The Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre 3/2, Karetny Ryad (Hermitage Garden), Moscow, 127006, Russia

e-mail:
info@novayaopera.ru

How to get here: Metro: Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya or Mayakovskaya Stations Trolley buses: B or 10 to Karetny Ryad

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The Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow was founded in 1991 on the initiative of prominent Russian conductor Evgeny Kolobov (1946-2003) and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and soon won recognition as a leading opera house in Russia.

Evgeny Kolobov’s name is covered with legend. Opera lovers remember his great artistic success in the Sverdlovsk Opera and Ballet theatre, where Evgeny Kolobov became the chief conductor being only 31. The theatre’s tour to Moscow in 1979 was a triumph of the young conductor. Since that time he was called “vigorous maestro”.
In 1981, Yury Temirkanov invited him to join the Kirov Theatre’s (now Mariinsky Theatre) company. Then in 1987 Evgeny Kolobov was appointed music director of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre in Moscow. There Evgeny Kolobov was the first opera conductor in Russia to stage Bellini’s Il Pirata and Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. The productions immediately became a legend.
Evgeny Kolobov always regarded any score, whether classical or modern, as "a springboard for interpretation". So in 1991 Evgeny Kolobov and a number of his like-minded colleagues, supported by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, founded the Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow.

The artistic creed of the theatre can be defined as enthusiastic creative quest and bold innovation.The Novaya Opera has the original repertoire based on the musical versions by Evgeny Kolobov: Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila, "O Mozart! Mozart..." (based on the opera Mozart and Salieri by Rimsky-Korsakov and Mozart's Requiem), Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Iolanta, Verdi’s La Traviata, Nabucco and Rigoletto, Golovin’s The First Love and includes such popular operatic works as : Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden and The Tsar’s Bride, Rubinstein’s The Demon, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Bellini’s Norma, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles. The Novaya Opera was the first in Russia to stage Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Catalani’s La Wally, Verdi’s I Due Foscari, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (in the first composer’s redaction), Thomas’ Hamlet. The new theatrical genre was created: it is the original artistic image of famous composers and musicians (“Maria Callas”, “Viva Verdi!”, “Vincenzo Bellini”, “Richard Wagner”, “Rossini”, “Bravissimo!”). Novaya Opera has more than 70 productions in its repertoire.
Considering the world experience in organizing opera and theatre work, Novaya Opera acts on the contract basis: one of the main principles of which is the high standards of the soloists, choir and orchestra performing skills.

The Novaya Opera Soloists: A number of the theatre's opera soloists have been awarded the titles "People's Artist of Russia" (Yulia Abakumovskaya and Emma Sarkissyan) and "Honoured Artist of Russia" (Marat Gareyev, Elena Svechnikova and Marina Zhukova). The young opera singers who have permanent engagements with the theatre have won many awards at international contests, such as “Golden Mask”, “Casta Diva” and “Triumph”. Many of the theatre soloists are deservedly considered to be the best voices of Russia, including Tatyana Pechnikova, Elena Popovskaya, Tatyana Smirnova, Elvira Khokhlova, Margarita Nekrasova, Irina Romishevskaya, Alexander Bogdanov, Roman Shulakov, Anjey Beletsky, Vitaly Bily, Andrey Breus, Vasily Ladyuk, Oleg Didenko, Vladimir Kudashev to mention a few. They collaborate with the leading theatres such as the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, Metropolitan Opera, Arena di Verona and many others.  

The Novaya Opera Orchestra, a versatile team of brilliant musicians, is a full-fledged participant in the theatre's operatic performances. The important part assigned to the Orchestra has to do with the wide-ranging artistic interests of the acting conductors of the theatre – Eri Klas, chief conductor of the theatre, Anatoly Gus, Evgeny Samoilov, Sergey Lysenko, Dmitry Volosnikov, Felix Korobov and Valery Kritskov. .

In addition to playing for the Novaya Opera, the Orchestra appears frequently on the concert platform, performing symphony programmes in the best concert halls of Russia, such as the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the St.Petersburg Philharmonic, to mention a few. Its symphony repertoire is large and diversified, comprising symphonies and symphonic compositions by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Mozart, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Honegger, Chopin, Lalo, etc.
The Orchestra often performs concert programmes with the Novaya Opera's soloists, choir and guest musicians. It toured in Spain and Portugal in 1992, in Germany in 2006, and in Finland and Turkey (with the Imperial Russian Ballet) in 2000. In 2001 the Orchestra took part in the Los Angeles Opera Company's performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Strauss's Salome at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland.

The Novaya Opera Choir is an integral part of all of the house's performances. It is a group of like-minded professional singers with fine voices and good acting abilities. The Choir is notable for its deeply felt interpretations of the compositions they perform, sharp attention to choral harmony, subtle nuances of sounding and a superb balance of tone-colours. Led by the brilliant choirmasters (the chief choirmaster of the theatre is an Honoured Art Worker of Russia - Natalya Popovich) the Choir is approaching the level of the world's best opera choruses. It participates in many prestigious festivals and contests of choral singing, where it successfully represents the Russian school of singing, popularizing the rich heritage of Russian music.

As part of the Choir's professional training, it performs concert programmes consisting of Russian and foreign classical choral compositions, a cappella sacred music, large-scale cantatas and oratorios, such as Taneyev's John of Damascus, Verdi's Requiem, Spring and Three Russian Songs by Rachmaninov, Mozart's Requiem, Borodin's Polovtsian Dances, Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky and Tchaikovsky's Moscow, Orff’s Carmina Burana.

The Novaya Opera is noted for its innovative approach to scenography and stage direction. It works with renowned masters of the theatre art to make productions in different genres and styles. The stage directors include Sergey Artsibashev, Vladimir Vasiliev, Valery Belyakovich, Mikhail Efremov, Alla Sigalova, Roman Viktuk, Yuri Grymov, Yuri Alexandrov, Gennady Shaposhnikov, Achim Freyer, Ralph Långbaka, Kari Heiskanen (Finland), Jossi Wieller (Germany), Sergio Morabito (Italy-Germany), Kasper Holten (Denmark), Elijah Moshinsky (UK), Michiel Dijkema (the Netherlands). Sets and costumes have been created by leading designers, such as Sergey and Tatyana Barkhin, Alla Kozhenkova, Eduard Kochergin, Ernst Heidebreht (Germany),Victor Gerasimenko, Maria Danilova, Eleonora Maklakova, Marina Azizyan, Vyacheslav Okunev, Semen Pastukh, Achim Freyer, Anna Viebrock (Germany), Anne Tilby (UK), Claudia Damm (Germany).

The Novaya Opera collaborates with distinguished masters of music: conductors Yury Temirkanov, Eri Klas, Gintaras Rinkevičus , Daniel Lipton; instrumentalists Eliso Virsaladze and Nikolay Petrov (piano), Natalya Gutman (cello), Finnish jazzman Antti Sarpila (clarinet and saxophone); opera singers Jose Cura, Placido Domingo, Mario Frangoulis, Dmitry Hvorostovsky (about 10 joint performances), Franz Grundcheber, Paata Burchuladze, Feruccio Furlanetto, Deborah Mayers, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya; an outstanding Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, ballet diva Anastasia Volochkova and soloists of the Ebony Opera of New York.

Touring worldwide, the company has received international recognition. It has successfully performed in Greece (closing of the annual musical festival in Athens with concerts dedicated to the 80th anniversary of M. Theodorakis in 2005), Cyprus ( for several years the NO theatre has taken part in the opera festivals with Deborah Mayers and Marios Frangulis, the NO theatre also performed on the concert dedicated to the outstanding Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis in 2005),  Italy (Perugia - festival Musicale Umbra), the USA ( 14 performances of Eugene Onegin in Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway, New York), Germany (Munich – Reithalle hall), France (Paris - the Champs-Elysees Theatre), Israel (Richon Le Zion), Finland (Savonlinna Opera Festival – Kupio, Mikkeli - annual ballet festival), Estonia (Tallinn - Birgitta festival) Spain, Portugal, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Thailand, Belorussia, Ukraine and many Russian cities.

The company has deservedly been rewarded for its mastery of performing and originality of staging: the theatre is honoured with the Golden Mask independent national theatrical prize, with the Casta Diva Russian opera prize, with the prestige national prize "Triumph" (awarded to Evgeny Kolobov), with the Sony BMG Greece Award and with  the theatrical award "Week Star" given by German newspaper “Abendzeitung” . In 1999 the theatre became a member of the Opera Europa international association.

The new building of the Novaya Opera, constructed in the Hermitage Garden in 1997, has an audience capacity of more than 700 and is supplied with state-of-the-art lighting equipment and stage machinery, which make it possible to create productions with complicated stage effects. The theatre also has audio and video recording studios.

In 2003, Evgeny Kolobov (posthumous), the director of the theatre Sergey Lysenko and the chief choirmaster Natalya Popovich were given Governmental Award for creation of the Novaya Opera Theatre. In 2006, the Novaya Opera Theatre had the name of Evgeny Kolobov conferred on it.