Comic opera in two acts
Music Director: Dmitry Volosnikov
Conductors: Dmitry Volosnikov, Yuri Medianik , Dmitry Korchak
Stage Director and Set Designer: Victor Gerasimenko
Graphic Designer: Ekaterina Volkova
Computer graphics and animation by: Erik Gromilov
Lighting Designer: Aivar Salikhov
Choirmaster: Yulia Senyukova
Running time: 3 hours with one intermission
Premiered on 7 October 2011
On the 13 October 2019 the performance will be a part of the "Opera Class" educational and creative project for youth together with the Elena Obraztsova Charity Foundation for Musical Arts.
The idea of the new, original staging of Rossini’s La Cenerentola belongs to the Novaya Opera’s Art Director Victor Gerasimenko, who has not only designed the sets and costumes, but also directed the production.
The special feature is three huge screens that display animated pictures: a fantastic garden, pavilions with clouds floating through their pillars, a carriage with a horse, picturesque landscapes, and various symbols and allegories. The singers seem to move from the real stage space into the screen. The computer design replicates the colourful set design. The bright costumes are a stylish compilation of elements belonging to different epochs. And this makes the story of a noble prince and a slovenly poor girl, Cinderella, timeless. The story becomes modern and topical.
The plot of Rossini’s opera differs from Perrault’s fairy tale in that Cinderella has a stepfather instead of a stepmother. The magician Alidoro stands for the fairy godmother. The Prince disguised as a servant meets Cinderella before the ball, while Dandini, the Prince’s servant, impersonates the Prince to test the sincerity of Don Magnifico’s daughters. At the ball Cinderella does not lose a shoe, but gives the Prince a bracelet, which should help find her. The operatic fairy tale is full of magic, disguises and comic situations.
Victor Gerasimenko:
I see what technologies are used in the world, how quickly the computer industry develops, and this interest me a lot. Besides, the very story makes it possible to animate and computerize the sets. The world of magic is made to change instantly; a fairy tale is about constant transformations. And computer graphics can make it work.
Dmitry Volosnikov:
This opera is a firework of brilliant ensembles, virtuoso passages, tongue twisting recitatives, memorable melodies, and vivid characters. This creates the atmosphere of a music feast. And this is Rossini’s genius for you: even melodramatic and lyric episodes sound light and charming in the context of a comic opera.
Press
The producers use the “theatre in the theatre” device prolifically. <…> The magician here is the storywriter. Inspired by the music, he is putting down the love story of the Prince and Cinderella during the overture. The characters are acting in front of the “double” audience. One of them is in the auditorium. The other, made of flirtatious girls from the Prince’s court, is in the boxes. They all watch Alidoro, the stage director, leading his protégés to the happy finale. Rossini’s idea is that Cinderella’s wedding with the Prince is her reward for her kindness, not her beauty.
Novye Izvestiya,
12 October 2011
The world’s best opera houses could envy the Novaya Opera, as it has three singers to perform the part of Cinderella.
Kultura TV Channel,
10 October 2011
“…this production conveys pretty well the spirit of a comic opera and buffoonery.”
Belcanto.ru,
9 October 2011