Chief director of the Mariinsky Theater. The Ministry of Culture unveiled the salaries of heads of museums and theaters

scandal ballet

Yesterday, Kommersant learned that the head of the ballet troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, Mahar Vaziev, wrote a letter of resignation to the theater management on March 12. He wants to be relieved of his post on March 24, at the end of the Mariinsky International Ballet Festival.

The day before the start of the 8th International Mariinsky Ballet Festival, Mahar Vaziev, the permanent director of the Mariinsky Theater ballet troupe for 12 years, resigned. No external impetus for this step was noticed; the statement has not yet been signed.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the ballet troupe is tense. Kommersant learned that a group of leading dancers attempted to write a collective letter addressed to Valery Gergiev in support of Mahar Vaziev, but the letter was never completed.

Tensions between the ballet management and the artistic director of the Mariinsky have been growing over the past season, in particular due to increased talk that Mr. Gergiev is looking for an artistic director of the ballet company (without whom it has managed throughout Mr. Vaziev’s tenure).

Among the contenders for this place are 35-year-old ballet soloist Ulyana Lopatkina, whose dance career is in decline; 39-year-old Igor Zelensky, who last season became the artistic director of the ballet of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater; 49-year-old head of the Vaganova School Altynai Asylmuratova and, finally, 70-year-old Elena Chernysheva, a former dancer of the Kirov Theater corps de ballet, who emigrated to the USA in the 1970s, remembered both for her tutoring at the American Ballet Theater under Mikhail Baryshnikov and for her high-profile dismissal from her position Director of the Vienna Opera Ballet.

Makhar Vaziev, appointed head of the troupe back in 1995 under the then head of the Mariinsky Theater, chief choreographer Oleg Vinogradov, actually served as artistic director all these years. The head of a troupe in most theaters is a technical position, not an artistic-political one. The head of the troupe regulates the ballet compositions, schedules rehearsals and monitors the current state of the troupe. The artistic director is a figure of a different scale, determining both the tactics and artistic strategy of the theater. However, Mr. Vaziev never received an official appointment and was clearly offended that this position would go to another person, who would henceforth determine the artistic policy of the Mariinsky Ballet. Moreover, it was under the leadership of Mahar Vaziev that the Mariinsky troupe achieved a leading position in the world ballet market. Under him, ballet became civilized, succeeded in reconstructing classics like “The Sleeping Beauty” and mastered the world ballet repertoire of the 20th century.

“Vaziev was unusually far-sighted in the decisions he made as director of the Mariinsky Ballet. He had the gift of foresight both in the selection of ballets for presentation and in the choice of choreographers whom he invited to create new works for his dancers. Mahar Vaziev “literally introduced the Mariinsky Ballet into the 20th century,” commented the famous American choreographer William Forsyth on the news of Vaziev’s resignation.

The relatively liberal repertoire policy and skillful building of a system of checks and balances, without which the work of such a complex group as the ballet troupe is unthinkable, may soon become a thing of the past for the Mariinsky. This, apparently, is what the dancers are afraid of, who are trying - so far unsuccessfully - to compose collective letters. The Mariinsky Theater did not comment on the news. Makhar Vaziev himself has so far refused to comment, and hopes to personally explain it to the director of the theater in the near future. It is possible that the dismissal of Mr. Vaziev is an opportunity for Valery Gergiev to extend his power to the ballet troupe. However, he will not be able to perform the functions of artistic director of the ballet on his own. With the departure of Mahar Vaziev, the question will arise about the appointment of a new head of the Mariinsky Ballet - now with the rank of artistic director. This will be Valery Gergiev’s choice, his creature with whom he will have to share artistic power in the theater, and his responsibility.

The first premiere of the season at the Mariinsky Theater was “Theater Director”

Having loudly launched the 2016/17 season with Yusif Eyvazov at the end of the season and opened the current season with the same opera (without such a star cast), the Mariinsky Theater immediately gives way to beginners. Mozart's performance was staged by the Academy of Young Opera Singers and director Gleb Cherepanov.

The stage of the old building on Teatralnaya Square was allocated for the performance, although in anticipation of reconstruction, which cannot begin, the premieres are mainly taking place at the newer venues of the theater - in Mariinsky-2 with its chamber halls and the Concert Hall. It is in the KZ that Cherepanov’s previous performances are staged - “The Story of a Soldier” and.

Buff – Denis Begansky, Mrs. Silberklang – Antonina Vesenina

There is no need to once again go into detail about the story of the competition and Salieri, during which the “Theater Director” was created. But Mozart and librettist Gottlieb Stefani really wrote a work that can be used as an educational program on the basics of theatrical art and theater management: the original plot is as simple as it is relevant at all times, and spoken dialogues can and should be rewritten to suit the topic of the day.

The soloists of the Academy of Young Singers mainly perform in concert performances or in very chamber productions of some Soviet mono-operas. Getting a full-fledged stage at their disposal is an almost unique case. Gleb Cherepanov, however, did not use the space and hung a blank backdrop across the entire portal, blocking off only the proscenium for the artists. Judging by the absence of the name of the production designer in the output, Cherepanov again designed his performance himself. In this case, we should give him his due - the candelabra, antique furniture and imitation draped curtain on the backdrop fit well into the interior of the old Mariinsky Theater and suit its spirit. Particularly beautiful are the three antique music stands with an abacus on them. New technologies have not been forgotten either: during the overture, an accelerated installation and dismantling of the scenery of various theater performances is projected, from Shchedrin’s opera in the Concert Hall to “The Ring of the Nibelung” on the new stage.

The license to change the dialogue is less well used: Cherepanov follows Stefanie’s script, without trying to sharpen the rivalry between the singers recruited into the troupe, or even to replace the German names with ones that are more meaningful for the domestic listener, as is done in many productions of “The Director”. The only attempt at actualization was the invitation of the troupe to a festival in the city of Za... Rumburg, invented by the director - and now one of the two successful jokes from Cherepanov’s dialogues was quoted. The second is funnier, but less understandable to the St. Petersburg public: director Frank (a role without singing, performed by dramatic actor Andrei Gorbunov) clarifies whether his theater was invited to a honey or jam festival. Muscovites, who are regularly offered festivities of this kind delivered directly to the steps of the Bolshoi Theater, would appreciate the humor.

Director Frank - Andrey Gorbunov, Mrs. Hertz - Olga Pudova

In general, the entire performance is declared as frivolous. The characters are stilted and one-dimensional, which is emphasized by their mannered acting, strictly monochromatic costumes and plastered face masks. So, the director is all in white, and his main manager and part-time comic bass Buff (bass-baritone Denis Begansky) is all in red. The mise-en-scène of the arias, in which two sopranos compete - a prima donna and an ingénue - parodies the vampuka that the opera house, one assumes, is never destined to forget. The main moral of the play is that wampuku should be accepted as part of the opera house and love opera in spite of it. But there is much less of it left in modern productions than actual parodies of it.

The sung text does not play a role in the performance: the mise-en-scene comes from the affects that sound in the music, and this should be counted as a big plus for Cherepanov with his dramatic background. The second plus is the introduction of a second round of rivalry between the singers, for which they were given an additional aria; fortunately, the “Theater Director” format allows not only to add any suitable numbers to the approximately twenty minutes of original music written by Mozart, but also, for example, to include another - some opera in its entirety, as was done in 2006 in Salzburg as part of the M22 project. This project included the production, recording and video release of all 22 of Mozart's operas for the composer's 250th birthday. Then "Theater Director" was staged by Thomas Reichert, director of the Salzburg Marionette Theater, in the form of a casting for roles in an early Mozart opera, followed by a performance of the entire opera.

Scene from the play

Cherepanov and the musical director of the production Larisa Gergieva limited themselves to two insert arias - and actually written by Mozart as inserts: it was assumed that Aloysia Weber, Mozart's sister-in-law (and the first performer of Mrs. Hertz in "Theater Director"), would sing them in the operas of other composers, shining with her fantastic technology. Therefore, the rivalry in the Mariinsky production is growing: the arias laid out in the score are sung without unnecessary embellishments, but in the inserts, willy-nilly, complex coloraturas have to be performed.

The play with opera cliches in the mise-en-scenes accompanying these arias is also increasing. Therefore, in the first aria, the prima donna Mrs. Hertz (Olga Pudova) simply waves an attached mermaid tail, and during the second she depicts Cleopatra accepting death from the bite of a thick plush snake over the bodies of deceased servants. Ingenue Mrs. Silberklang (Antonina Vesenina) first plays the director's reimagined Little Red Riding Hood, who subjugates the wolf and kills him, and during her second aria, a comically serious duel with fake swords unfolds on stage, leading to a tragic ending with the death of all participants.

Towards the end, the artists of the Academy of Young Singers were joined by tenor from the Mariinsky Opera Company Dmitry Voropaev in the role of Mr. Vogelsang. He performs roles in the theater from Mozart’s Idomeneo to Siegfried, and it is not very clear why he was chosen for such an undemanding role in “The Director” - the part of Vogelsang was easily handled by baritone Thomas Hampson in Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s 1987 recording.

The very last number of the opera, where all the character-artists sing in turn, including Buffa, who has only spoken until now, is made in the form of an homage to the M22 project: the director arms himself with crosspieces and leads his singers like puppets. But then everyone comes to life and at the end of the curtain the firecrackers explode in unison - the theater still remains a holiday. Unfortunately, there was no celebration in the music (conducted by Anton Gakkel); mechanical performance destroyed the sparkling Mozart overture, and the performance of solos and ensembles did not want to come close in brightness of emotions to the hypertrophied theatricality of the mise-en-scène - both by the orchestra and by the vocalists, who, however, did not sin from a technical point of view.

Scene from the play

“The Theater Director” – an hour-long “comedy with music in one act” with a rating of 6+ – will be included in the repertoire as a family daytime play: at least two more shows are planned for the fall. Let's hope that when the artists release the tension of the premiere, the performance will come to life and be filled with humor no longer through force.

St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre, historical stage.
30.09.2017
"Theater Director" by Mozart
Premiere
Conductor - Anton Gakkel
Director - Gleb Cherepanov

When getting ready for the performance, I kept in mind the recent premiere of the Mariinsky Theater on the stage of the Concert Hall, “Notes of a Madman,” directed by Gleb Cherepanov. Gogol was rethought in a very original and innovative way, in the spirit of Butsko's music. The action took place in the circus arena. The only, but, unfortunately, the most dominant drawback of “Notes...” was the slurred diction of the quite vocally decent baritone Dmitry Garbovsky. But Cherepanov did not provide for credits; my textbook knowledge of the test saved me - the day before the premiere I re-read Gogol. But I liked this theater of grotesque and absurdity.
I was expecting something just as unusual and whimsical from his production of Mozart’s “Theater Director.” During the overture, they began with a video series of real footage of the installation of scenery on different stages of the Mariinsky Theater - the statues from “The Ring of the Nibelungs” and the trunks of birch trees going into the sky from Shchedrin’s “Not Only Love” flashed. Is it possible that the plot will be tied to the modern backstage of the Mariinsky Theater - a seditious thought slipped into my head.
But the screen rose - and everything returned to its completely traditional place. The end of the 19th century, Europe, the theater director and bass comedian Buff gather a troupe for a tour to a festival in the city of Rumburg. The technique of whitewashed and painted-on clown faces is repeated. White Clown - Theater Director (Andrey Gorbunov - non-singing actor) and Red Clown (bass Denis Begansky).
Opera program:

I’ll be honest, in the presented zingspiel by Mozart there was a “zing”, and there certainly was some kind of zingspiel, but there was a problem with the “spire”. In the absence of music, the action hopelessly fell into banality and boredom. I blame this, firstly, on the unsuccessful Russian-language dialogues, and, secondly, on the lackluster performance of the only dramatic actor Andrey Gorbunov- poor speaking technique (can’t be heard when turning sideways or with your back), and a primitive manner of playing. Our singer is in his background Denis Begansky with a perfectly trained voice and comical plasticity, he simply saved the tedious dialogues with the director.
But when the main heroines of the opera appeared on stage Mrs. Hertz (Olga Pudova) And Mrs. Silberklang (Antonina Vesenina), and most importantly, the music started playing, the performance found a second wind. These young singers can do almost anything - sing masterfully, play talentedly and, if necessary, dance great. Probably inspired by the abilities of Pudova and Vesenina, the director showed imagination and invention in the scenes of the arias. The result was four concert numbers - each singer added a bonus aria to the score.
The imaginary coloratura battle between two sopranos captivated the audience. Experienced diva Mistress Hertz vs rising star Mistress Silberklang.
Pudova first sang as a mermaid in the sea, capriciously throwing out her fake tail in the finale. Then she came out in the guise of Cleopatra with a stuffed snake, easily singing Alceste’s most complex aria “Io non chiedo, eterni Dei” with some insanely transcendental top notes.
Vesenina together with Begansky acted out the scene of Little Red Riding Hood and the Gray Wolf. And Clorinda’s bonus aria “No, che non sei capace” was presented in the image of the warlike Maid of Orleans.
Tenor output Mr. Vogelsang (Dmitry Voropaev) was greeted with thunderous applause - the tenor was already adored by everyone in advance :). True, he didn’t have much to sing there - only in the terzetto and the finale along with everyone else. And how I would like a bonus for Dmitry Voropaev...
Orchestra under the direction Anton Gakkel sounded wonderful - light, transparent, Mozartian.

IMHO, for the further success of the performance, the following should be done:
- Transfer KZ to the stage. The historical stage turned out to be too spacious for this intimate Singspiel.
- Change Russian-language dialogues, introducing more comedy and grotesqueness.
- Replace the actor playing the Theater Director. And it’s better to grow up in your Mariinsky team :).
- Add an aria for tenor.
I'll grumble some more :). The duration of the performance with all inserted arias is only 1 hour. As a children's matinee, these “Zings” in German are unlikely to work, and adults will clearly miss the “continuation of the banquet” in the form of a second chamber opera after the intermission. Otherwise, it doesn’t work out well - they invited people for an hour and took money, as if for a serious opera.

P.S. The repertoire of the "Through the Looking Glass" Theater includes an excellent "Theater Director". It's a pity, they present it extremely rarely. There is a wonderful plot - a theater director who adores Mozart saves the theater from bankruptcy. Lots of characters, lots of music. In short - a lot of wonderful "zing" and a lot of good "spiel". And one evening they also perform Puccini’s comic opera “Gianni Schicchi”.

Photos of bows:

Director Gleb Cherepanov and conductor Anton Gakkel

The Russian Ministry of Culture has published data on the average monthly salaries of heads of subordinate institutions for 2016. Ruposters studied the numbers and found out which of the directors of famous museums and artistic directors of theaters receives the most.

The highest paid was the artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater Valery Gergiev with a monthly salary of about 13 million rubles. It would be a sin to complain to the general director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, with a salary of almost a million, as well as to his five deputies, whose monthly salaries range from 500 to 700 thousand. The most modest wage figures were shown in Goskontsert. Its leader, Sergei Bunin, receives a little more than 31 thousand rubles a month, his only deputy - 20 thousand.

Valery Gergiev. Artistic director and director of the State Academic Mariinsky Theater - 12 857 163.

Anton Likhomanov. General Director of the Russian National Library (until January 19, 2016) – 1,220,171.

Yuri Temirkanov. Artistic director of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic named after. D.D. Shostakovich - 976,285.

Elena Gagarina. General Director of the State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Moscow Kremlin" - 964 210.

Oleg Tabakov. Artistic director and director of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater - 935 994.

Mikhail Piotrovsky. General Director of the State Hermitage – 839 076.

Yuri Solomin. Artistic director of the Maly Theater - 746 698.

Nikolai Tsiskaridze. Rector of the Academy of Russian Ballet named after A.Ya. Vaganova - 592 863.

Vladimir Urin. General Director of the Bolshoi Theater - 559 271.

Evgeny Mironov. Artistic director of the State Theater of Nations – 458 919.

Zelfira Tregulova. General Director of the Tretyakov Gallery - 436 013.

Igor Zolotovitsky. Rector of the Studio School named after V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko – 362,681.

Karen Shakhnazarov. General Director of the Mosfilm Film Concern - 355 803.

Vladimir Spivakov. Artistic director of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia - 347 510.

Yuri Bashmet. Artistic director of the State Symphony Orchestra “New Russia” - 330 336.

Grigory Zaslavsky. Rector of the Russian Institute of Theater Arts - GITIS - 320 043.

Konstantin Raikin. Artistic director of the Satyricon Theater - 247 513.

Zurab Tsereteli. President of the Russian Academy of Arts - 65,327.

For comparison, the average salary of a museum director in Russia is 20 thousand rubles. In the Moscow region, the “prices” are the highest. Here the salary reaches 80 thousand.

In total, 93 billion rubles were allocated for culture and cinema in 2016. The budget for 2017 includes a figure of 94 billion rubles.

Mariinskii Opera House

Previous names:	Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after. S. M. Kirova
Theater type:	musical

	Object of cultural heritage of the Russian Federation No. 7810111000
Director:	Valery Gergiev
Artistic director:	Valery Gergiev
Chief conductor:	Valery Gergiev
Chief choreographer:	Yuri Fateev (acting head of the ballet troupe)
Chief choirmaster:	Andrey Petrenko

Mariinskii Opera House(modern official name State Order of Lenin and Order of the October Revolution Academic Mariinsky Theater, from 1935 to January 16, 1992 - Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. M. Kirov) - musical theater in St. Petersburg. One of the most famous and significant opera and ballet theaters in Russia and the world. It was founded in 1783.

Story

The theater traces its history back to the Bolshoi Theater, founded in 1783 by order of Empress Catherine the Great, which was located in a building later rebuilt as the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Was part of the Imperial Theaters of Russia.

On July 12, 1783, a decree was issued approving a theater committee “to manage spectacles and music.” On October 5, the Bolshoi Stone Theater was inaugurated on Carousel Square, from which the history of the theater dates back. Later, Carousel Square changed its name to Teatralnaya.

In 1859, the Circus Theater located opposite the Bolshoi Theater burned down. In its place, architect Alberto Cavos built a new theater, which was named Mariinsky in honor of the wife of Alexander II, Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The first theater season in the new building opened on October 2, 1860 with Glinka's A Life for the Tsar. In 1886, the old theater building was rebuilt as a conservatory, and the repertoire was completely transferred to the stage of the Mariinsky Theater.

On November 9, 1917, with the change of power, the theater, which became the State Theatre, was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR; in 1920 it became academic and since then has been fully called the “State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet” (abbreviated as GATOB). In 1935, shortly after the murder of the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Sergei Kirov, the theater, like many other objects, settlements, enterprises, etc. of the USSR, was named after this revolutionary.

In 1988, after the death of Yevgeny Mravinsky and the departure of Yuri Temirkanov to the Philharmonic, Valery Gergiev became the artistic director and chief conductor of the Kirov Theater.

Venues

The main building of the Mariinsky Theater (Teatralnaya Square, 1)
Second stage of the Mariinsky Theater (Mariinsky-2). The official opening and gala concert took place on May 2, 2013
Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theater (third stage), (Dekabristov St., 37)
From 2016, a branch of the Mariinsky Theater (fourth stage) will begin work at the Vladivostok Opera House

In the off-season, the theater makes its stage available for performances by other groups.

Troupes

Opera

The opera troupe is famous for such names as Maria Maksakova, Leonid Sobinov, Irina Bogacheva, Yuri Marusin, Olga Borodina, Sergei Leiferkus, Olga Kondina and Anna Netrebko.

Management

Artistic director and director - Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, laureate of State Prizes of the Russian Federation Valery Abisalovich Gergiev.

Festivals

International Arts Festival “Stars of the White Nights”
Moscow Easter Festival
Contemporary Music Festival "New Horizons"
Festival "Maslenitsa"
Mariinsky Ballet Festival
Festival "Brass Evenings at the Mariinsky"

Partners and sponsors

General partner of the theater

VTB Bank

Main partners of the theater

Sberbank
Yoko Ceschina
Gazprom

Main sponsors of the theater

Total
Mercury
TeliaSonera

Director and artistic director of the theater Valery Gergiev said that American film director James Cameron and Apple Corporation could become partners of the Mariinsky Theater. The collaboration with Cameron is connected with the plans of the theater management to develop filming of productions in 3D format.