Dmitri Shostakovich
The Gamblers

“The second production, Shostakovich’s The Gamblers, was a revelation and an eye-opening experience. The design of the production (set design by Daria Sintsova, costume design by Svetlana Grishchenkova) moved from a quite artificial, generalized style in the first part to abstractionism or, rather, its extreme form -suprematism. Everything is based on an abundance of sharp angles and contrasts: black-white-and-red costumes with sharp angles of tailcoats and waistcoats, a spinning round card table, scrappy chairs, and geometric figures on the faces of the actors <…>

I liked everything in The Gamblers – the leading of the orchestra and the fitting, not dominating and not subordinate accompaniment to the soloists. As it appears, the music of this opera is very ergonomic for listening and easy to visualize, and the prosaic text, not crossed, but highlighted by harmonic dissonances, is easy to understand. ”

Operanews
May 16, 2016

“Shostakovich’s music, perfect and wonderfully scored, is absolutely in line with Gogol’s style, and the eight completed scenes are quite enough to enjoy them.

Jan Latham-Koenig leads in a balanced manner the orchestra and the performers, who clearly and confidently deliver their complicated parts. Aleksey Veiro, this time collaborating with set designer Daria Sintsova, staged Shostakovich’s scenes in a most ingenuous way, which sets this production apart …”

Vedomosti
May 11, 2016

“But the most important and crucial thing about this production is its gorgeous cast <…> I watched this performance in one breath;the performers were playing with zest”.

Golos Publiki
May 5, 2016