PRESENTATION OF SET DESIGN MODEL (07.09.2016).

The Novaya Opera Theater is preparing for a grandiose premiere – Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s opera The Passenger will be for the first time shown in Moscow. This is a tragic story about Auschwitz, about crime and retribution. For nearly 40 years the opera had been out of favour until it was first performed in concert in Moscow in 2006. This was followed by the opera’s new triumphs on the best stages of the world. And coming soon is its full-fledged stage production. Journalists were the first to see them model of sets for the production.

Sergei Shirokov, the director of the future production of The Passenger, presents, virtually frame by frame, the sets for the new project. He seems to know exactly the strength of each mi seen scene. Awell-knownTVdirector and a graduate of the Gnessins Academy of Music, Sergei makes his first entry into opera. He says it is his favourite genre and promises to treat it with love and carefulness.

“I am so much in love with it, because the music is fabulous and the story is mind-blowing. It is a matter of remembering what happened and what is happening today. Only it is happen in gin other countries and in a different, tougher form. People should ponder the issue and never forget it,” Sergei Shirokov said.

The Passenger is an autobiographical novel written by concentration camp survivor Zofia Posmysz. The story became widely known thanks to Andrzej Munk’s film of the same name. The story centers on two former dwellers of Auschwitz, Lieseand Marta, torturer and victim, who meet on a cruise liner after the Second World War. The Passenger is a rebellion against the “innocence” of the Nazis who lead an ordinary life after the war. This is the victim’s hope that irrespective of trials and court-martials the villains will account for the reality they createdand will never live in peace.

Now The Passenger reappears in Novaya Opera’s version. For his experiment Sergei Shirokov has gathered a team of his dream. The costume designer is Igor Chepurin, and the set designer is Larisa Lomakina. The most interesting and difficult task for her is to achieve a quick change of two very different spaces – a luxurious liner and terrifying Auschwitz. For this purpose she plans to use multimedia effects, mobile stage boxes, etc. Lomakina’s detailed description of the space she has invented intrigues not only the journalists but also those participating in the production. The orchestra will be hidden under a net so that the lights of the orchestra pit will not distort the design of the performance. And there will be many more super effects.
Репортаж телеканала «Культура»