© Silvia Lelli
Revolutions in Music
Moscow’s Stas Namin Theatre
reconstruction of the russian cubo-futuristic opera
Victory over the Sun
(1913)
Opera in 2 acts and 6 scenes
music Michail V. Matjušin
musical interpretation and arrangements Aleksandr Slizunov
prologue Velimir Chlebnikov
libretto Aleksej Kručënych
direction Stas Namin, Andrej Rossinskij
costume design on drawings by Kazimir S. Malevič
set and video Grigorij Brodskij on drawings by Kazimir S. Malevič
choreography Ekaterina Gorjačeva
performers
Aleksandr Bogdanov, Grigorij Brodskij, Ivan Fedorov, Ekaterina Gorjačeva, Julja Grigor’eva, Ivan Guskov, Anna Jakimova, Ilina Kudrjavtseva, Jana Kutz, Oleg Litskevič, Konstantin Muranov, Nikolaj Novopašin, Vladimir Filippov, Andrej Jakimov, Valerij Zadonskij, Vera Zudina
Aleksandra Popova first piano
Anastasja Makuškina second piano
Assistant Director Irina Potapova
Production manager Aleksej Akimov
Sound engineers Vladimir Asonov, Aleksej Panin
Lighting engineer Aleksandr Pejkov
Lighting technicians Dmitrij Birjukov, Ruslan Fattechetdinov
Video engineer Maksim Mašanov
Make-up Svetlana Šarova
Dressers Ksenja Avanesova, Inna Dementjeva
Props Tat’Jana Stjužneva
Stage hands Viktor Gamanov, Aleksej Suravov
Moscow’s Stas Namin Theatre installation of 2013
In cooperation with the State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg)
Director Vladimir Gusev
Editor-in-Chief Evgenja Petrova
Art Director of the Publishing House Joseph Kiblitsky
(performed in Russian with Italian surtitles)
Italian premiere
Poet Aleksei Kruchenykh, composer Mikhail Matyushin, and painter Kazimir Malevich: three leading members of the Russian avant-garde met in Finland, in the far reaches of the Empire, in July 1913. As was customary in those fruitful times, a “manifesto” was born, announcing the creation of a mysterious opera called Victory Over the Sun, with a prologue written by Velimir Khlebnikov, the mentor of such poets as Mayakovsky. The opera, staged in St Petersburg in early December, was received with enthusiasm as well as indignation when the curtain got ripped to reveal the first of Malevich’s “Black Square” paintings, an early evidence of Suprematism. An opera whose absurd, dramatic and pathetic tones announced the annihilation of obsolete down-to-earth logic (i.e. the Sun), overtaken by a Future that could transcend the limits of human understanding.
Duration:
1h 10’ without intermission
