The Gala concert of the 2016 Epiphany Festival is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Russian conductor Evgeny Vladimirovich Kolobov (1946–2003), the founder of the Novaya Opera Theatre. ‘I’ve killed many a year for two utopias:/Naïve romanticism and the whirlpool of operas.’ – this was a jocular poetic improvisation by the Maestro which reflects the power and depth of his relationship with Opera, the Empress of the music genres. Opera was the Kolobov’s passion, a source of inspiration and emotion. His main creative principle was to perform unheralded pieces and to create new, up-to-date interpretations of well-known compositions.

The concert will feature not only excerpts of popular operatic compositions (Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Gounod’s Faust, Verdi’s Falstaff, Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Rossini’s Otello and Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dargomyzhsky’s Rusalka, etc.), but also rare melodies from Grétry’s Richard Coeur-de-lion,Boito’s Mefistofele, Nicolai’s Die lustigenWeiber von Windsor, Paisiello’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The Festival’s theme(Dialogues and Doubles) has determined the joining of pieces into pairs according to the literary sources they were based on. Among the through plots are Pushkin's unfinished drama Rusalka, Goethe’s Faust and Shakespeare’s Othello, Shakespeare’s comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor, Schiller’s Die Jungfrau von Orleans, and Beaumarchais’ Le Barbier de Séville. Taking part in the concert are the Novaya Opera’s soloists and orchestra conducted by Alexandru Samoilă.