Organization

Admin

Choreographer

Dmitry Korneyev

Irina Ivanova

Costume designer

Costume designer (+3)

Elena Zaitseva

Lighting designer

Evgeny Vinogradov

Chorusmaster

Chorusmaster (+1)

Elena Nakishova

Set designer

Set designer (+3)

Alyona Pikalova

Choreography by

Vasili Vainonen

Ekaterinburg Opera

Orchestra

Ural Opera Ballet Orchestra

Chorus

Ural Opera Ballet Children Chorus

Ballet

Ural Ballet

Choreographer (+1)

Konstantin Khlebnikov

Stahlbaum

The Mouse King

Dancer

Karina Rafalson

Columbine/Doll

Elena Glushakova

Ural Opera Ballet

Conductor

Conductor (+1)

Pavel Klinichev

Konstantin Chudovsky

Assya Sultanova

Flowers

Dancer (+1)

Evgeniy Balobanov

Elena Fedorova

The Nurse

Valeriya Sokratova

Russian Dolls

Tatyana Mevkh

Anna Vlasyuk

Masha as a child

Nadezhda Shamshurina

Stahlbaum's wife

Actor (+1)

Igor Korol

The Nutcracker-Doll

Mikhail Volkov

The Moor

Anastasiya Rakitina

Sofia Tupa

Alice Pestova

Louise

Maxim Klekovkin

Grandfather

Anna Antropova

The Grandmother

Mariya Astanina

Spanish Dolls

Midzuki Tando

Arabian Dance

Ilsur Khikmatullin

Eduard Zabelin

Inna Avdeeva

Fritz

Drosselmeyer

Arslan Bikmetov

Harlequin

Rizvan Abdulkerimov

Natalya Kuznetsova

Anastasiya Kerzhemankina

Andrey Veshkurtsev

Alexander Chernoskutov

Viktor Magurin

The Nutcracker-Prince

Officer

Victor Mekhanoshin

Ekaterina Kuznetsova

Snowflakes

Tomoha Terada

Chinese Dolls

Varvara Pugachova

Pas des trois

Dmitry Li

Ilya Borodulin

Mikhail Galkin

Darya Serdyukova

Alexey Bogorad

Miki Nishiguchi

Marie

Fidan Daminev

Mikhail Khushutin

Ksenia Lanskikh

Elena Krumina

Alena Kuznetsova

Artem Kychanov

Anna Melikyan

Maria Mikheeva

Anna Kamchatnaya

Alessandro Kaggedzhi

Anna Domke

The Nutcracker doesn’t require long introductions; just like it’s not necessary to explain what the New Year is. A limpid Mozart-style overture openы the performance, the snow is falling, the honey-coloured windows of the Stahlbaum house are glowing softly, and the Christmas tree lights up the house. Then the tree starts growing, the gingerbread soldiers fight with rats, the nutcracker doll turns into a prince, and everyone goes to the Land of Sweets.

The production by Vasily Vainonen, which has been performed at the Mariinsky Theater since 1934 nowadays is considered the best version of The Nutcracker. This production is currently performed at the stage of the Ural Opera. Vainonen excluded fiction and mysticism from the original script, placing the action into the dream of the main character; he chose to ignore the darker parts of the score — he even interpreted the famous final adagio, in which tragic intonation is often assumed, as festive and ceremonial music.

The spectators, who are about to see The Nutcracker for the first time, are entitled for a cozy and colourful feast, but those who go to Vainonen’s ballet for the second and third time will be generously rewarded. The music and the choreography of The Nutcracker only seem to be very familiar: you can listen to the whimsical orchestral flow for a long time, in which Mozart-style fragments coexist with Wagner-inspired climaxes; study the design of Vainonen’s corps de ballet ensembles in detail; admire the exceptional musical and plastic wit in the suite of national dances — and eventually discover that The Nutcracker, although universally recognized as a classic performance, is provocative in many ways.

Premiered on — March, 5 2014

Photos