Today : world première of 'A Christmas Tale' by Rodion Shchedrin in St. Petersburg

Today, the new opera-féerie in two parts composed by Rodion Shchedrin, A Christmas Tale, will be performed at the Mariinsky II in St. Petersburg.

The libretto by the composer is based on motifs of the fairy-tale by Božena Němcová translated by Nikolai Leskov and Russian folk fairy-tales.

The story tells of a beautiful, hardworking but unloved stepdaughter and her search for a violet in the snow. Ultimately she receives help from the months of the year and her kindheartedness is rewarded.(reproduced from the Schott music website)

It is the compoer's fourth opera, after Lolita (1993), The Enchanted Wanderer (2002) and The Left-Hander (2013). The cast includes soprano Pelageya Kurennaya (Zamarashka), mezzo soprano Yekaterina Sergeyeva (Great Queen), bass Oleg Sychov (Woodcutter), soprano Larisa Yudina (Zlydnia), mezzo Anna Kiknadze (Stepmother), baritone Sergei Romanov (Chancellor) and 12 more singers playing the 12 months of the year. Valery Gergiev conducts the cast, a large chorus and the orchestra. Alexei Stepanyuk directs.

The required orchestra is a large one, with a large percussion set (5 players) and including domra, harp, piano and synthesizer. The opera should last about 2 hours.

New season 2014-2015 at the Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden

During the Summer Festival 2014, the following operas will be performed :
- Valery Gergiev will conduct Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlo, with the director Giorgio Barberio Corsetti ;
- Yannick Nézet-Séguin will conduct Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, in concert, with Diana Damrau, Rolando Villazon and Thomas Quasthoff.

Then, during the Autumn Festival :
- Karel Mark Chichon will conduct Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e ei Montecchi, with Elina Garanca, Alksandra Kurzak and Francesco Meli (in concert).

For the Easter Festival, Sir Simon Rattle will conduct :
- Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier with the Berlin Philharmonic, in a production directed by Brigitte Fassbaender, with anja Harteros, Peter Rose, Magdalena Kozena and Anna Prohaska ;
- Hector Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust (concert version) with Joyce DiDonato, Charles Castronovo and Ludovic Tézier.

During the Spring Festival,
- Pablo Heras-Casado will conduct Giuseppe's Verdi La Traviata, with Rolando Villazon directing. The cast will include Olga Peretyatko and Ludovic Tézier.

Valery Gergiev will return to Baden-Baden in the Summer 2015 to conduct Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame ( a new staging from the Mariinsky Theater) and Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens (in concert). Yannick Nézet-Séguin will return too. This time for a concert version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with Bryn Terfel, Diana Damrau, Luca Pisaroni, Anne Sofie von Otter and Rolando Villazon.