SOIRÉE OF ONE-ACT OPERAS
For the first time in Russia: Jacques Ibert’s Persée et Andromède
With the support of the French Institute in Russia
During the Days of Francophonie 2012
On 16 March 2012, the Novaya Opera will show Ibert’s Persée et Andromède. It has never been performed in Russia and Ibert’s works are not very well known here. The Novaya Opera has the honour to present the opera to the Russian audience, timing this performance to the 50th anniversary of Jacques Ibert’s death.
The one-act opera of the French composer Jacques Ibert (1890–1962) starts the cultural programme of the International Francophonie Days, celebration of the French language and culture. The opera is written to a libretto by Michele Veber alias Nino. It is based on an ancient Greek myth. Beautiful Andromeda is chained to a rock to be devoured by a sea monster. Young Perseus, son of Zeus, flying on Pegasus, sees her there. He saves the beautiful girl and marries her. Ibert’s opera is a very peculiar French interpretation of the myth. The Monster does not intend to devour the captive Andromeda but teaches her to play chess. They enter into a very interesting relationship. In the end when Perseus arrives, depicted by Ibert as a quite ridiculous character, Andromeda decides to stay on the island with the Monster. Her love turns the ugly Monster into a beautiful Prince.
Maestro Jan Latham-Koenig as a connoisseur of French culture and style recorded a CD of Ibert’s orchestral works and Persée et Andromède together with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra. This recording has been awarded several prizes from musical critics. Jan Latham-Koenig says that it is a fantastic, wonderful work and it is the only opus in the history of opera where there is … a chess match.
This evening will also feature a one-act opera by Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), called Il tabarro (The Cloak). It is written in Italian but it tells the life story of Parisian stevedores. Giuseppe Adami’s libretto is based on Didier Gold's play La houppelande. The owner of a barge finds out that his wife has been cheating on him. He conceals his bloody crime committed out of jealousy under his cloak. The barge and its dwellers’ routine life on the Seine contrast strikingly with the subsequent drama and its tragic end.
The opera written by Puccini as a part of Il trittico (The Triptych), which also includes Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, is rarely performed in Russia. We invite you to see Il tabarro in concert in the Novaya Opera!