A Great Man of the Bolshoi Theater
Chief conductor of the Danish Royal Opera (since 2018). Chief conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theater (since last February). There should have been many more to come: 56 years old — he was not even close to the age when the conductors are summing up their careers.
But, unfortunately, now his career has been summed up. And at least in the selfish audience view, it seems that the most important and most valuable period of this career were the nine years that Alexander Vedernikov spent in the Bolshoi Theater as chief conductor. It's not about prestige - after all, the prestige of the Bolshoi Theater in 2001 was a matter of quite controversy. But next, everything began to change.
These were amazing times: in 2002, the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater opened, and three years later the historical building by Beauvais and Kavos was closed for renovation.
The management team led by Anatoly Iksanov, which Alexander Vedernikov entered in 2001, had to master a new building, withstand a flurry of rumors and scandals regarding construction and renovation (this team having nothing to do with that), and maintain a huge theater company afloat. At the same time, they had to create a new unfamiliar Bolshoi. They tackled the problem to the touch, getting up and down, without ready-made recipes, guided by a genuine enthusiasm thanks to which it was worth taking on this venture.
The son of bass singer Alexander Vedernikov Sr., the famous soloist of the old Bolshoi, educatee of the famous Russian conducting school, Vedernikov Jr. at his post did not even try to utopically recreate those former times.
He insisted that opera at the Bolshoi Theater should move away from old repertory habits, should switch to the stagione system in a global spirit, and all this were not just milling the wind. He was by no means an inconsiderate rhetoric, and his own vision of the Bolshoi's strategy and mission was both balanced and circumspect, and — when necessary — conservative.
This did not prevent him from energetically participating in somewhat risky experiments (what if the theatre isn’t strong enough, and what if the public opinion blame the innovations), but it turned out to be milestones in the recent history of the Bolshoi.
Thanks to him, for the first time in many years, Wagner first sounded on the main Russian stage (the sensational "Flying Dutchman" directed by Peter Convichny, 2004); Vedernikov conducted the world premiere of so much talked-of “Children of Rosenthal” by Leonid Desyatnikov (2005). And Dmitry Chernyakov’s rapid rise in the 2000s, would also not have taken place without sincere support and full artistic involvement from the music director of the day, who became the conductor-director of the epoch-making "Eugene Onegin" (2006).
And yet this is only part of Vedernikov's merit as a musician, albeit the most visible in terms of news feeds.
After all, there was a career as a symphony conductor, also noticeable, and a fundamental struggle for the national repertoire in the Bolshoi (including not the most on-trend titles), and the research profile performing innovations - like the unique experience of the "historically informed" version of “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by Glinka in the early 2000s or authentic instruments in the "Dutchman": everyone was amazed, but quite a few years passed, and the authentic performances were much in demand. There were, finally, long ago unprecedented touring successes of the Bolshoi opera abroad (not only with “Onegin”, but also, for example, with the venerable “Boris Godunov” by Baratov), precisely related to Vedernikov's participation.
What did the opera landscape look like fifteen years ago? There was a colossal figure of the unchanged Valery Gergiev, and a figure still smaller, but also with manifest ambitions and views of growth — Theodore Currentzis.
Compared to these two personalities, Alexander Vedernikov, a calm, thorough and, at the same time, disarmingly ironic person, could seem to be not fanatic enough, not charismatic enough.
Although, from today everything is seen differently. Indeed, the orchestra "Russian Philharmonic" created by Vedernikov, has ingloriously wasted away without him, and in the Bolshoi Theater he is sometimes desperately lacking.
Source.
But, unfortunately, now his career has been summed up. And at least in the selfish audience view, it seems that the most important and most valuable period of this career were the nine years that Alexander Vedernikov spent in the Bolshoi Theater as chief conductor. It's not about prestige - after all, the prestige of the Bolshoi Theater in 2001 was a matter of quite controversy. But next, everything began to change.
These were amazing times: in 2002, the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater opened, and three years later the historical building by Beauvais and Kavos was closed for renovation.
The management team led by Anatoly Iksanov, which Alexander Vedernikov entered in 2001, had to master a new building, withstand a flurry of rumors and scandals regarding construction and renovation (this team having nothing to do with that), and maintain a huge theater company afloat. At the same time, they had to create a new unfamiliar Bolshoi. They tackled the problem to the touch, getting up and down, without ready-made recipes, guided by a genuine enthusiasm thanks to which it was worth taking on this venture.
The son of bass singer Alexander Vedernikov Sr., the famous soloist of the old Bolshoi, educatee of the famous Russian conducting school, Vedernikov Jr. at his post did not even try to utopically recreate those former times.
He insisted that opera at the Bolshoi Theater should move away from old repertory habits, should switch to the stagione system in a global spirit, and all this were not just milling the wind. He was by no means an inconsiderate rhetoric, and his own vision of the Bolshoi's strategy and mission was both balanced and circumspect, and — when necessary — conservative.
This did not prevent him from energetically participating in somewhat risky experiments (what if the theatre isn’t strong enough, and what if the public opinion blame the innovations), but it turned out to be milestones in the recent history of the Bolshoi.
Thanks to him, for the first time in many years, Wagner first sounded on the main Russian stage (the sensational "Flying Dutchman" directed by Peter Convichny, 2004); Vedernikov conducted the world premiere of so much talked-of “Children of Rosenthal” by Leonid Desyatnikov (2005). And Dmitry Chernyakov’s rapid rise in the 2000s, would also not have taken place without sincere support and full artistic involvement from the music director of the day, who became the conductor-director of the epoch-making "Eugene Onegin" (2006).
And yet this is only part of Vedernikov's merit as a musician, albeit the most visible in terms of news feeds.
After all, there was a career as a symphony conductor, also noticeable, and a fundamental struggle for the national repertoire in the Bolshoi (including not the most on-trend titles), and the research profile performing innovations - like the unique experience of the "historically informed" version of “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by Glinka in the early 2000s or authentic instruments in the "Dutchman": everyone was amazed, but quite a few years passed, and the authentic performances were much in demand. There were, finally, long ago unprecedented touring successes of the Bolshoi opera abroad (not only with “Onegin”, but also, for example, with the venerable “Boris Godunov” by Baratov), precisely related to Vedernikov's participation.
What did the opera landscape look like fifteen years ago? There was a colossal figure of the unchanged Valery Gergiev, and a figure still smaller, but also with manifest ambitions and views of growth — Theodore Currentzis.
Compared to these two personalities, Alexander Vedernikov, a calm, thorough and, at the same time, disarmingly ironic person, could seem to be not fanatic enough, not charismatic enough.
Although, from today everything is seen differently. Indeed, the orchestra "Russian Philharmonic" created by Vedernikov, has ingloriously wasted away without him, and in the Bolshoi Theater he is sometimes desperately lacking.
Source.
Sergey KHODNEV,
Kommersant newspaper No. 201 of 31.10.2020
Kommersant newspaper No. 201 of 31.10.2020
