Organization

Stage director

Evgeny Pisarev

Conductor

Tugan Sokhiev

Lighting designer

Damir Ismagilov

Costume designer

Olga Shaishmelashvili

Set designer

Zinovy Margolin

Chorus master

Valery Borisov

Singer

Baritone

Željko Lučić

Mazepa

Elchin Azizov

Bass

Stanislav Trofimov

Kochubey

Denis Makarov

Mezzo-soprano

Elena Manistina

Lyubov

Agunda Kulaeva

Soprano

Anna Shapovalova

Maria

Anna Nechaeva

Tenor

Dmytro Popov

Andrei

Oleg Dolgov

Nikolay Kazansky

Orlik

Valery Gilmanov

Roman Muravitsky

Iskra

Ilya Selivanov

Ivan Maximeyko

A drunken Cossack

Choreographer

Irina Kashuba

Bolshoi Theatre

Others

Bolshoi Theatre Chorus

Orchestra

Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra

Russian

Mazeppa -  (Mazepa)

Moscow

Russia

“Mazepa. A Leap into the Unknown

Public

English

Approved

A film dedicated to the premiere of P.I. Tchaikovsky "Mazepa". Preparations for this event began several years ago. The concept was invented, the scenery was approved, the material for tailoring the costumes was selected. The presence of "Mazepa" on the stage of the Bolshoi is natural - the opera was written for large voices and is incredibly difficult for singers. What does it mean to "trample the party"? How to "sculpt" the desired image in the proposed circumstances? What does Tchaikovsky's music dictate? - about all this in the new issue of "Ticket to the Bolshoi". New film dedicated to the premiere of "Mazeppa" opera. It is no coincidence, “Mazeppa” is on our stage – this opera was written for big voices and is incredibly difficult for singers. It was The Bolshoi where its world premiere took place in 1884.
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Ticket to the Bolshoi - “Mazepa. A Leap into the Unknown / Mazeppa. A leap into the unknown

The atmosphere of sounds in the opera Mazeppa by Tchaikovsky appears from a combination of intonations of the Southern Slavic speech, which is heard around magnificent cherry orchards and quiet rivers, and a bloody tragedy, one of the darkest in the history of the genre, unfolding against this background. Pushkin’s Poltava, which became the foundation of the libretto, inspired the composer to create a musical canvas about the death of the powerful grandee Vasily Kochubey’s family. A tragic ending awaits every character without exception — their lives are being ruined irretrievably, from the idyllic first scenes to the dark finale.

Tchaikovsky confessed there was no other writing that was as hard to compose as this opera. Naturally, there was less enthusiasm in his work to start with, less of a spontaneous and intuitive approach than we can see in the cases of Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades. However, this circumstance also had some positive outcomes: as a result, we have a true masterpiece, Meisterwerk, which perfectly fits the “matrix” of romantic opera. The plot of Poltava provided the composer with material for huge duet scenes of disputes (comparable to Aida by Verdi), a classical love triangle (Maria, Andrei and Mazeppa), large scale choral episodes, and finally, for an astonishing climax — the descent into insanity of the main female character and her enlightened departure (let us remember Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti or the future The Tsar’s Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov).

The world premiere of Mazeppa took place on the Historic Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre on the 3rd of February 1884. Further recreations and new productions of the opera were regular: over almost one and a half centuries, there have been seven of them. The creators of the new performance, chief conductor and music director of the theatre Tugan Sokhiev and director Evgeny Pisarev tell us more.

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble