Organization

Admin

Mariinsky Theatre

Conductor

Valery Gergiev

Stage director

Alexei Frandetti

Set designer

Vyacheslav Okunev

Costume designer

Viktoria Sevryukova

Choreographer

Irina Kashuba

Lighting designer

Gleb Filshtinsky

Video designer

Chorus master

Pavel Teplov

Konstantin Rylov

Translator

Ksenia Klimenko

Singer

Tenor

Mikhaïl Vekua

Benvenuto Cellini

Soprano

Anastasia Kalagina

Teresa

Mezzo-soprano

Irina Shishkova

Ascanio

Baritone

Yaroslav Petryanik

Fieramosca

Bass

Oleg Sychov

Balducci

Yuri Vorobiev

Pope Clement VII

French

Saint Petersburg

Russia

Mariinsky-2

Benvenuto Cellini Berlioz

Public

Sagar Haldar

Russian

Approved

The first premiere of the 239th season at the Mariinsky Theatre is to be Hector Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini. On 10 November at the new theatre stage director Alexei Frandetti will present his version of the story of the famous Renaissance-era sculptor. The productions team includes set designer Vyacheslav Okunev, costume designer Viktoria Sevryukova, lighting designer Gleb Filshtinsky and choreographer Irina Kashuba. The Musical Director of the production is Valery Gergiev. The next performances are to take place on 11 and 14 November.

Theatre and film director Alexei Frandetti, a Golden Mask recipient runs parallels between the story of the creation of the legendary statue of Perseus — and the story of the filming of Federico Fellini’s cult classic 8½ at Cinecittà film studios in Rome. “The thought came from the idea Berlioz instilled in the opera, and before that in the memoirs of Cellini. It is an idea for an artistic search, a creative crisis and the painful birth of the right idea and a work of art,” Frandetti says. The production makes use of quotations from many of Fellini’s films: here we have not just 8½, but La strada and La dolce vita as well.

In this new production, Benvenuto Cellini is a film director resembling Fellini; a genius who is able to create only in circumstances that are totally extreme for him. Rehearsing to appear at the Mariinsky Theatre in the title role are the tenors Alexander Mikhailov, Sergei Semishkur, Ivan Gyngazov and Mikhail Vekua.

Benvenuto Cellini belongs to the rare genre of opera semi-seria, or “semi-serious” opera. Its main concept is entirely serious: it deals with genius and creativity, the place of the artist in society, about the value of a work of art. But here the drama sits alongside the comedy, the lyrical heroes alongside the buffo characters, real people alongside carnival masks. In this opera there are fully-developed arias of reflective heroes, ensembles that are mind-boggling and Mozartian in spirit and grandiose choral scenes. Benvenuto Cellini is also a celebration of the orchestra; Berlioz produced a score filled with dazzling timbre innovations.
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We thank the Saint Petersburg Documentary Films Studio "Lendoc" for the assistance in filming this video.

Just like at a vibrant Italian carnival, Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini is a combination of the comic and the tragic, deep emotions and frivolity, ironic play-acting and stark spiritual nakedness. The operatic “first-born” of the great French Romantic composer is of a rare breed: it is an opera semiseria, meaning a “semi-serious” opera. Its core idea is actually totally serious: it deals with genius and the creative process, with the artist’s place in society and with the value of a work of art. In the character of the illustrious Florentine sculptor Cellini, Berlioz saw his alter ego – a genius who, so to speak, lives life on the edge, but for whom that is indeed the only way to create masterpieces. At a certain moment, matters take a truly serious turn: a murder is committed on the stage, and then the protagonist himself is within a hairbreadth of death. Berlioz, however, is no moralist: here the serious sits cheek by jowl with the comic, the lyrical heroes with the buffo characters and real people with maskers. Here there are well-developed arias of the reflexive characters, there are tremendous ensembles that are Mozartian in spirit and there are magnificent choral scenes, among them the grandiose finale of Act I of which Franz Liszt commented that it had been composed of “fiery, passionate notes”. Benvenuto Cellini is also a celebration for and of the orchestra; Berlioz, with his desire of linking the genres of opera and symphony music, composed an utterly dazzling score, filled with glorious timbre innovations. The length of the opera appeared to Liszt, who had staged it in Weimar, to be surplus to requirements, and large sections ended up being cut. The Mariinsky Theatre’s new production is based on the full and complete Paris version.
Benvenuto Cellini, with its mass street scenes, drinking-bout in a tavern, “balagan” theatre, a Roman Catholic priest as a deus ex machina and other efficacious situations, presents an alluring sphere of activity for any director of opera. Moscow stage director Alexey Frandetti could see parallels between the story of the creation of the legendary statue of Perseus and the story of the filming of Federico Fellini’s cult film 8½. The director has transferred the plot of the opera to 1963, to a film studio in Rome where, as is well known, the greatest cinematic masterpiece of the 20th century experienced a difficulty-laden birth. Crises and insights, the succession of procrastination and feverish activity, financial “swings” and relying on a client will accompany artistic creativity in any and every period. Khristina Batyushina

English

Как на пестром итальянском карнавале, в «Бенвенуто Челлини» Берлиоза перемешались комическое и трагическое, глубокие чувства и игра, ироничное лицедейство и пронзительная душевная обнаженность. Оперный первенец великого французского композитора-романтика принадлежит к редкой породе: это опера-семисериа, то есть «полусерьезная» опера. Ее главная идея вполне серьезна: речь идет о гении и творчестве, о месте художника в социуме, о цене произведения искусства. В фигуре знаменитого флорентийского скульптора Челлини Берлиоз увидел свое альтер эго – гения, который, что называется, ходит по краю, но только так и может творить шедевры. В определенный момент дело принимает совсем серьезный оборот: на сцене совершается убийство, а потом и сам герой оказывается на волосок от смерти. Но Берлиоз не морализатор: серьезность тут соседствует с комизмом, лирические герои – с буффонными, живые люди – с масками. Здесь есть и развернутые арии рефлексирующих героев, и умопомрачительные, моцартовские по духу ансамбли, и великолепные хоровые сцены, в том числе грандиозный финал первого акта, о котором Ференц Лист сказал, что он написан «пылающими нотами». «Бенвенуто Челлини» – это еще и праздник оркестра; Берлиоз, с его стремлением породнить оперу с симфонией, создал совершенно ослепительную партитуру, полную блестящих тембровых находок. Объем оперы показался Листу, поставившему ее в Веймаре, избыточным, и большие фрагменты ушли в купюры. Новый спектакль Мариинского театра основан на полной, парижской версии.
«Бенвенуто Челлини», с его многолюдными уличными сценами, попойкой в таверне, балаганным театром, римским папой в качестве deus ex machina и прочими эффектными ситуациями, предоставляет любому оперному режиссеру заманчивое поле деятельности. Московский постановщик Алексей Франдетти увидел параллели между историей создания легендарной статуи Персея и историей съемок культового фильма Федерико Феллини «8½». Режиссер перенес действие оперы в 1963 год, на римскую киностудию, где, как известно, с большими трудностями рождался величайший киношедевр ХХ века. Кризисы и прозрения, чередование прокрастинации и лихорадочной деятельности, финансовые «качели» и зависимость от заказчика сопутствуют художественному творчеству в любые времена. Христина Батюшина

русский

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew