On 22 November the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre will host a unique event: performance of “Prince Igor” by the State Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). 49 dancers, 52 chorus artists, 22 singers and 44 musicians of the Sakha Theatre will come to Vilnius to present one of their large-scale productions which have already won the hearts not only of their spectators, but also of the Beijing opera admirers.
“It took Alexander Borodin 18 years to compose his opera. During this period the composer tried to fully comprehend its source, The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” the director Andrey Borisov says. “If we speak about the historical truth, Prince Igor sallied out alone to fight for glory and honour. He did not summon the princes’ reinforcements. So he lost and ruined his army. And this is his fault. Nevertheless, people sang him praises in the finale and followed him. Why? The only reason was that Prince Igor repented, and the people trusted him… That’s what the story is about.”
A special colour will be added by a new character introduced by the Sakha Theatre, a beautiful Yakut shaman performed by the unique folk singer and virtuoso khomus (jew’s harp) player Yuliana Krivoshapkina.
The 22 November performance will feature Juriy Baishev, Praskovya Gerasimova, Nikolai Popov, Ivan Stepanov, Ludmila Kuzmina, Marina Silina, Vladislav Kiseliov, Valeriy Kasatkin, Grigoriy Petrov, Nina Chigireva, Yefim Stepanov, Valeriy Kasatkin, Aleksandr Donskoy.
The part of the terrible Khan Konchak will be performed by Askar Abdrazakov, the People’s Artist of Bashkortostan, a soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, who has also created the role of Philip II in LNOBT’s production of G. Verdi’s “Don Carlo” (dir. Günter Krämer). The singer has appeared at the world-famous opera venues, such as the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, Metropolitan Opera, Washington Opera, Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Teatro Real in Madrid, Staatsoper Berlin and Hamburg. He has worked with a number of eminent conductors, including Valery Gergiev, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pierre Boulez, Michel Plasson, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Plácido Domingo, as well as singers, namely Anna Netrebko, José Carreras, Dmitry Khvorostovsky. The role of the Prince of Galich will be sung by winner of international competitions, recipient of the Francysk Skaryna Medal, Andrey Valenty, whose voice is widely referred to as the royal bass.
