Voice of a Woman

Three short stories exposing secluded spots in a woman’s heart where men cannot enter.

This production comprises three mono operas by 20th-century composers which are based on famous novellas: Gubarenko’s Tenderness (1971, after the novella by Henri Barbusse),Spadavecchia’s Letter from an Unknown Woman (1974, after the novella by Stefan Zweig),and Tariverdiev’s Waiting (1984, after the poem by Robert Rozhdestvensky). They are united by the same idea and make an opera triptych called Voice of a Woman.

The Voice of a Woman captures women’s most secret desires and worries, expressed by Tariverdiev’s, Spadavecchia’s and Gubarenko’s dramatic and sincere music. The characters are driven only by passionate and selfless love. It does not need a real object in the Letter of the Unknown Woman; it is tender and sacrificial in Tenderness; it is an ideal and sublime dream of a modern businesslike yet romantic woman in Waiting. The three operas are confessions addressed to Him, the beloved one. The characters of Zweig’s and Burbusse’s novellas write letters which reveal their deep feelings and tragic fate. Rozhdestvensky’s modern woman delivers her inner monologue in anticipation of a date while waiting for her beloved. Her waiting for him turns out to be an expectation of a great and eternal love…

Alla Chepinoga, the 24-year-old stage director of the production, graduated from the Russian Academy of Dramatic Art (RATI-GITIS) and completed there her post-graduate studies. At her young age, she has already assisted masters of opera directing such as Elijah Moshinsky, Dmitry Bertman, and Michiel Dijkema. Lubov Shepeta, a 26-year-old designer, has taken part in the Novaya Opera’s recent productions as assistant designer. In 2010, the project of the Voice of a Woman received a grant to support young directors from the Russian Ministry of Culture.