Diaghilev. P.S.

Diaghilev. P.S.
International Festival of Arts
Saint Petersburg
2011
Honourary Committee
Co-Chairpersons
of the Honourary committee:
Alexander Avdeyev
Minister of Culture
of the Russian Federation
Valentina Matvienko
Speaker of the Federation Council
Members of the Honourary Committee:
Pierre Bergé
Robert Delzell
Pierre Lacotte
Olga Litvinova
Baroness Helen de Ludinghausen
John Neumeier
Mikhail Piotrovsky
Ghislaine Thesmar
Bettina von Siemens
Valery Fokin
Elena Heinz
Yvette Chauviré
Participants
St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music
State Hermitage
State Russian Museum
Shostakovich St Petersburg Academic Philharmonic
Pushkin State Academic Drama Theatre (Alexandrinsky Theatre)
St Petersburg State Academic Capella
Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet
Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg Conservatory
Moscow Fund for Social and Cultural Initiatives
Anna Nova Art Gallery
Tchaikovsky Perm Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre
Ballet Preljocaj (Aix-en-Provence, France)
Pavel Kaplevich
Break dance group TOP 9
For a second time the International Festival of Arts
Diaghilev. P. S. is bringing admirers of Russia’s cultural
heritage together in St Petersburg to celebrate Sergei
Pavlovich Diaghilev — entrepreneur, co-founders of the
“World of Art” group, organizer of the Seasons of Russian
Ballet in Paris, and grand connoisseur of theatre and
painting.
Sergei Diaghilev possessed a unique combination of
strength and intuition. He discovered, and then presented
to the world Fokine, Pavlova, Nijinsky, Lifar, Balanchine,
Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Benois, Bakst, Goncharova, Matisse,
Picasso, Braque, Cocteau — the list is long and amazing —
and he persuaded them all to collaborate with him and
with each other. To a large extent it is thanks to him that
an exacting European public became acquainted with the
world of Russian culture — with the rich variety of cultural
life that the Russian capitals, St Petersburg and Moscow,
produced in the first two decades of the twentieth century.
The epoch Diaghilev presided over in dance alone is now
widely appreciated as a pinnacle of achievement in the
history of ballet.
Today the Festival Diaghilev. P. S. is once again uniting the
best of creative forces and allowing us to appreciate the
richness and variety of Europe’s cultural heritage — of which
Russian culture is an inseparable part. We can be proud that
new generations of remarkable ballet dancers, artists, and
musicians are keeping the best traditions of Russian art
alive and, in developing them, also paying homage to the
cherished memory of their great predecessors.
Аlexander Аvdeyev
Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation
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Dear Friends,
I am delighted to welcome all our guests and participants
to this second International Festival of Arts Diaghilev. P.S.,
being held here in St Petersburg.
The name of the great impresario Sergei Diaghilev has
always been synonymous with creative experiment, beauty
and perfection in the world of art and it is sure to remain
so. Let us not forget that his career started right here in
St Petersburg — the city of muses which has inspired so
many artists and architects, poets and musicians.
Launched in the centenary year of his celebrated Ballets
Russes, the Festival once again aims to bring together the
best in music, theatre and visual art and it affirms the high
spiritual mission of St Petersburg as the cultural capital of
Russia.
I wish both inspiration and creative achievement to all
participants of the Festival and the joy of true art to all its
guests!
Georgy Poltavchenko
Governor of St Petersburg
3
Dear friends,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the International
Festival of Arts Diaghilev. P. S., which is currently enjoying its
second season in St Petersburg.
The name of Sergei Diaghilev is of course inseparably
linked to Russian culture. Thanks to his original talent, he
literally overturned the conventional notions of theatre in
his day and opened the eyes of the world to the greatness
of Russian music, ballet, and painting. He did so much
for development of European and world art! But Festival
Diaghilev. P. S. doesn’t just serve as an occasion to remember
this outstanding man or the remarkable events of his life
and creative development. The Festival aims to give the
public at large a unique opportunity to become acquainted
with new developments in the visual and theatre arts of
modern Europe — very much in the spirit of its namesake.
In its wide-ranging programme there is a host of interesting
events, not the least of which is the exhibition “Maria Callas
forever…”, at the Sheremetev Palace. This unique exhibition
is part of what is planned as a long-term exchange programme
“Cultural Mission: St Petersburg — Venice” (where the Maria
Callas Cultural Association, which is supporting the exhibition,
is based). Visitors will be able to learn much that is new about
this great twentieth century opera singer, who won the heart
of the world from its leading lyric stages.
I am sure that the present festival will become a continuing
event in the cultural life of St Petersburg and that as
such it will reward its audiences with the most vivid and
unforgettable experiences.
I wish you success and all the best.
Svetlana Medvedeva
Wife of the President of the Russian Federation
President of the Fund for Social and Cultural Initiatives
4
Dear friends,
With all my heart I would like to welcome each and every
guest and participant to this International Festival of Arts
Diaghilev. P. S., taking place in our northern capital of Russia!
Through his Russian Seasons in Paris Sergei Diaghilev
opened up the beauty of Russian art to Europe and made
the rest of the world take note of his unique contribution to
the development and promotion of Russian painting, music
and ballet. It is very gratifying, therefore, that the Festival
created in 2009 celebrating the start of those seasons now
has a continuation.
The Fund for Social and Cultural Initiatives is glad to be able
to take part in this current Festival and especially proud
to present, in the Sheremetev Palace, a unique collection
of items relating to the great opera singer Maria Callas:
personal belongings, stage and concert costumes, letters
and photographs, playbills and of course programmes
recalling some of her performances. For us, creating such
an exhibition is especially symbolic this year, since 2011
has been officially declared the Year of Russian Culture
and Language in Italy and, reciprocally, the Year of Italian
Culture and Language in Russia.
I am sure that the Festival will once more shine as a
bright light in the cultural life of St Petersburg, featuring a
programme which unites musical concerts, art exhibitions,
ballet performances with many other delights.
I wish all the Festival’s participants success, a good time and
all the very best!
Tatiana Shumova
Vice-President of the Fund
for Social and Cultural Initiatives
Honored Arts Worker of the Russian Federation
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© Rita Antonioli
Down to the present day Russian ballets give us unquestionable evidence of the originality and quest for
experiment which was fostered by Sergei Diaghilev in
the period from 1909 to 1929. During those 20 years his
roaming troupe criss-crossed Europe and the United
States, giving performances of works which still remain
acknowledged masterpieces. Their titles recall memories of
great scandals, bold experiments and new discoveries —
ones which are associated with the names of the artistic
giants of the time: Stravinsky, Picasso, Prokofiev, Nijinsky,
Satie, Braque …
But these first great ballets of the modern era remind us
that, before a work of art becomes a classic it is, in its own
beginnings, immediate, new and vital. So a responsibility
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rests with contemporary artists — it is our turn and we have
picked the baton…
After having staged my own Svadebka (Les noces) in 1989,
to Stravinsky’s famous music, I decided to turn to three
more masterpieces out of Diaghilev’s catalogue of Russian
ballets. The first was Parade (1993) to the stylized fairground
music of Satie; then, in the same year, the almost mythical
Le spectre de la rose to Weber’s Invitation to the Dance. Finally
2001 I approached Le sacred du printemps, yet another
Stravinsky score, and a musical composition which could
not be passed by.
Now — in 2011 — I discover that Snow White fits ideally
in into this same line of creative activity. It is full with the
same passion that injected life into those Russian ballets:
passion to invent, create, to risk making something with
other contemporary artists, such as Jean Paul Gaultier who
designed the costumes and sculptor Thierry Leproust who
designed the stage set — not to mention the score by
Gustav Mahler which is imbued with romantic spirit but still
emerges as infinitely avant-garde.
“Surprise me!” — Diaghilev once said to Jean Cocteau.
I would be happy if today we could surprise the great
Sergei, because his Russian ballets are not simply pieces of
history but examples ripe for emulation.
Angelin Preljocaj
Artistic Director of Preljocaj Ballet
(Aix-en-Provence, France)
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev occupies a unique place in
the art of the Twentieth Century and in world culture. It
was his achievement to succeed in giving Russian art an
international context, not only revealing its own distinctive
qualities but also establishing its role as a leader in the
pursuit for new aesthetic forms. Today — post-Diaghilev
and at the beginning of the XXI century — the issues familiar
to him recur in our own society and need to be addressed
once again: how to tie in the modern world and its art with
the realities of national culture. This is precisely the mission
which the festival Diaghilev. P. S. has taken upon itself. An
awareness and appreciation of foreign avant-garde trends
has already established itself as an aim of this Festival —
understanding how important it is for all arts professionals
as well for public audiences at large to see what is new out
in the world.
Diaghilev always appreciated the union of different arts, and
there is every sign that this tradition which he fostered so
tirelessly will be continued in this new “Diaghilev” project.
Striving for such a unity in the arts is a token of truly creative
development.
Valery Fokin
Artistic Director of the Alexandrinsky Theatre
National Artist of Russia
Laureate of State Prizes of Russia
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To undertake a second festival is a most daunting task, especially when our first
one was considered to be a real success.
We have endeavoured to keep a diversity of content without losing any of our former
partners and we have even managed to increase the number of participants. As with
the previous festival, our main goal has been to add new names to St Petersburg’s
artistic calendar. For example, this will be the first time the public here will be able
to appreciate the creative work of acknowledged masters such as conductor Teodor
Currentzis, soprano Barbara Hannigan, and Moscow painter Pavel Kaplevich. We are
also glad that is our Festival which will present the Russian première of the recent
ballet Snow White, by celebrated French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj. And a
real coup for the Festival is the first performance in Russia of composer Vladimir
Dukelsky’s Orphic Trilogy, the scores of which languished for a long time in the US
Library of Congress without receiving any performance. Dukelsky became famous as
a popular songwriter in USA under name Vernon Duke (a name suggested to him by
Gershwin) but as a classical musician he was also a creative associate of Diaghilev.
Together with Moscow Fund for Social and Cultural Initiatives, and in association with
the Maria Callas Cultural Association, we are also presenting an exhibition devoted
to the opera legend — Maria Callas. And, of course, we are interested as usual in
the search for what is the new among young performers — musicians, dancers and
artists alike, from whom we have chosen what we believe to be the best.
“Étonne moi!” — “Surprise me!” — were the words Diaghilev famously addressed
to the young Jean Cocteau and for the Festival organizers they still have primary
importance. We hope that many things in this Festival will surprise and delight
you. And to those performers who manage to surprise us we will be presenting the
signature prize of the Festival Diaghilev. P.S — a bronze statuette of the mythical
Firebird.
We are very glad that the circle of our friends is defined, it is a circle with no gaps. We
are thankful to everybody for their friendship and for their support of this project.
Natalia Metelitsa
Artistic Director of Festival Diaghilev. P. S.
Director of the St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music
Honored Cultural Worker of the Russian Federation
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Mikhail Fokin
Tamara Karsavina
Bronislava Nijinskaya
Olga Spesivtseva
Leon Bakst
Anna Pavlova
Alexander Benois
Igor Stravinsky
Sergei Diaghilev
Mikhail Larionov
Vaslav Nijinsky
Sergei Prokofiev
Pablo Picasso
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23/10
2011
Vladimir Dukelsky
(Vernоn Duke)
First performance in Russia:
“Orphic Trilogy”
Epitaph (On the Death of Diaghilev) (1931)
The End of St Petersburg (1934)
Dedicaces (1937)
Conductor Scott Dunn (USA)
Irina Vasilieva (soprano)
Dmitry Voropaev (tenor)
Ilya Bannik (bass)
Nikolai Mazhara (piano)
Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg Philharmonic
Choir of the St Petersburg State Academic Capella
Choir Director: Vladislav Chernushenko (People’s Artist of USSR)
Grand Hall of the Shostakovich
St Petersburg Academic Philharmonic
Vladimir Dukelsky
Vernon Duke. New York, 1938
Vladimir Alexandrovitch Dukelsky (perhaps better known
by his American pseudonym of Vernon Duke) was a
composer, poet, and the author of a remarkable set of
memoirs called “Passport to Paris” (1955). He is one of the
most interesting — but unfortunately least well-known —
representatives of Russian expatriate culture.
Vladimir Alexandrovitch Dukelsky was born in Russia in
1903. At the age of twelve he was admitted to the Kiev
Conservatoire as a composition student of Reinhold Glière
and Sergei Prokofiev, briefly a fellow student, was to
become his lifelong friend and mentor.
In 1922 Dukelsky emigrated to the USA where both the
pianist Arthur Rubinstein and composer George Gershwin
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took interest in his talent. In 1924 Dukelsky met Sergei
Diaghilev and composed for him the ballet Zephyr et Flore,
to a scenario by Boris Kochno. It was premièred in Monte
Carlo in 1925 with sets by Georges Braque, choreography by
Léonide Massine, and costumes by Coco Chanel, bringing
the young composer enormous success. Diaghilev called
Dukelsky his “third musical son” (third after Stravinsky and
Prokofiev). Dukelsky’s only opera La Demoiselle-paysanne
(Country Miss) was dedicated to Diaghilev and both artists
are said to have discussed performance of it in Venice in
1929.
When Dukelsky later became interested in writing for the
London and Broadway stages, his good friend George
Gershwin suggested he adopt a pseudonym and so, in
another world entirely, Dukelsky became known as Vernon
Duke. Over time his songs and musicals have come to
be counted among the golden hits of jazz and American
popular song — hits such as April in Paris and I can’t get
started — though perhaps Cabin in the Sky (1940) starring
Ethel Waters and choreographed by George Balanchine,
could be called his most notable Broadway success.
Balanchine created ten other ballets to the music of Vernon
Duke.
During World War II, Duke joined the United States Coast
Guard and wrote a fundraising show for them — Tars and
Spars — which toured the USA. It was later filmed in 1946.
In the same year he was commissioned to write a ballet for
Roland Petit called Le bal des blanchisseuses (The Washerwomen’s Ball) which was performed more than hundred
times in France and achieved great success there. In 1953
Vernon Duke signed up with Warner Brothers in Hollywood
to write film scores.
In 1957 Duke married American soprano, Kay McCracken.
Together they travelled and performed extensively
throughout the United States. Vernon Duke died in Santa
Monica, California in January, 1969.
Vladimir Dukelsky
Anna Dukelsky, the composer’s mother. Kiev, 1917
Vernon Duke at the piano, with Ira Gershwin, finishing
the film score for The Goldwyn Follies following the
death of George Gershwin. Beverly Hills, CA. 1937
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Vladimir Dukelsky
From left to right: Vernon Duke, unidentified woman,
George Balanchine after the opening of Cabin in the Sky
on Broadway in 1940
Left — Lt. Commander Vernon Duke, US Coast Guard,
being congratulated by its Commandant Admiral
Russell R. Waesche for writing the review Tars & Spars.
Washington D.C., 1944
We would like to extend our thanks to Mrs. Kay Duke
Ingalls, the composer’s widow, who kindly provided us
with the photographs.
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Orphic Trilogy
by Vladimir Dukelsky
Dukelsky’s Orphic Trilogy was composed between 1931 and
1937, the original manuscript now being kept in the US
Library of Congress. It consists of three parts:
1. Epitaph (On the death of Diaghilev) — an elegy for
soprano, mixed choir and orchestra. It was written in 1931
and constitutes roughly 14 minutes of musical tribute to
the impresario, based on the poetry of Osip Mandelstam).
2. The End of St Petersburg — an oratorio, setting the verses
of 8 Russian poets (including Lomonosov, Derzhavin,
Blok, Akhmatova and Mayakovsky).
3. Dédicaces — a concerto for piano, soprano and
orchestra. It was written over a period, from 1934
to1937, and features poetry by Guillaume Apollinaire.
The piece was originally dedicated to George
Balanchine but after conflict arose between them in the
1950s Dukelsky retracted the dedication.
In the 1990s the second part of the trilogy, Epitaph (On the
death of Diaghilev), was performed twice — in the Netherlands
and Germany — with Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting.
None of the Orphic Trilogy’s parts, however, have ever been
performed in Russia. Nor has The End of St Petersburg ever
been performed in Russian language or in an uncut version.
Therefore this Festival’s concert represents not only a première
for St Petersburg and Russian audiences but also a world
première, at last revealing the composer’s original intentions
as to how he wanted his oratorio performed. Could there be a
better way for Russia to welcome home an unjustly neglected
composer — one who has nonetheless done so much to
represent her musical culture to the world at large?
The U.S. Consulate General in St Petersburg
supports the Festival Diaghilev. P.S. The Festival
is organized under the auspices of the U.S.–
Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission as part
of the “American Seasons” program in Russia.
Scott Dunn is both a pianist and Associate Conductor
with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Hollywood Bowl
Orchestra. He is also Music Director of the California
Riverside Ballet. His notable musical versatility is
conveyed by some of his recent activities, which
include conducting two premieres in 2010 for New
York City Opera, and this year conducting the world
premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s Sumeida’s Son,
also in New York. To these one must add his regular
conducting appearances with the Hollywood Bowl
Orchestra, supporting such head-line artists as
Natalie Cole, Serge Gainsbourg and Chris Botti. As
pianist Scott Dunn performed Vernon Duke’s Piano
Concerto in C at Carnegie Hall in 1999, and later
recorded the work in Moscow for Naxos records with
the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Nikolai Mazhara
Nikolai Mazhara (piano) graduated from St Petersburg State
Conservatoire in 2000, majoring in both composition and
pianoforte, and has since received acclaim for his performances
of works by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Schoenberg and many modern
St Petersburg composers, as well as for his own compositions.
A member of the Union of Russian Composers since 2005 and twice
a winner of the International Sergei Prokofiev Competition, Nikolai
Mazhara has written three Concertos for Piano and Orchestra, a
Symphony for String Orchestra, a mini-opera: Musica viva — Scenes
from the Life of Rossini, two sonatas for violin and piano, and music
specially for children. His compositions have been performed at
several festivals, including St Petersburg Musical Spring, From the
Avant-Garde to the Present, Youth Academies of Russia (Moscow,
Kazan, and Yekaterinburg), and Panorama of Russian Music (Nizhny
Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Lipezk).
Since 2010 he has taught at the St Petersburg Conservatoire
in the Department of Orchestration and since 2011 also in the
Department of Composition.
Nikolai Mazhara also works with the Saint Petersburg Academic
Symphony Orchestra.
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Ilya Bannik
Ilya Bannik (bass) graduated from St Petersburg State Conservatoire in 1999 to become a soloist of the Mariinsky Academy of
Young Singers. Since 2009 he has been a soloist with the Mariinsky
Theatre’s main opera company.
Ilya Bannik is a prize-winner of the Moniuszko Competition (Warsaw,
2004) and the International Rimsky-Korsakov Competition for the
Young Opera Singers (St Petersburg, 2000). He was also a finalist
and special award-winner in Operalia, The World Opera Competition
of 2000 (Los Angeles) and again in 2002 (Paris), as well as in the
Maria Callas International Young Opera Singers’ Competition Voci
Verdi (Parma, 2000).
Ilya Bannik now sings as a guest artists at many of the world’s main
opera houses: Teatro Reina Sofia (Valencia), Théâtre du Châtelet
(Paris), Opéra de Paris, Teatro Carlo Felice (Genoa) and with Welsh
National Opera. He has also performed at London’s Royal Albert
Hall.
He has sung with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Placido
Domingo, Kent Nagano, and Carlo Rizzi and in 2009–10 Ilya Bannik
was a soloist in Robert Lepage’s legendary project The Nightingale
and Other Short Fables, both in Canada and at the Aix-en-Provence
Festival.
Irina Vasilieva
Dmitry Voropaev
Irina Vasilieva (soprano) graduated from the St Petersburg State
Conservatoire with degrees both in singing and in composition.
In 1995 she became a soloist of the Mariinsky Academy of
Young Singers and in 2005 joined the Mariinsky Theatre’s main
company.
Dmitry Voropaev (tenor) graduated with distinction from the
Choral School of the Academic Glinka Capella in 1998 and in 2003
also graduated from the conducting faculty of the St Petersburg
State Conservatoire. He has been a soloist of the Mariinsky
Academy of Young Singers since 2000.
Irina Vasilieva is a diploma recipient of the International Elena
Obraztsova Competition and of the International RimskyKorsakov Young Opera Singers' Competition, a prize-winner of
the International Vocal Competition in Verona and also of the
International Izabella Yurieva Competition in Tallinn (2004).
Dmitry Voropaev is a prize-winner of the International RimskyKorsakov Young Opera Singers' Competition (St Petersburg,
2000), the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition
(Helsinki, 2004) and Placido Domingo’s Оperalia, The World
Opera Competition of 2004.
In 2000 she performed in concert with Placido Domingo at the
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, with Valery Gergiev
conducting. She was also a soloist in Stravinsky’s comic opera
Mavra with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by
Esa Pekka Salonen, at the Music Nova Festival.
Dmitry Voropaev has worked internationally with conductors
including Valery Gergiev, Pierre Boulez, Jesus Lopez Cobos, Eri
Klas, Alexander Titov, Alexander Dmitriev and Leo Kremer and
has performed at the Vienna Staatsoper, Graz Opera Theatre
(Austria), Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), Opera de Bordeaux,
Carnegie Hall, the Wigmore Hall (London), the Concertgebouw
Bruges, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia (Valencia), and the
Teatro Real Madrid.
In 2006 Irina Vasilieva was a soloist in Wagner’s The Ring of the
Nibelung in Japan and in Los Angeles, as well as singing in Mozart’s
Requiem in the Big Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, conducted
by Yuri Bashmet. Also in 2006, Ms Vasilievna sang the role of
The Governess in the première of David McVicar’s production of
Britten’s The Turn of the Screw for the Mariinsky Theatre, which
received a Golden Mask Award.
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24/10
2011
Inside
Diaghilev’s circle
25/10
2011
Impresario in Dialogue
with Composers
International Musicological Conference
Memorial N. Rimsky-Korsakov Museum
in his former apartment
24/10
2011
Musical dialogue
at the Turn of Centuries
Concert
Sheremetev Palace
© Jaime Ardiles-Arce
“Inside Diaghilev’s Circle”.
International Musicological Conference
Music salon in the Memorial N. Rimsky-Korsakov Museum in his former apartment
Conclusions about Diaghilev’s impact on the development
of world art are still subject to revision. Within the last two
decades alone several monographs have been published in
an attempt to focus, elucidate and summarise the scale of
Diaghilev’s qualities across many fields: as an impresario, a
critic, a curator of exhibitions, an art historian, as musician,
and as editor. But many elements still remain relatively
unexamined in Diaghilev studies.
Among these less explored aspects of Diaghilev’s
career are his role as a producer of genius and his role
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acting as impresario for his chosen composers. This
conference will concentrate on various aspects of those
composers’ interactions with Diaghilev — his discoveries
of compositional talent, his function as an arbiter of
musical taste, as a music critic, and as an editor and coauthor of musical works.
A special guest of the conference is Kay Duke Ingalls, widow
of the composer Vladimir Dukelsky. Conductor Scott Dunn
and musicologist Deniz Cordell (USA) will also present their
papers.
“Inside Diaghilev’s Circle”. International Musicological Conference
Keynote speakers:
Music salon in the Memorial
N. Rimsky-Korsakov Museum
in his former apartment
October, 24. 17.15–18.30
Marina Frolova-Walker (Cambridge, Great
Britain): “Intertextuality of Diaghilev’s ballets”
October, 25. 12.15–13.30
Stephen Press (Illinois, USA)
“Serge Diaghilev: Musical provocateur
extraordinaire”
© Jaime Ardiles-Arce
October, 25. 16.45–18.00
Richard Taruskin (Berkeley, USA)
“Diaghilev without Stravinsky? Stravinsky
without Diaghilev?”
October, 24
10.00 OPENING
10.30 – 12.45 DUKELSKY’S OEUVRE
Igor Vishnevetsky (Moscow, Russia)
“Towards creative history of Vladimir
Dukelsky’s Orphic Trilogy”
Antonina Maximova (Petrozavodsk,
Russia) “Galleries of meanings in Dukelsky’s
Epitaph cantata”
Scott Dunn, Deniz Cordell (Los Angeles,
USA) “About Dukelsky’s oeuvre”
Lidia Ader, an interview with the composer’s
widow, Kay Duke Ingalls (Santa Fe, USA)
14.00 – 14.30 EXHIBITION OPENING
14.30 – 16.00 DIAGHILEV AND
THE FRENCH ARTISTIC WORLD
Anna Petrova (St Petersburg, Russia)
“Diaghilev and Debussy: through conflicts
to masterpieces”
Laura Stanfield Prichard (Massachusetts,
USA) “Diaghilev's New World: manipulating
the French taste for the exotic into
modern art”
Marina Arias-Vikhil (St Petersburg, Russia)
“The Paris Discovery of Sergei Diaghilev: Eric
Satie — ‘father of the avant-garde’ — and the
ballet-collage The Parade”
16.15 – 17.15 DIAGHILEV’S PERSONALITY
Svetlana Makurenkova (Moscow, Russia) “The
role of music in Diaghilev’s philosophy of art:
relations between composer and impresario”
Olga Manulkina (St Petersburg, Russia)
“Diaghilev’s Earbox”
October, 25
10.00 – 11.30 DIAGHILEV AND
MUSSORGSKY
Nadezhda Mosusova (Belgrade, Serbia)
“Sergei Diaghilev’s attitude towards the
output of Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov”
Jean-Marie Jacono (Aix-en-Provence,
France) “Boris Godunov in Paris (1908): the
role of Diaghilev in the production”
Yaroslav Timofeev (Moscow, Russia)
“Between restoration and vandalism:
Khovanschina in Diaghilev’s version”
11.45 – 12.15 DIAGHILEV AND PROKOFIEV
Oleg Brezgin (Perm, Russia) “Diaghilev’s
lessons to Sergei Prokofiev”
14.45 – 15.15 INTERCULTURAL
CONNECTIONS
Paulo de Castro (Lisbon, Portugal) “The view
from Lisbon: Diaghilev as role model”
15.30 – 16.30 DIAGHILEV AND
STRAVINSKY
Margarita Mazo (Ohio, USA) “Stravinsky’s
Les Noces, Ruptures and Continuities
with Diaghilev, and the Parisian Artistic
Landscape”
Michael Meylac (Strasbourg, France)
“Diaghilev’s ghost between Stravinsky and
Nicolas Nabokov”
Panel session
Anna Fortunova (Hannover, Germany)
“Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and national
identity for Russian immigrants in 1920s
Berlin”
Organizer of the Conference — Lidia Ader,
Senior researcher of the Museum
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Thesis Abstracts
Marina Arias-Vikhil (Moscow, Russia)
Oleg Brezgin (Perm, Russia)
The Paris Discovery of Sergei Diaghilev: Eric
Satie — ‘father of the avant-garde’ —
and the ballet-collage The Parade
Diaghilev’s Lessons to Sergei Prokofiev
The exceptional role Diaghilev played in both Russian and
world music culture is well-known but his outstanding
achievement was perhaps the discovery of new names in
the field of music who later came to be accepted as ‘greats’.
Among them is the Frenchman Eric Satie (1866–1925), the
avant-garde composer whose music Diaghilev used for the
ballet-collage Parade with a text by Jean Cocteau; scenery
and costumes by Pablo Picasso; and choreography by
Léonide Massine). This ‘white ballet’ had a scandalous first
night at the Théatre du Châtelet in Paris, 18 May, 1917. But
this in no way prevented contemporaries from appreciating
the paradoxes offered by this avant-garde premier (it’s
musical collage technique, the use of rag-time, plain ‘noise’,
visual montage, etc). Satie’s ‘outrageous’ music experiments
came to be a great influence on the 20th century French
musical avant-garde.
Marina Arias-Vikhil is a senior research fellow at the Maxim
Gorky Institute of Literature and a member of the Russian
Academy of Sciences. Her principle subject is Russian-French
cultural connections in 19 and 20th centuries. From 1991–97
she worked in Paris, graduating with a doctorate from the
Université Paris Diderot — Paris7. She is a Professor in the
Department of Foreign Literature at the Lomonosov Moscow
State University and she lectures at Europe’s leading Universities
(Sorbonne, Toulouse, Nancy, London etc). She is the author of
numerous books and articles (including Lazarus Among Us, 1994
and Dialogue of Cultures: 20th Century Russian-French Cultural
Connections, 2005).
22
New music for the Ballet Russes was almost always
produced under Diaghilev’s personal supervision and often
with his participation. Due to his vision for revitalising the
substance of ballet, ballet music itself inevitably gained
exceptional prominence while also influencing other genres
of symphonic music. Working with him, Prokofiev came to
realise that Diaghilev was not just a man of the avant-garde
but himself an artist of refined sensibilities. His ‘lessons’
were both aesthetic and yet practical. Even composers
with ‘difficult’ temperaments were later known to admit
that Diaghilev’s unyielding standards had ultimately been
of great benefit to their finished works. Prokofiev, who
remembered Diaghilev’s lessons for the rest of his life,
was being nothing but honest when declared in 1930:
“Diaghilev’s influence and his views on the genre shaped
the ballets I wrote for him.”
Oleg Brezgin is an art historian and a researcher at the Perm S. P.
Diaghilev House Museum. His principle field of research is the life
and career of the impresario. He is the author of a book about the
impact of Diaghilev’s personality on the artistic culture of Russia,
Western Europe and America (2007) and more than 50 articles in
journals and symposiums. He is co-author of the catalogue for the
centenary exhibition “Etonne-moi”: Serge Diaghilev et les Ballets
Russes, shown in Monte Carlo and Moscow.
Paulo F. de Castro (Lisbon, Portugal)
The View from Lisbon:
Diaghilev as Role Model
This paper will focus on two themes: (1) the impact of the
Ballets Russes on Portuguese Futurist circles, led by the artist
Almada Negreiros who exploited the company’s presence
in Lisbon in 1917–18 to boost the cause of modernism; (2)
Thesis Abstracts
the attempts to emulate the Russians — encouraged by the
Ballets Russes’s own ‘Iberian turn’ — through the creation
of a national dance ensemble with a modernist slant. This
project would come to fruition in 1940 under António Ferro,
a former modernist who came to occupy a position of power
within Salazar’s regime. In its recycling of Ballets Russes
mythology, the example of Ferro illustrates the confluence
of nationalist, folkloristic and modernist ideologies against
a background of authoritarian politics — an unexpected
after-effect of Diaghilev’s canonization as cultural icon.
Paulo F. de Castro studied musicology at Strasbourg and London
Universities with a PhD from Royal Holloway. He has written
musicological essays on 19th and 20th-century music, and is coauthor of a book on the history of Portuguese music. Paulo F. de
Castro is currently a lecturer at Universidade Nova de Lisboa and
his research explores his special interest in musical modernism.
He has recently been elected Chairman of the Portuguese
Musicological Association.
Anna Fortunova (Hannover, Germany)
Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and National
Identity for Russian Immigrants in
1920s Berlin
When Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes toured to Berlin in the 1920s,
it aroused lively interest among the Russian denizens of the
city. The cultural prominence given to their performances
might be attributed not only to the ballet company’s
reputation for high-quality performance, but also to the
importance of national identity it signaled for Russian
emigrés in exile. Articles in Berlin’s Russian press at that time
frequently voiced notes of national identity, referring to
“our music”, “our ballet”, “our Russian composer”, and so on.
Indeed, on 11th October 1924, the Russian paper Rul, printed:
“We Russians… were waiting impatiently for the tours of
Diaghilev’s troupe: we wanted to make sure that its foreign
success was a real success”. This research paper discusses
the reception of the Ballets Russes in Russian magazines and
newspapers in 1920s Berlin.
Anna Fortunova studied musicology and journalism at the
Nizhny-Novgorod State Academy of Music. She has been the
winner of various competitions and scholarships, and her. PhD
was focused on ‘Shostakovich’s ballets as a trend in the domestic
culture of the 1920s–1930s’. She is currently working at the
Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media on her research
into Russian musical life in 1920s Berlin.
Marina Frolova-Walker (Cambridge, UK)
Intertextuality among Diaghilev's Ballets
It is a truism that in each of his ballets Diaghilev attempted
to create something new. Nevertheless, from the very
start of the Saisons Russes certain stereotypes began to
form under the influence of public success and critical
discourse. Common elements — visual, choreographic and
musical — settled into definite procedures and the genre
of the Diaghilev ballet emerged. New composers hired
by Diaghilev adjusted their own style to its demands. This
paper will investigate some of these shared features (e.g.
the orgiastic finale, Oriental longing, and grotesquerie)
across different ballets. It is particularly interesting to
see how even well-established non-Russian composers,
such as Debussy or Ravel, were prepared to make the
same adjustments in order to fulfill the expectations of
the impresario, the troupe, the critics, and the public, and
how — more broadly — the model of the ‘Diaghilev ballet’
played a significant role in the construction of Russia’s
European image.
Marina Frolova-Walker is Reader in Music History at the University
of Cambridge and a Fellow of Clare College. She was born in
Moscow and received her education at the Moscow Conservatoire,
defending her PhD in 1994. After moving to the UK, she taught at
23
Thesis Abstracts
Goldsmiths College, University of Southampton, and, from 2000,
at Cambridge. She has written widely on Russian and Soviet
music, and in 1997 published Russian Music and Nationalism from
Glinka to Stalin (Yale). Her next book, written jointly with Jonathan
Walker, will be Music and Soviet Power, 1917–32 (to be published
by Boydell and Brewer).
2007. He wrote his Ph D on Musorgsky's Boris Godounov ('The
revisions of Boris Godunov by Musorgsky: musical transformations,
social changes', 1992). His fields of research deal with Russian
music of 19th century, popular music and the sociology of music.
He has given many lectures abroad and is a close collaborator of
Prof. Eero Tarasti (Helsinki).
Jean-Marie Jacono (Aix-en-Provence, France)
Svetlana Makurenkova (Moscow, Russia)
Boris Godunov in Paris (1908):
the Role of Diaghilev in the Production
The Role of Music in Diaghilev’s
Philosophy of Art: Relations between
Composer and Impresario
In May 1908, Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov was given for the first
time in a western theatre, at the Théätre National de l'Opéra, in
Paris. The opera was performed in Rimsky-Korsakov's version
but was presented with major changes. Sergei Diaghilev, as
producer, decided on how the work should be remodeled. He
cut two whole scenes (the Inn scene and Marina's Boudoir),
removed major passages in the rest of the work and changed
the scenic order. Even though some people criticized these
choices, his adaptation was successful and it allowed Boris
Godunov to be staged in the main opera houses of the world.
This 'Diaghilev version' of the opera leads us to examine the
role of the Russian producer from a sociological point of view:
how should one explain his remodeling of the work? Was it
determined by the personal musical concepts of Diaghilev
himself or by the musical tastes of the French audience —
perhaps even by the traditions of 'Grand Opéra' itself? Or
was it determined by a new interpretation of the relationship
between the Russian people and their tsar after the first
Russian Revolution of 1905? This lecture will explore new
interpretations of the production and attempt to appraise
the role of Sergei Diaghilev in its revision. Could he in fact be
reagarded a co-author?
Jean-Marie Jacono is Senior lecturer at the Département de
Musique et Sciences de la Musique, Université de Provence (Aixen-Provence, France). He was Head of Department from 2001 to
24
In the realm of music Diaghilev was that rare phenomenon:
‘the ideal listener’. Though not a composer himself he was
widely versed in European music and had the distinct
capacity to conceive and articulate a musical image which
would later be represented in a new opus by a composer
of his commissioning. To a certain extent he had the ability
‘look’ into the core of an unwritten piece and when inviting
a composer to collaborate with him he seems to have been
searching for a musical ‘re-creation’ of an already existing
idea. This paper presents an amplification of this concept
by comparing two stage versions of Le Dieu Bleu (1912):
the original, with its score written by the French composer
Reynaldo Hahn, and a modern remake from 2005 using
the music of two works by Alexander Scriabin: The Poem of
Ecstasy and The Divine Poem.
Svetlana Makurenkova is a Dr of Science (Philology) as well as
a writer and critic. The main area of her creative work is in the
metaphysics of modern cultural development. Her books have
been translated into several languages including English, French,
Italian and Croatian. She is a well-known lecturer at seminars and
conferences, as well as many European Universities (such as the
Sorbonne, Toulouse, Nancy, Oxford, London University, Vienna,
and Zagreb).
Thesis Abstracts
Olga Manulkina (St Petersburg, Russia)
Diaghilev’s Earbox
Diaghilev had his own understanding of ‘Gesamttkunstwerk’:
he would choose the subjects of his projects, the composers
for them, discover new artists, and still feel free to interfere
in the writing of the score. His role in creating the ‘Italian’
ballets from 1917–20, however, was even more significant:
it was he, not his composers or their collaborators, who
made the radical turn towards neoclassicism (or ‘period
modernism’), and Diaghilev himself was a ‘composer’ of the
music for these productions. This paper poses the question
of how Diaghilev’s ear for early music was developed.
Olga Manulkina is Associate Professor at St Petersburg State
Conservatoire, an editor of the Conservatoire’s journal Opera
Musicologica, a member of the board of the St Petersburg Composers’ Union and also of the Pro Arte Foundation’s panel of experts.
She is a Fulbright alumna (2002, New York). As music critic she
writes for both the Russian federal newspaper Kommersant and
Afisha magazine and is author of the book From Ives to Adams:
American Music of the Twentieth Century (2010). As well as articles
on Russian and American music in academic journals, her translations include Shostakovich: A Life Remembered by Elisabeth
Wilson (2006) and over 500 reviews and articles for newspapers
and magazines.
Antonina Maximova (Petrozavodsk, Russia)
Galleries of Meanings in the Cantata
Epitaph by Vladimir Dukelsky
Sergei Diaghilev died in 1929 and, as Vladimir Dukelsky
put it, with his death “the sun set on European culture”. In
1931 the composer wrote his cantata Epitaph (On the death
of Diaghilev) to verses by Osip Mandelstam (‘A ghost-like
scene is glimmering’). The Epitaph represents Dukelsky’s
reflections on his own existential dilemmas as well as on
the cultural fate of Europe and Russia. Igor Vishnevetsky
sees an affinity in the cantata with the concept of
Eurasianism. Different historical ages in the Epitaph
are marked by cultural symbols: antiquity by myth; the
early modern period by Gluck opera; the beginning of
the 20th century by Diaghilev and a European culture in
crisis. The Orpheus myth is presented both by Gluck and
Mandelstam — a classical opera framed by aspects of
theatrical St Petersburg. One could therefore perhaps
liken the effect of Epitaph to being in a mirrored room —
Dukelsky’s relationship to the power of music reflected in
a gallery of ages, styles and meanings.
Antonina Maximova graduated from the Petrozavodsk A. Glazunov
Conservatoire as a musicologist. She is currently a postgraduate
student of its Musical History Department. She has taken part in
both Russian and international musicological conferences, and
has received several diplomas for best student work. The author of
many publications, her main interests include 20th century music,
the music of Russians abroad and archival research.
Margarita Mazo (Ohio, USA)
Stravinsky’s Les Noces, Ruptures and
Continuities with Diaghilev, and the
Parisian Artistic Landscape
In approaching Les Noces as an arena in which Stravinsky's strove to consolidate his new identity as a leader of
contemporary music, my paper focuses on the transformation of this cantata-ballet during its long gestation
period from 1912–1923. I see the long struggle to focus the
work’s form as a shifting process which came to reflect the
complexities of its changing environment. These included
not only changes in the composer's own life and artistic
aims, but also changes in Diaghilev's aesthetic priorities,
the vision of his enterprise, and in the artistic landscape
25
Thesis Abstracts
of Paris in general. A previously unknown initial version
of Les Noces illuminates its compositional trajectory: from
a work about a Russian village ritual that could have been
conceived by many other St Petersburg composers in 1912,
through a pre-war Diaghilev-style Russian spectacle, to the
point where it became the abstract and austere work we
know today — a landmark in the Parisian artistic modernity
of the 1920s, whose ferment helped shape the final work as
much as it was simultaneously shaped by it.
Margarita Mazo is Professor of Musicology and University
Distinguished Scholar at Ohio State University. She is internationally
recognized for her research on Russian music from musicological
and ethno-musicological perspectives. Her most recent major
publication is a new edition of Igor Stravinsky’s Les Noces, based
on her discoveries of previously unknown autographs. Prof. Mazo
founded the OSU ethno-musicology progamme which has a focus
on cognitive ethnomusicology that is unique nationwide. Prior to
OSU, she taught at Harvard University, New England Conservatory
of Music, and Leningrad Conservatory.
Michael Meylac (Strasbourg, France)
Diaghilev’s Ghost between Stravinsky
and Nicolas Nabokov
Nicolas Nabokov’s Ode, a lyrical oratorio after a poem by
Lomonosov, was choreographed by Léonide Massine,
designed by Pavel Tchelischev and staged by Diaghilev’s
Ballets Russes just a year before the impresario’s death. It
undoubtedly marked the peak of the composer’s career.
Despite the fact that the Stravinsky-Balanchine Apollon
musagète, (another première in the same year and a work
still performed today) overshadowed Nabokov’s shortlived production, its story makes an interesting chapter
in ballet history. Shortly after Diaghilev’s death Nabokov
published his memoirs about his work with the impresario
of the Ballets Russes, and these provoked a disparaging
26
reply by Stravinsky who had formerly protected the young
composer. The same hostility was expressed in Stravinsky’s
unpublished contemporary letters to Jacques Maritain.
It was only much later that a cordial relationship between
the two composers was restored.
Michael Meylac is a professor at the University of Strasbourg,
a poet, philologist, art historian and an art critic. His areas of research
include Russian poetry and the poetry of the troubadours and he
has translated two novels by Nabokov. He has also published the
work of the ‘Oberiu’ poets which he discovered in private archives
in the sixties, as well as his own recollections of Akhmatova and
his dialogues with Brodsky. Recent work includes two extensive
volumes of his interviews with outstanding dancers (including
those of the Ballets Russes), musicians, actors and artists.
Nadezhda Mosusova (Belgrade, Serbia)
Sergei Diaghilev’s Attitude towards
the Output of Modest Musorgsky
and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Diaghilev’s famous conquering of Paris was a cultural
enterprise full of risk. As time went on it expanded,
from the 1906 exhibition of Russian painting which he
presented in a 190, via the Russian concert music to
which he introduced French audiences in 1907 to seasons
of stage works in which the music of Musorgsky and
Rimsky-Korsakov was to figure prominently. He presented
Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov at the Palais Garnier, in a
version revised by Rimsky-Korsakov, in 1908 and after
its tumultuous success Diaghilev set about organizing
western premières for Musorgsky’s Khovanshchina as
well as for Rimsky’s own operas Sadko, The Maid of Pskov
and May Night. Performances of his Golden Cockerel (as
an opera-ballet) and Sheherazade quickly followed, both
choreographed by Fokine. Along with Glazunov, Rimsky
also played a large role in the musical realization of Borodin’s
Thesis Abstracts
opera Prince Igor. In 1915 the Ballets Russes featured
Fokine’s Polovtsian Dances as a separate piece, detached
from the opera, along with Massine’s Midnight Sun, using
dance music from The Snow Maiden, and Night on the Bare
Mountain from Musorgsky’s unfinished Sorochintsy Fair. If
some might regard Diaghilev’s musical interference as coauthorship he never claimed such pretensions. So what was
his attitude to these two great Russian composers?
Nadezhda Mosusova is a musicologist and composer as well as
scientific advisor to the Musicological Institute and professor of
music history at the Faculty of Music. She studied in Belgrade,
obtaining her PhD at the Ljubljana University and is currently
researching the music of Serbia and other Slavonic countries. She
is also studying the impact of Russian emigration on the music
and theatre of both Europe and America. She is the author of
studies on the analysis and aesthetics of the musical stage and
a participant in many international theatrical and musicological
congresses.
what was the European context of these projects? These
questions will be discussed in the first half of the paper. The
second will analyse Diaghilev’s role as instigator, patron,
and finally editor in the creation of the ballets to Debussy’s
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1912) and Jeux (1913).
Anna Petrova is a musicologist and holds her PhD from the
St Petersburg State Conservatoire. In 2001 she was awarded a
French government fellowship at the École Pratique des Hautes
Études in Paris by François Lesure. In 2006 and in 2009 she was
invited by the National Library of France to catalogue the Russian
section of the Montpensier Fund (press cuttings from the 1920s
and1930s) and since 2004 has worked as an editor of the local lore
magazine Kvartalny nadziratel . She is the author of many articles,
commentaries and is experienced in creating arts databases.
Her research interests lie in Russian-French musical connections,
Russian music abroad, the history of St Petersburg, and Debussy
in particular.
Stephen Press (Illinois, USA)
Anna Petrova (St Petersburg, Russia)
Diaghilev and Debussy:
Through Conflicts to Masterpieces
Collaboration between Diaghilev and Debussy began in
1909 with a false start. Diaghilev had suggested a ‘Venetian’
ballet in the spirit of 18th century, which Debussy decided
to call Masques et bergamasques, though in the end the
composer wrote only the libretto. However this unrealized
project, featuring themes drawn from commedia dell’arte,
left echoes in both Debussy’s oeuvre and in later pieces in
the Ballets Russes repertoire. Alexander Benois, who secured
the commission to design Masques et bergamasques, left
several sketches for it, preserved today in the Russian
Museum. He also thought about designing another other
Debussy work — Fêtes. Was this just a casual interest? How
did the creative collaborators interpret Italian themes? And
Sergei Diaghilev: Musical Provocateur
Extraordinaire
Sergei Diaghilev was the arbiter of taste and final
authority for all things musical in the legendary Ballets
Russes. Although not a rigorously trained musician, he
was well served by his innate talent, keen ear, and deep
knowledge of music. It is not surprising that he was highly
respected by the composers with whom he worked — not
an easy lot to please. Moreover, his amazing prescience
led to some remarkable collaborations, most notably with
the ballet novices Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev.
Under his guidance and stimulation, they breathed new
life into ballet music and elevated it to become the equal
of the dance. A summary of his fifteen-year collaboration
with Prokofiev proves the importance of Diaghilev's
influence.
27
Thesis Abstracts
Stephen Press teaches at Illinois Wesleyan University in
Bloomington, Illinois. He received his Ph.D. in musicology from
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Press specializes
in Russian music, especially that of Sergei Prokofiev. His book
Prokofiev's Ballets for Diaghilev was published by Ashgate in 2003.
He is presently working on a reception study of Russian concert
music in the United States.
Laura Stanfield Prichard (Massachusetts, USA)
Diaghilev's New World: Manipulating
the French Taste for the Exotic into
Modern Art
Richard Taruskin (Berkeley, USA)
Diaghilev without Stravinsky?
Stravinsky without Diaghilev?
Diaghilev's detractors always maintained that without
Stravinsky he would have been nothing. Stravinsky's
detractors maintained that without Diaghilev he would
have been nothing. Both surmises were right, as even their
supporters admitted, and as Stravinsky tacitly confirmed
by arranging for burial only steps away from Diaghilev
in Venice. Their partnership was a miracle of symbiosis,
which this paper will explore by attempting to imagine,
counterfactually, what their lives and careers would have
been like in the absence of the other.
Sergei Diaghilev played upon the French fascination with
the exotic in his choices of ballet subjects, his editorial
work, and in his mentoring of composers. Since the opéraballets and divertissements of Lully and Rameau, Parisian
audiences had been unrelentingly curious about colonial
peoples. Diaghilev’s approach to his chosen sauvages
broke with tradition, providing a modern lens through
which the French could understand themselves as artists
in communion with a more elemental level of existence.
Diaghilev submerged his audiences in ancient landscapes
of Greek fauns, enslaved Africans, Slavic folk rituals, and
primitive rites. Unlike other dramatic work of his time,
Diaghilev’s creations never began with a journey from
Europe to a foreign land: he created a new world from the
old.
Richard Taruskin is an American musicologist and critic and a
professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He took his
doctorate at Columbia University in 1975 with a dissertation on
Russian opera in the 1860s. He taught at Columbia from 1973 until
1987, when he became professor at the University of California.
Among his research topics there are early music and music of
20th century, Russian music from 18th century to the present,
nationalism, and different methodological aspects of analysis. His
critical reviews on problems relating to early music were included
in the book Text and Act, and his observations on history of music
development strategies became the basis of the large-scale worldwide work: The Oxford History of Western Music (2005).
Laura Stanfield Prichard is a lecturer for the University of
Massachusetts and for the San Francisco and Chicago Symphonies.
She danced with the Joffrey II during the reconstruction of Le
sacre du printemps, understudied the Ballerina role in Petrushka,
and was a character dancer (San Francisco Ballet) while a lecturer
in Music and Dance History at California State University. Her
PhD explored a jazz ballet by Aaron Copland / Ruth Page.
Between Restoration and Vandalism:
Khovanschina in Diaghilev’s Version
28
Yaroslav Timofeev
This paper aims to interpret the impulses which motivated
Diaghilev, Stravinsky and Ravel as they realised the
reconstruction of Musorgsky’s Khovanschina. Manuscripts
relating to this project, which came to light in the last
Thesis Abstracts
decades, now allow us to reconstruct Diaghilev’s first
intentions and to appreciate the aesthetic considerations
peculiar to such ‘composer-restorers’ more keenly. The paper
is based on all currently known sources. However the most
detailed attention will be paid to Stravinsky’s manuscript of
a final chorus in Khovanschina, which was found recently in
the archives of the St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre
and Music and which has not yet been researched.
Igor Vishnevetsky is a poet, writer, and an expert in literature
and music. He is a graduate of Moscow State University and
Braun University in USA, where he took his PhD, and is the author
of monographs on Andrei Bely (2000) and Arseny Tarkovsky (2011).
Other writings include The ‘Eurasianist Tendency’ in the music of
the 1920s and 1930s (2005), Sergei Prokofiev (2009), and articles
on Dukelsky in six symposia. His novel Leningrad was given an
award by the journal Novyi mir.
Yaroslav Timofeev is a PhD student at the Moscow conservatoire,
winner of musicological competitions; and correspondent for
both the TV channel Culture and the newspaper Izvestiya. Since
2009 he has held a chair in the musicological section of the Youth
Department of the Composers’ Union of Russia (MolOt). His
current research interests focus on other composers’ music in Igor
Stravinsky’s oeuvre.
Kay Duke Ingalls is the widow of Vladimir Dukelsky (Vernon
Duke). She holds a BA in Music from Northwestern University
in Evanston, Illinois and an MA from the University of Southern
California in Los Angeles. She was a student of Lotte Lehmann at
the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara where she met
her late husband Vladimir Dukelsky in 1956. They were married in
1957 and lived in Pacific Palisades. Her primary career was that of
concert artists and recitalist — often accompanied by her husband.
Following Dukelsky’s death in 1969, she continued to reside in
California. In recent years she has specialized in the promotion of
Dukelsky’s / Duke’s music in both his classical and popular idioms.
Considering herself semi-retired, Kay Duke Ingalls now lives in
Santa Fe, New Mexico with her second husband, David Ingalls.
With him she is involved in supporting the Santa Fe Opera, the
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and they are still involved with
musical groups in Los Angeles. Currently her principal occupation,
apart from enjoying the life in the high desert, is managing the
Vernon Duke musical estate.
Igor Vishnevetsky (Moscow, Russia)
Towards Creative History of Vladimir
Dukelsky’s Orphic Trilogy
It was the author of this paper who first suggested the
title Orphic Trilogy for Dukelsky’s cycle of vocal-symphonic
works — a cycle which the composer himself called “my
magnum opus”. In this paper I will discuss the original
concept of each of the three compositions, their artistic
realisation, how they were perceived by contemporaries
and finally the composer’s own assessment of them as
his most important contribution to Russian music. It was
his disappointment at the cool reception awarded these
works by American audiences which decided the emigré
Dukelsky to turn his back temporarily on the highbrow
world of Carnegie Hall and pursue commercial success
on Broadway and in Hollywood; he even ‘Americanised’
Vladimir Dukelsky to Vernon Duke — the name under
which he subsequently gained greater popular success and
acknowledgement.
Supported by:
29
© Jaime Ardiles-Arce
Concert “Musical Dialogue at the Turn of Centuries”
Chapel Ante-room, Sheremetev Palace — Museum of Music
30
Concert “Musical Dialogue at the Turn of Centuries”
Alexander Knifel
Scars of March for piano and radiola (1988)
Oleg Malov
Sergei Diaghilev Jr.
Tango Capriccioso for viola and piano (2010)
Alexander Diaghilev (viola), Maxim Pankov (piano)
Boris Tischenko
Sonata № 11 for piano (2008)
Dinara Mazitova
Dmitry Kourliandski
Shiver for accordion solo (2011)
Sergei Tchirkov
Sergei Newski
Folia for accordion and viola (2004)
Sergei Tchirkov (accordion), Mikhail Krutik (viola)
Aleksandra Filonenko
Play of Shadows for accordion solo (2011)
Sergei Tchirkov
Scars of March by Knifel unites musical archetypes of
collective optimism and scars of Soviet period. This piece
is embodiment of socialistic realism with parades, crowds
of people and repeating leit — rhythm of the timemarching step.
Tango Capriccioso by Sergei Diaghilev Jr. is a concert musical
composition combining the virtuosity of capriccioso form
with dancing genre of tango.
Sonata № 11 by Boris Tischenko is the last sonata in his
creative work, a great project cycle. Composition of big
concert style it unites the series of tragic images: the first
philosophic part (Spheres) is interrupted by the second
part (Swirls) which is the sense center of the sonata and is
standing out because of its large size. Sonata “disappears”
together with the third part, subsiding gradually and
dissolving in the space.
Shiver by Dmitry Kourliandski: what does a man feel
when he is going to open the door to unknown? He can
concentrate on the future action; he can be distracted by
outside matters or can fall into the state of aloofness. Shiver
(chill, tremor) is a kind of investigation of physiological
state of expectation, the border state of man who is ready
to do something, to make a step.
In Folia by Sergei Newski there is an effort to reconsider
or reconstruct traditional harmonic or dramaturgic
patterns, the so-called “archetypes” that run through
the music history from Renaissance to the beginning of
the XX century. Folia model (Portuguese dance) does
not sound in the piece because of wide use of prepared
basses the constant illusion of recognition appears and
comparison of pseudo tonal fragments with our auditory
experience. The function of viola part can be defined as
painting of familiar sound landscape by noisy lamination
that according to the author must increase the effect of
removal.
At the basis of the piece of Alexandra Filonenko there
is an idea of “imaginary play of shadows”. So, from the
subtle “sounds-shadows” from time to time sounding
objects appear (separate intervals, prolonged soundslines, arko at wooden block) that as covered by some veil
(the moment of non-exposed photograph) appear and
disappear in the common flow. In this way the process of
development breaks dramaturgical cadences (insulation
tape, wooden block), which to the end of the piece
dominate over fluid flow.
31
25/10
2011
Masterpieces
of French Baroque.
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Conductor — Teodor Currentzis
Soprano — Barbara Hannigan
Tchaikovsky Perm Academic
Opera and Ballet Theatre Orchestra
MusicAeterna
Alexandrinsky Theatre
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764) was arguably the
most important French composer of the Baroque era and is
regarded today as a pivotal figure — not only in the history
of French music but also in wider musical culture. Like a lot
of music from this period his operas — the mainstay of his
output — languished during the classical and romantic eras,
and though they were not forgotten (indeed they received
the strongest advocacy from Berlioz and Debussy) in terms
of performance they remained largely museum pieces
until the end of the ХХ century when a new generation of
conductors, fascinated by ‘authentic’ performing styles and
methods, once again took interest in them.
What is hard for us to grasp across the centuries is the
effect Rameau’s startlingly new approach produced at the
time on the Versailles court audience for whom he wrote.
Looking for a parallel we might compare it with the impact
of punk-rock on the establishment culture of the 1980s
and ‘90s. Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna are striving
to recreate a similar kind of shock with their own approach
and to uncover the ‘rock drive’ hidden within in the refined
baroque mechanisms of this great Frenchman’s music.
Greek by origin, Teodor Currentzis after graduation
from Athens conservatory became in 1994 the student
of legendary conductor Ilja Musin in St Petersburg
Conservatory. Geography of his performances at present
embraces both semi spheres, but special preference he
gives to opera theatre of Russia — Novosibirsk, Moscow,
and nowadays-Perm. Laureate of national premiums, the
owner of Friendship Order, Currentzis today is one of the
most desirable conductors.
During the last several years the conductor has performed
more than 20 world premieres of compositions of Russian
34
© Anton Zavyalov
Concert of MusicAeterna Orchestra.
Conductor — Teodor Currentzis
Teodor Currentzis
and foreign composers. In the season of 2007/2008 the
Moscow Philharmonic Society presented personal season
ticket “Teodor Currentzis conducts”, the concerts of which had
a phenomenal success. Teodor Currentzis two times became
the laureate of The Golden Mask National Theatre Award.
In June 2008 he debuted in Opéra de Paris with such a large
scale performance as Don Carlos, Verdi. In 2008 Currentzis
appeared as musical director at staging opera Macbeth,
Verdi — the mutual project of the Novosibirsk Academic
Theatre of Opera and Ballet and Opéra de Paris. In 2009
the opera with a great success was performed in Paris and
was broadcasted over television channel Mezzo and then
published on DVD.
In season of 2009/2010 Currentzis was the invited
conductor of the State academic Bolshoi theatre of Russia
where he conducted two opera premieres: Wozzeck by
Albano Berg and Don Juan by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(the producer was Dmitry Chernyakov). Since January 2011
© Stefan Bremer
Concert of MusicAeterna Orchestra. Conductor — Teodor Currentzis
Barbara Hannigan
Teodor Currentzis is the art director of the Tchaikovsky Perm
Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
MusicAeterna Orchestra was founded in 2004 in
Novosibirsk on the initiative of Teodor Currentzis. The first
concert took place on the 1st of February 2005 and from
this day counting of artistic life of the collective started.
MusicAeterna combines the best tradition of ensemble
and orchestra’s music playing. In April 2007 it was awarded
special prize at the Golden Mask Festival for musical
embodiment of Cinderella by Prokofiev.
Artistic orientation of MusicAeterna is authentic manner of
performing music of composers of different centuries: from
baroque to modern. The orchestra takes part in big cultural
events in Russia and abroad, performing with such stars of
the world stage as Simona Kermes, Debora York, Roberto
Sakka, Veccelina Kazarova, Yuri Bashmet, Vadim Repin.
Soprano Barbara Hannigan is widely admired as artist
whose voice is characterized by thrilling passion, delicate
yet accurate technique and exceptional breathing skills,
combined with a varied and sophisticated repertoire and a
charming demeanour. While being one of the most talented
performers of Baroque and Classical music, she is still keenly
sought after in the contemporary music sphere and has
given over 75 world premieres. Her art brings freshness
to older music and classic experience to the new. Indeed,
Barbara Hannigan is among the very few singers whose
every performance becomes a gala occasion.
She has performed with many leading orchestras and
ensembles and with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle,
Pierre Boulez, Reinbert de Leeuw, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and
Kurt Masur. She made her own conducting debut at the
Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris with Igor Stravinsky's Renard.
Barbara Hannigan’s opera repertoire ranges from Ligeti’s
Le Grand Macabre (Gepopo and Venus) to Handel’s Rinaldo
(Armida) and Ariodante (Dalinda). She created the role of Lei in
the premiere of Pascal Dusapin’s Passion at Aix-en-Provence,
as well as that of Saskia in Louis Andriessen’s Writing to
Vermeer at the Netherlands Opera. Her appearances in Sasha
Waltz’s performance of Passion and Matsukaze by Toshio
Hosokawa, requiring extremes of both physical and vocal
expression, were considered extraordinary by the critics.
As a performer of György Ligeti’s music in particular she has
received much acclaim, not only from the audience but also
from the composer himself. Mysteries of the Macabre, a tour
de force for soprano and orchestra, has become one of her
most famous interpretations.
Barbara Hannigan was born and brought up in Canada
where she received her Bachelor and Master of Music
degrees from the University of Toronto, studying under the
supervision of Mary Morrison.
35
Exhibition “Contemporary artists view
the Ballets Russes and Sergei Diaghilev”
25/10–12/11
2011
There are, of course, many internationally known portraits and
sculptures of him, but how do contemporary artists perceive
this legendary figure? Is it possible to interpret his era through
contemporary art? This exhibition, devoted to the impresario,
sets out to ask questions, provoke discussion and, naturally,
to surprise. Its concept is much closer to the aims of Diaghilev
himself than a simple retrospective, since he never rested on
his laurels and always looked for new forms of expression.
Therefore the exhibition sets out to explore just what kind of
perspective modern artists might have on the personality of
Sergei Diaghilev.
EXHIBITION PARTICIPANTS:
Petr Shvetzov
Ballet. 2011
Anna Nova Art Gallery presents the exhibition “Contemporary artists view the Ballets Russes and Sergei
Diaghilev”.
For many artists Sergei Diaghilev has always been a star to
steer by. He anticipated new trends in the arts and was always
striving to find fresh talent.
36
Petr Shvetzov was born in 1970 in Leningrad. Since 1992
he has been a member of the Artists’ Union of Russia. His
works are in the collections of the State Russian Museum,
the Russian National Library, the British Library (London),
Saxon State Library (Dresden), the State Library of Berlin,
the Public Library of New York, and the Institute of Modern
Russian Culture (Los Angeles).
Petr Shvetzov is one of the most remarkable and active
artists of his generation. He is a master of lithography,
achieving celebrity through his graphic cycles Indecent
pictures (1999), Ultimate fighting (2000), Abstractive (2001),
and Airplanes (2002). Currently Petr Shvetzov is working in
the mediums of installation and video art.
Exhibition “Contemporary artists view the Ballets Russes and Sergei Diaghilev”
Aleksandr Dashevsky was born in 1980 in Leningrad. He is
a member of IFA, “Svobodnaya Cultura” and the Society of
Lovers of Painting and Drawing. His works are the collections
of the Museum of Nonconformist Art (St Petersburg), The
State museum “Tsarskoselskaya collection” (St Petersburg),
the Museum of the History of Settlement and Development
of the Norilsk Industrial region, Krasnoyarsk Museum
Center, and private collections in Russia, America, England,
Spain, Italy and Israel.
While critics have called Dashevsky’s painting ‘cold and
detached’ or have compared it to the work of Hockney and
Hopper, the artist himself says that he is much closer to the
new wave of German realism, represented by Nео Rauch
and Peter Doig.
Stas Bags was born in 1984 in Leningrad. He is a member of
the art group “Milk&Vodka” and in 2009 he was a nominee
for the Kandinsky Prize. Stas Bags has taken part in
numerous exhibitions in St Petersburg, Moscow, Berlin and
Helsinki, and in 2010 participated in the exhibitions which
formed part of the France-Russia Year in Lyon.
Vladislav Mamyshev-Monro was born in 1969 in Leningrad. Initially he became well-known for his photography
and video performances, impersonating famous people of
the past. Since 1886 he has worked with the art group “New
Painters”. He also took part in the famous Pop Mekhanika
shows staged by Sergei Kuryokhin. Mamyshev’s work is
represented in many museums and private collections
in Russia and abroad, including the collections of the
Museum of Contemporary Art: Art4.ru in Moscow, the
Moscow Museum of Modern Art, and the Moscow House
of Photography.
Valery Katzuba was born in 1965 in Byelorussia. He is a
painter and photographer, associated with neo-academic
circles. He turned to photography in 2000. His work is in
the collections of the State Russian Museum, the Moscow
House of Photography, the Moscow Museum of Modern
Stas Bags
Ballet. 2009
Art, the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid, and the New
Academy of Fine Arts (St Petersburg). His project Nijinsky
and Diamonds was shown for the first time in June 2011 at
The London Academy of Arts.
Andrei Bartenev was born in 1969 in Norilsk. He is a painter,
graphic artist, designer, stylist and the creator of several
well-known ‘sculpture performances’ such as Gogol-mogol
or The Adventures of Invisible Worms in Russia (which used
the idea of falling sculpture), Botanic Ballet, Mineral Water,
The Royal Family is Returning Hunting the Seal. He is an artist
at home with spectacular multi-media performance. His
work is represented in collections of modern art all over
the world. He was has also co-authored various projects
with outstanding artists such as the designer Andrew
Logan and stage director Robert Wilson.
37
26/10–04/12
2011
Maria Callas
Forever…
Exhibition
Fund for Social and Cultural Initiatives
Direction of International Programmes
Maria Callas International Cultural Association
St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music
Curators of the exhibition: Natalia Metelitsa, Rosa Sadykhova
Design of the exhibition: Emil Kapelush
Sheremetev Palace
Maria Callas.
U. Sartini. 1976
Photoreproduction
Exhibition “Maria Callas Forever…”
La Traviata. Covent Garden, 1958
…such an artist as she is must be served…
Luchino Visconti
Perhaps the greatest opera diva of the ХХ century, Мaria
Callas was born in New York in 1923 to a family of Greek
immigrants. Today her name is cloaked in legends but her
art and her genius remain universal.
Maria Callas began her studies at the Athens Conservatoire
in 1938 with Elvira de Hidalgo. And as a student she made
her debut as Zantuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana,
though her first big success was in the title role in Ponchielli’s
La Gioconda at the Arena di Verona festival in 1947.
40
By the 1950’s Callas had become a star of world magnitude.
She shone on the stages of Europe’s and America’s leading
opera houses: La Scala, the Chicago Opera, the Metropolitan
Opera — and caused a sensation in Bellini’s Il Pirata at
Carnegie Hall.
Nature endowed Maria Callas with a splendid, flexible
voice — a lyrical soprano instrument of great range and
dramatic power with a rich and beautiful timbre. She
had perfect command of the technically difficult ’bel
canto’ style — a virtuosic technique that allowed her to
perform the most difficult coloratura roles in the operas
of Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi. She was also a
great actress and was sought after by many famous stage
directors, notably Luchino Visconti for Spontini’s La Vestale,
Donizetti’s Anna Bolena and so on. Her performance in the
title role of Cherubini’s Medea in Florence (1953) and at La
Scala (1954) created a furore. Among Callas’s most famous
roles were Norma, Julia (La Vestale), Violetta (La Traviata),
Turandot, Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Fedora, Lucia (Lucia di
Lammermoor), Elvira (I Puritani) and Tosca.
In 1965, after the tragic collapse of her voice, Maria Callas
left the opera stage and toured as a concert artist. In 1969
she acted as Medea in Pasolini’s famous film of the Euripides
play where her outstanding dramatic talent shone with a
new force. Among her last performances as a singer was
at the opening of the new opera theatre in Turin (1973),
singing the role of Elena in Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani. In the
same year she made an extensive concert tour throughout
Europe, together with her regular partner the outstanding
tenor Giuseppe di Stefano.
By 1971 Maria Callas was teaching in Juilliard music school
in New York. In 1970 she visited the Soviet Union and was
a member of the jury at the 4th International Tchaikovsky
Competition in Moscow. She also visited Leningrad at that
time.
In her last years Maria Callas led a secluded life in Paris
where she died in 1977.
Filming Medea.
Maria Callas and Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968
41
Exhibition “Maria Callas Forever…”
Portrait by Chechil Beaton, 1958
Among the vast Callas heritage of gramophone recordings,
special places are reserved for her performances as Norma
with conductor Tullio Serafin (ЕМI), Anna Bolena with
conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni (ЕМI), Medea conducted
by Tullio Serafin (ЕМI), and Tosca conducted by Victor dе
Sabata (ЕМI).
The exhibition “Maria Callas forever…” forms part of an
archive assembled by the Maria Callas Cultural Association,
which was founded in Venice in 1992. The first Honorary
President of the Association was the outstanding mezzosoprano Giulietta Simionato, who was later followed by the
opera star Raina Kabaivanska. For many years the current
President of the Association, Bruno Tosi diligently acquired
exhibits, many of which came from the hands of private
collectors. Subsequently others were courteously given by
theatres and the other cultural organizations who wished
to help immortalise the memory of the great singer. In
42
2007, at a Sotheby’s auction, the Association purchased
more than 44 lots relating to the artist, including her own
personal archive.
The collection now holds more than 60 of her stage
costumes, concert and evening dresses — many designed
by the world’s best couturiers — jewelery, portraits,
autographs, thousands of photographs, playbills, concert
programs, interviews and recordings of concerts and
operas. This material illuminates each facet of Callas’s
creative achievement, throughout each period of her life.
Since 1993 this unrivaled exhibition has been seen in the
world’s principal capital cities including New York (Lincoln
Centre), Tokyo (Opera City), Mexico City (Museum of Fine
Arts) Paris (Hotel de Ville), Lisbon (Teatro Nacional São
Carlos) and Rome (L’Auditorium).
At present a proposal for transferring ownership of the
collection to the City of Venice, in order to create a Maria
Callas Museum, is under consideration. The museum’s
archive would be available to young performers and
scholars.
Maria Callas’ golden necklace for Aida, 1950
Maria Callas — Medea.
Medea. Teatro La Fenice, Venice, 1954
43
Nagisa Shirai © Jean-Claude Carbonne
26/10
2011
27/10
2011
Snow White
Piece for 26 dancers, creation 2008
A prize winner at “Globes de Cristal 2009”
Alexandrinsky Theatre
Within the frames of The VI International
Festival “Alexandrinsky”
Associate Artistic Director: Youri Van Den Bosch
Rehearsal assistant: Natalia Naidich
Choreologist: Dany Lévêque
Absailing trainer: Alexandre del Perugia
Technical Director: Luc Corazza
General production and sound manager: Martin Lecarme
Lighting manager: Sébastien Dué
Stage managers: Khalil Bessaa, Mario Domingos
Stagehand: Juliette Corazza
Wardrobe mistress: Claudine Duranti
Scenery construction: Atelier Atento
Costume maker: Les Ateliers du Costume
Duration of the performance: 1h50 without interval
Choreography: Angelin Preljocaj
Costumes: Jean Paul Gaultier
Music: Gustav Mahler
Additional music: 79 D
Set design: Thierry Leproust
Lighting: Patrick Riou assisted
by Cécile Giovansili and Sébastien Dué
Dancers:
Yacnoy Abreu Alfonso, Sergi Amoros Aparicio, Virginie Caussin,
Gaëlle Chappaz, Aurélien Charrier, Fabrizio Clemente, Baptiste
Coissieu, Sergio Diaz, Carlos Ferreira Da Silva, Céline Galli,
Natacha Grimaud, Caroline Jaubert, Jean-Charles Jousni,
Emilie Lalande, Céline Marié, Nuria Nagimova, Lorena O’Neill,
Fran Sanchez, Nagisa Shirai, Anna Tatarova, Patrizia Telleschi,
Julien Thibault, Yurie Tsugawa, Liam Warren, Nicolas Zemmour
Created during a residency at Grand Théâtre de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France
Coproduction Biennale de la danse de Lyon / Conseil Général du Rhône (Lyon, France), Théâtre National de Chaillot (Paris, France), Grand Théâtre de Provence
(Aix-en-Provence, France), Staatsballet Berlin (Germany)
Special thanks to Jean Paul Gaultier
The duet between the girl and her wicked
stepmother — where she shoves the apple into
her mouth whilst making her dance, is perfect in its
sadistic voluptuousness.
Rosita Boisseau, Le Monde
Angelin Preljocaj for the first time in Russia presents his
famous ballet Snow White. Libretto of the ballet is based
on the plot of Grimm brothers, but the producer rather
unexpectedly and at the same time surprisingly precise
interprets traditional fairy-tale symbols. Woman’s jealousy,
omnipresent desire, transient and changeableness of time,
killing envy discover deep psychological insight into habitual
fairy-tale heroes. Bright trait to personage characters is the
costumes created by famous French couturier Jean Paul
Gaultier. Imperious, sexual evil stepmother on the high
46
© Jean-Claude Carbonne
© Jean-Claude Carbonne
Ballet Preljocaj. Snow White
All is done absolutely amazingly: marvelous
pas de deux with sleeping Snow White, dwarfs
performing breathtaking tricks while climbing the
wall with caves, the costumes of Jean Paul Gaultier,
live their own life on the dancers — everything that is
necessary to create sad and cruel world of fairy-tales
of Grimm brothers.
Claire Chazal, Figaro magazine
heels, in black skintight dress and defenseless barefooted
Snow White in airy toga impress the imagination.
Music to the ballet is complicated and exquisite mosaics
composed of numerous symphonies of Gustav Mahler.
In combination with fairy-tale decorations by Thierry
Leproust it creates the inimitable fantastic atmosphere
of the performance. Marvelous plastique of the dance
that sometimes turns into acrobatic tricks, bears such an
emotional tension that all ballet is watched in a burst of
inspiration.
Nagisa Shirai, Sergio Diaz © Jean-Claude Carbonne
Though Jean Paul Gaultier has sumptuously
managed to keep a low profile in the costumes,
he does dare to dress Snow White in a thong. The
heroine’s transparent skin, her legs left bare to the
top of her buttocks by a cleverly hanging costume,
attracts the eye. This “décolleté” reminds us that
sexuality is central to the tale.
Rosita Boisseau, Le Monde
47
48
Céline Galli, Lorena O'Neill © Jean-Claude Carbonne
The designers don't seem too attracted by
the Grimm brothers version of the princess.
They prefer the wicked stepmother, Domina
sheathed in black, majestic. Indeed, it is she
who ends the ballet with a raging solo.
Marie-Christine Vernay, Libération
49
© Benoit Linero — www.benoitlinero.com
Angelin Preljocaj
Angelin Preljocaj is the brightest star in the pleiad of
choreographers that appeared in France in the 80s of
the last century. He was born in 1957 in the Paris Region
in the family of Albanian emigrants. He has got a classic
choreographic education and later found his vocation
in modern dance. After study-course of Karin Waehner
at the Schola Cantorum he went to New York (1980) to
Merce Cunningham. Coming back to France, Preljocaj
entered the national contemporary dance Center of
Angers. In 1982 he became the member of Dominique
Bagouet’s troupe. In 1984, in collaboration with Michel
Kélémenis, Preljocaj staged his first performance
Aventures Coloniales. His next ballet Marché noir in 1985
obtained the Ministry of Culture award at the Concours
of Bagnolet. In 1985 he founded his own company in
50
Champigny-sur-Marne and created Larmes blanches
(1985) and A nos héros (1986).
In 1987 he went to Japan to study Noh. On his return he
stages compositions for the Festival d'Avignon and for
National Choreographic Dance Center. In 1992 Angelin
Preljocaj gets the “Grand Prix National de la Danse” and
in 1993 he and his company are invited to the Palais
Garnier to present a tribute to the Ballets Russes. In 1994
he creates Le Parc to Mozart’s music for the Paris Opera
Ballet for which he received “Benois de la Danse” award at
the Bolshoi in Moscow.
In 1998 he gets the title of art councilor at The Deutsche
Oper Berlin and the title of knight of The Legion of Honor.
This same year he creates Casanova for the Paris Opera.
In 2005 Angelin Preljocaj stages ballet Les 4 saisons… to
the music of Antonio Vivaldi (“by this dance I want you to
hear Les 4 saisons… as if you hear the piece for the first
time”). Modern artist Fabrice Hyber became a co-author
of Preljocaj.
In 2009 the choreographer was awarded the prize “Globe
de Cristal” for ballet Snow White.
Preljocaj is the creator of short film Le postier, Idées
noires (1991) and several full-length films, notably Un
trait d'union (1992), Annonciation (2003) and Snow White
(2009). He has collaborated on several films presenting his
own choreographic work: Les Raboteurs (1988), Pavillon
Noir (2006).
In 1996, his ballet troupe was welcomed at the Cité
du Livre in Aix-en-Provence and became the Ballet
Preljocaj — National Choreographic Centre. Now the
troupe consists of 26 dancers, Angelin Preljocaj has created
almost 50 choreographic works, ranging from solo to
larger formations. Preljocaj ballet is incredibly popular
at his native country as well as abroad. It performs about
100 dates per year on tour and besides carries out a real
educational activity in the sphere of ballet by organizing
numerous public rehearsals, contemporary-dance classes
and workshops, and dance interventions in urban public
space.
Angelin Preljocaj is also the artistic director of The Pavillon
Noir that is the first production centre built for dance,
where artists will be able to go through the entire creative
process, from workshops and rehearsals to staging and
performance. Preljocaj's compositions are staged all
over the world: in Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Berlin, Helsinki,
Moscow, St Petersburg...
© Jean-Claude Carbonne
Angelin Preljocaj
Angelin Preljocaj and Jean Paul Gaultier are working
over the performance
The Ballet Preljocaj, National Choreographic Centre is subsidised
by the Culture and Communication Ministry — DRAC PACA, the
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, the Bouches du Rhône County
Council, the Pays d’Aix Community, the City of Aix-en-Provence
and it is supported by the Groupe Partouche — Casino Municipal
d’Aix-Thermal helping it to develop its projects and Institut
français- Ministry for Foreign Affairs, helping to finance some of
its overseas tours.
51
V. Serov
Ballerina Anna Pavlova
in ballet La Sylphide. 1909
26/10–05/12
2011
Motion,
form, dance
Exhibition
State Russian Museum
Marble Palace
© State Russian Museum
© State Russian Museum
Exhibition “Motion, form, dance”
Y. Annenkov
Portrait of E. Annenkova. 1917
P. Konchalovsky
Spanish Dance. 1910
Exhibition “Motion, form, dance” demonstrates the
spectators the variety of interpretation of phenomenon
called dance in fine arts, first of all in the light of notions
of movement and form. Definition of what we may call a
dance depends directly on cultural and historical contexts:
sacral Dionysian orgies, academic ballet, macabre or rhythm
of lines in abstract composition — all these is a dance that
is born by dynamics of forms and their relations. At the
54
exhibition that is intended to coincide with Diaghilev’s
seasons, for the first time with sufficient completeness the
artistic evidences of classic, everyday, sacral and abstract
dance embodied in art of the XX-XXI centuries from the
Russian Museum and private collections will be shown,
from artists of Russian avant-garde: V. Matiushin, N. Altman,
P. Konchalovsky, V. Baranov-Rossine to modern artists:
E. Belyutin, L. Borisov, D. Kaminker, V. Samarin and others.
Exhibition “Motion,
on, form, dance”
© State Russian Museum
V. Beklemishev
Ballerina V. Fokina. 1916
55
27/10
2011
Between Triumph
and Scandal.
Diaghilev’s Modus Vivendi
Discussion
Karina Dobrotvorskaya (VOGUE)
“Diaghilev’s influence on the fashion industry and the connections between
ballet and fashion in ХХ century. Fashion designers’ most significant alliances
with dancers and choreographers”
Sergei Nicolaevich (SNOB)
“Diaghilev — a Russian European.
Phenomenon of a Russian man on randez-vous”
Ekaterina Istomina (KOMMERSANT)
“Diaghilev and western European dandy traditions”
Moderators of discussion: Natalia Metelitsa, Pavel Kaplevich
St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music
27/10
2011
Two Poles of Dance
Ballet Gala
Students of the Vaganova Academy
of Russian Ballet
Break dance group TOP 9
Hermitage Theatre
Part I
Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet
The first Festival Diaghilev P.S. in 2009 set up a tradition —
to present the best young students of the Vaganova Ballet
Academy on the stage of the Hermitage Theatre. Following
this tradition the Festival is glad to include performance of
the Academy’s dancers — III Act of ballet The Nutcracker by
Tchaikovsky (choreography — Vasili Vainonen) in the new
programme.
Founded in 1738, the Imperial Ballet School became Russia’s
first educational establishment to provide professional
ballet training. Now known as the Vaganova Ballet Academy,
the school has graduated a galaxy of legendary dancers
and choreographers: Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, George
Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia
Makarova, Oleg Vinogradov, Yuri Grigorovich, Farukh
Ruzimatov, Altynai Asylmuratova, Konstantin Zaklinsky,
Ulyana Lopatkina, Diana Vishneva to name just a few.
60
The Academy’s method of ballet training was created by one
of its most distinguished teachers — Professor Agrippina
Yakovlevna Vaganova, who taught at the Academy from
1921 until 1951. Since that time, the Academy has continued
to develop and advance the syllabus that has created so
many exceptional artists. The Vaganova Ballet Academy is
now approaching its 275th Anniversary and each June, new
graduates of the Vaganova Ballet Academy are invited to
join the world’s leading ballet companies. Each September,
a new group of children begin their ballet education at the
Academy. The tradition continues.
The Principal of the Vaganova Ballet Academy professor Vera
Dorofeeva, Artistic Director, People’s Artist of Russia professor
Altynai Asylmuratova, professors, teachers and students are
delighted to welcome the guests and participants of the
Festival Diaghilev P.S.
Part II
Break dance group TOP 9
Break dance group Тоp 9 was founded in 2001. Since then
it has become an acknowledged leader on the international
dance floor and has collected many cups and diplomas in
various international competitions: Champions of Russia
in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, winners of “Battle of the Year”
(Moscow), Grand Prix at “It’s Time to Fly” festival (2005),
winners of the European championship in Sweden’s “Circle
Prince” competition (2006), winners at “U.K B-BOY Сhampions
of the World” in London (2008) — to name a few.
TOP 9 dancers feature in clubs, at fashion shows, at open
air events, sports grounds and even at theatrical festivals.
The group’s repertoire displays many facets of dance style:
from comic numbers and sports-oriented displays with
complicated stunts to serious theatrical performances, as a
result of which Top 9 were nominated for the Golden Mask
Award (2011).
“The Writer” — hip-hip performance
The dance shows throes of creation and infighting of a
principal character — writer who can not accept his own
creative work. On a cold winter night he is left alone with
his thoughts, images that arise from his unconscious. They
revive in the writer’s morbid imagination and torment him
with their speechless riddles. Born by the writer images
pose challenge to him and start to struggle against their
own creator. Finally they carry him along to illusionary
world from where he can not escape. His attempts to find
the answers are vain, dancing doors lead him away, there is
no way back…
Group’s members: Stanislav Vaitekhovich, Dmitry Kolokolnikov, Anton Savchenko, Dmitry Lee, Dmitry Bagrov, Alexei Bulgakov,
Maxim Shakhov, Konstantin Eliseitzev.
61
Exhibition “Eye to Eye. Diaghilev and Nijinsky”
28/10–21/11
2011
Exhibition of gobelins by Pavel
Kaplevich “Eye to Eye. Diaghilev
and Nijinsky”
St Petersburg State Museum
of Theatre and Music
Honored artist of the Russian Federation, laureate of all its
main theatrical awards including The Golden Mask Award,
scene designer, producer — Pavel Kaplevich can claim
one of the widest spheres of creative activity around. It
includes cinema, television, fashion — even advertising —
alongside classical opera and avant-garde theatrical
productions.
But it has been his experiments with texture and
perspective which have led Kaplevich to shift his attention
from theatrical illusion to the world of material reality. And
here he has initiated a revolution by inventing a unique
technology for the manufacture of a specific kind of cloth.
Kaplevich’s gobelins are a brand new phenomenon in
contemporary art. It is very hard to place, as it cannot be
called either painting, sculpture or applied art. It is a kind
of tri-dimensional painting created on a highly detailed
level. Like everything in Kaplevich’s creative work this is
a new departure — one in which the artist’s reflections
about history and fate “sprout” through the cloth of old
gobelin to suggest new ideas about the future.
Sergei Diaghilev. 2011
62
Exhibition “Eye to Eye. Diaghilev and Nijinsky”
V. Nijinsky. Le spectre de la rose. 2011
63
© Ekaterina Zavadskaya
This year Festival Diaghilev. P.S. is establishing
a special award, to be called “Etonne-moi!” This
award will be given for an outstanding creative
project whose concept and realization unite
different national cultures.
Author of the prize — sculptor Ivan Asinovsky
Editorial Board:
Editors — Natalia Metelitsa, Alexandra Shtarkman
Design — Alexander Zakirov
Publishing Department of St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music:
Jana Shigareva, Sergei Smirnov, Polina Byrkova
and Lidia Ader, Evgenia Suzdaleva, Geoffrey Baskerville
The Festival’s logo by Pavel Gershenzon
Administrative Board:
Artistic Director of the Festival — Natalia Metelitsa
Executive Director of the Festival — Ekaterina Sirakanian
PR-director of the Festival — Natalia Plekhanova
Technical Director — Olga Alymova
Financial Director — Natalia Tsvetkova
Drawings by Leon Bakst © St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music
Festival’s thanks to:
State Russian Museum,
Fund for Social and Cultural Initiatives,
Maria Callas International Cultural Association,
Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet,
Tchaikovsky Perm Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre,
Anna Nova Art Gallery,
Ballet Preljocaj,
Break dance group ТОР 9,
Mrs Kay Duke Ingalls,
Mr Jaime Ardiles-Arce,
Mr Pavel Kaplevich
who generously granted materials for the issue
Special thanks to Mr Mikhail Bazhenov
Circulation 250
Bell Printing House.
12-2 Knipovich st., St Petersburg
Festival Diaghilev P.S. special thanks for support:
Ministry of Culture
of the Russian Federation
Consulate General
of the United States in St Petersburg
Committee for Culture
of the St Petersburg Government
Fund for Young Artists Support —
for support of the concert
Two Poles of Dance
Main Sponsors:
VTB Bank — general sponsor
of the Preljocaj Ballet’s guest tour
Baltic Travel Company
Aurora Fashion Week
and personally Mikhail Bazhenov
Corinthia Hotel,
St Petersburg —
official hotel of the Festival
Hennessy
Socio-Cultural Foundation
Adamant Holding Company
The Blavatnik Family Foundation
Delzell Charitable
Foundation (USA)
Polustrovo Company (“Kluchevaya
Voda” and water “Natalia” —
official drinks of the Festival)
Sponsors of the Festival:
Ramec group of companies —
general sponsor
of MusicAeterna Orchestra
French Institute
in St Petersburg
International Consulting
Company DLA Piper
and personally Ms Olga Litvinova
Rossiya Airlines —
official air carrier of the Festival
Orimi Trade Group of Companies
(tea Greenfield and coffee Jardin —
official drinks of the Festival)
Sponsors of projects:
Information Partners:
International Society
“Friends of St Petersburg State
Museum of Theatre and Music”
Channel One
Swiss Center
in St Petersburg,
Helvetia Hotel,
International Center
Helenika
Vedomosti
Tatar National-Cultural
Autonomy in St Petersburg
Ms Galina Sintsova
Il Palazzo Restaurant
Cosmos Tourist Company
Principe PR-Media
PR agency of the Festival
Ambassador Hotel
Tatler
The St Petersburg Times
Business FM
Sapsan
It is a great joy and inspiration for life to be
able to make contribution (even a modest
one) to saving and preserving the great
cultural heritage and tradition of our
country, to developing and bringing up future
Artists. Supporting them at the beginning
of their careers when they most need it is the
Fund`s supreme task
Chairman of the Fund`s Board of Directors
Natalya Kosova
Regional Charitable Social Fund for Young Artists Support — Non-profit organization founded in 2001 to support
cultural projects, particularly focusing on developing young talents and encouraging young people`s creative efforts.
During the years the Fund has carried out many projects and gained art-festivals, concerts, master-classes and
vocal competitions.
The Fund is intended to give support to all perspective and innovative undertakings of young people in art and
culture. The Fund continuously supports the Mariinsky Young Singers’ Academy, The Vaganova Academy of the
Russian Ballet and the projects of the Diaghilev Festival aiming to find and promote young talents.
Cosmos DMC is a
full-service destination
management company
that creates and
arranges memorable
and exciting trips or
events for everybody!