Gaetano Donizetti
Lucia di Lammermoor

“That the Novaya Opera has undertaken a production of the definitive belcanto masterpiece is totally justified: here they can sing, cherish voices and have an obvious taste for Italian opera. The theatre has had new productions of different quality but the vocal level has always been high, and even regular performances have solid casts. The premiere of Lucia has provided undeniable proof of the statement. All through the evening the three protagonists delight us with the beauty of their voices as well as intellectual and expressive singing”.

Alexander Matusevich, “Kultura” Newspaper

“The first new production of the year tends to follow the tradition to stage this opera in its classical version. It has massive doors with antique carving occupying almost half of the stage space. It has bright red satin old-style costumes for one but numerous party and golden satin garments for their rivals. The stage setting corresponds to the dreary plot of the 15th century as described in Walter Scott’s novel. The credit goes to stage director Hans-Joachim Frey’s and set and costume designer Pyotr Okunev’s great and distinct work”.

Lyudmila Krasnova, NEWSmuz.com

“When staging Lucia, Hans-Joachim Frey didn’t opt for any of the standard ways: his production doesn’t have the static staginess of classical productions, nor has it the meager and boring symbolism of modern performances. An Italian opera interpreted by a German director is a successful compromise between the two extremes. Pyotr Okunev’s authentic and spectacular sets – stone carved vaults of a medieval castle, mural frescoes, and a landscape with a faraway forest –are organically combined with the symbolic stage performance; the director achieves this primarily with play of colours.
The opening scenes proved the Novaya Opera choir and orchestra led by Jan Latham-Koenig to be elegant and stylistically precise. Their interpretation of Donizetti’s score had neither classical dryness nor Verdian romantic intensity. The soloists also showed high quality performance. Irina Bozhenko as Lucia dazzled the audience with her flexible velvet legato in the cantabile moments and in the cabalettas and in the famous cadence with flute she astounded us with her agiletechnique that made the most complicated coloraturas sound like pearls”.

Severian Tsagareishvili
3rd-year student of the International Journalism Faculty, MGIMO

“Silver lyric coloratura Irina Bozhenko as Lucia demonstrates her high professional and musical level; it seems she can make even a heartless stone shed tears of compassion for her character.”

Igor Koryabin, belcanto.ru