Organization

Conductor

Anton Torbeev

Valery Gergiev

Stage director

Alain Maratrat

Set designer

Daniela Villaret

Costume designer

Mireille Dessingy

Lighting designer

Pascal Mérat

Sergei Lukin

Pianist

Marina Repina

Olga Krukovich

Chorus master

Larisa Shveikovskaya

Anna Pipia

Assistant Stage Director

Mikhail Smirnov

Singer

Bass

Vadim Soloviev

King of Clubs

Tenor

Oleg Ivanov

The Prince

Vsevolod Marilov

Truffaldino

Yevgeny Plekhanov

Tchelio

Soprano

Elena Tretyakova

Fata Morgana

Contralto

Tatiana Makarchuk

Princess Clarice

Baritone

Dmitry Nelasov

Leandro

Daria Cherniy

Linetta

Mezzo-soprano

Laura Bustamante

Nicoletta

Kristina Alieva

Ninetta

Sergei Pleshivtsev

Cook

Gennady Akhmedov

Farfarello

Irina Kolodyazhnaya

Smeraldina

Aleksandr Diyanov

Natalya Zakharchenko

Alina Mikhailik

Svetlana Rozhok

Aigul Khismatullina

Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre

Russian

Lyubov k tryom apelsinam -  (The Love for Three Oranges)

Vladivostok

Russia

Lyubov k tryom apelsinam

Public

The Love for Three Oranges

English

Approved

Sergei Prokofiev’s first comic opera, derived from a play by the 18th century Italian writer Carlo Gozzi, is a work infectiously cheerful, captivating with its adolescent ingeniousness, freshness and richness of musical colours. Although Prokofiev wrote it during his first years of staying abroad, its conception is associated with his theatrical impressions in the pre-revolutionary Russia. The composer found his inspiration in a magazine called The Love For Three Oranges, published in 1914–1915 by Russian theatre icon Vsevolod Meyerhold, who turned Gozzi’s play into a manifest of the movement for the renewal of theatrical forms. Meyerhold also suggested a libretto for the future opera, which was intended as a parody of absurd theatre conventions, cliches, as well as everything stilted and stereotyped in theatrical productions.

Prokofiev’s aim was to create a “cheerful performance” which would appeal to the audience by its mix of fairy-tale, joke and satire. That is why The Love for Three Oranges resembles a fantastic, magical revue with a rapid change of multifarious episodes. «The music of our times” the composer states, “calls for briskness, agility and pressure.” He imbues the opera with constant movement and sharp rhythms, giving the performance a faerie tone.

The ingenious wit of young Prokofiev, with his fiery red hair and indomitable energy, which also evoked “orange” associations among his contemporaries, are very close to the creative style of French director Alain Maratrat and his team. All identification marks of this style can be found in the performance mounted by the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre: light-coloured “clothing” of the stage, enhancing a feeling of airiness and spaciousness, whimsical costumes and hats, and, first of all, - inexhaustible resourcefulness in presentation of any situation, each plot twist. Just like in other Maratrat’s performances, you won’t find here the main theatrical convention — a division into performers and spectators. The interaction between the artists and the audience allow the latter to to be a part of the performance, which provides the audience members with a substantial supply of vitamin C, even those who don’t like oranges.

Nadezhda Koulygina

The Love for Three Oranges by Prokofiev, From (2016/2017), Directed by Alain Maratrat,, Conductor Anton Torbeev, Valery Gergiev, Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, Vladivostok, Russia

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues