Boris Godunov

Novaya Opera’s production of the original version of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, which was rejected by the Committee of the Imperial Theatres 130 years ago, came as a major revelation to the opera-goers. All authentic compositions should be returned to the public, and the Novaya Opera Theatre brings back not only the original version of the opera, composed by Mussorgsky in one go, but also the historical events surrounding the Time of Troubles, on which Aleksandr Pushkin’s drama is based. The true heroes of the opera are not the haughty Tsar and boyars, but people of tragic fate, caught in the whirlpool of history. The style of the production is austere, consistent, figurative and theatrical.

Press

In the production… there is no politics… there israther politics of the soul, as the characters look primarily like people with a hint of physical and spiritual weakness.

Vechernyaya Moskva newspaper,
27 November 1998

The authors of the production did the impossible. They turned the close stage space into a powerful historical canvas, with meagre strokes achieving the feeling that is comparable to what we experiencedwhen watching Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible.

Izvestia newspaper,
30 October 1998

The Novaya Opera choir, the joy of Moscow music lovers, turns more and more often from the background and context to the main character of the performance… Yes, these people are not silent and do not stand mournfully or exultantly in the openings between set designer Kochergin’sarchs. They rush about, rage, pray, mourn, suffer, joke, comment — in a word, they live.

Vechernyaya Moskva newspaper,
25 September 1998