey. Then Alexander Filippovich was called in. He broke my stick, and hockey was immediately over. But otherwise I always had freedom of choice.
— And leaving the Bolshoi without a scandal, if not feet-first, is it impossible?
— I believe I have left the Bolshoi Theater without any scandal. There would be a scandal if I were in that situation trying to assert my authority as per the contract.
— Why being so gentle?
— Either you swear, pushing for your rights, making lawsuits, or do what you are supposed to do, — you conduct orchestra. You can't do both at the same time.
Besides, I feel like I shouldn't bring myself down to my opponents. They’re much more determined than I am to have an armchair at the Bolshoi.
— What was the most significant mistake you made while working at the Bolshoi?
— At first I trusted too much sense of team and illusion that we all were doing a common cause, and I paid little attention to formal points of my contract. While I was immersed exclusively in creative issues, my authority was slowly taken away from me. This is an insurmountable temptation — to take as much power as possible, regardless of the fact that these powers are vested in someone else's.
— By the way, where’s your work-record book going to be now?
— I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it yet. Is that so important? I’m not concerned about getting a pension.
— What are you concerned about?
— I am concerned about the Bolshoi Theater current situation - as a citizen and as a musician.
— And so you withdrew yourself...
— I pour myself hope that with my departure from the Bolshoi Theater I will attract at least someone's attention to its problems. Today in our country no one cares about anything, if rated honestly. I can see it in the situation at the Bolshoi Theater. The only place I didn’t get a call after I announced I was leaving the Bolshoi Theatre was the Ministry of Culture.
I think that the Ministry of Culture should be interested in the fact that the Bolshoi Theater will no longer have a chief conductor. From my point of view, this is a real scandal. After all, the management of the Bolshoi Theatre, as well as any other creative mechanism, provides a fairly dense guardianship and formation of a unified style. Otherwise, five people will come, everyone pulling their own way.
It is clear to any a little bit artistically educated people that this idea is the lowest of the low. The situation would be very similar to Krylov's fable. As good as the general director will decide everything by himself, including for creative issues. I can’t even agree with that as an ordinary spectator. I sincerely wish the Bolshoi Theater that he has a musical director with real authority as soon as possible.
— By the way, let’s talk about the shell. What is going on with the immensely prolonged renovation of the Bolshoi Theatre historical stage, after the federal authorities handed over the construction to a Moscow company?
— This is the most frustrating thing for me. It is much more important how the work will be done, not the time frame. I just can't understand: Moscow already has the Hall of Church Cathedrals, the House of Music and the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater. And there is no acoustics anywhere! Now will it be the same with the historical stage of the Bolshoi Theater?
A representative of a famous German company ("Mueller BBM." — ed.), which was supposed to be engaged in acoustics, wrote me that they were pushed away from the construction plan. And the Research Institute of Construction Physics (StroyPhysics) was already hosting the site, everyone knowing well their "successes" in the field of acoustics.
So I have no reasons to be optimistic either about the Bolshoi Theater organization or about its premises renovation.
— So you have zero positive emotions from working in the Bolshoi Theater?
— No! After all, my main task was the performances. And many turned out to be successful. I have warm feelings toward both "Flying Dutchman" and "Fiery Angel". And even to "Falstaff", although we couldn’t get a singer to do the title part that would be proportional to the role.
Indeed, when you want to create some beautiful cast in the Bolshoi Theater, the directorate declares: "We have no money for this." And you have to take it for granted: the budget is opaque, and I can't dispose a penny.
There is a huge problem having actually a lot of money. This is much harder than having few of them. At every turn I came across the fact that the theater had opportunities, but we got slaps on the wrists all the time.
For example, representatives of the EMI, Deutsche Grammophone and Sony record companies contacted the theater, but all of them were refused. I say, "Are you crazy?." And they to answer: "We would have to monkey with, to look for sponsors. Why do we need this? We'd rather record it by ourselves." Or else they say: what going to trouble, organizing tours?
— Now "Eugene Onegin" travels quite a lot...
— It's just that Onegin is a very mobile performance. Any other one is almost twice the number of performers. We’ve been invited to tour many of our productions, even "War and Peace," and "Lady Macbeth," and the new "Boris Godunov" staged by Sokurov. But only “Onegin” went on tours.
— Will you go to the festival in Ljubljana with “Onegin” at the end of August?
— Yes, I will. I would feel embarrassed to completely let down the colleagues. Then I'll probably go to Covent Garden.
— You're talking about it with a tinge of tired doom.
— I'm really tired. If you do your job and see that there is neither perspective nor sense in it, finally you lose interest in it.
— Where do you intend to conduct now?
— The upcoming season is already planned out. The BBC Symphony, Washington National Symphony, Philharmonique de Radio France, Sydney Symphony, Danish Radio and so on are awaiting me.
— Will you work somewhere in Russia?
— So far I have no offers. After the Bolshoi Theater, I can consider offers from just a few institutions.
Source.
Maria BABALOVA,
"Izvestia", August 19, 2009
"Izvestia", August 19, 2009
Alexander Vedernikov: “The Bolshoi Theater today is not a creative organization”
