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Khovantchina
Opera by Modest Mussorgsky
Programme
Alejo Pérezconductor
Khovantchina
Opera by Modest Mussorgsky
Libretto by the composer
Orchestrated version by Dmitri Shostakovich, finale by Igor Stravinsky
First performed on 21 February 1886 (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov version) in St Petersburg
Last time at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in 1981-1982
New production
Sung in Russian with French and English surtitles
Duration: approx. 4h15 with two intermissions
Musical Director, Alejo Pérez
Stage Director, Calixto Bieito
Scenographer, Rebecca Ringst
Costumes designer, Ingo Krügler
Lighting Designer, Michael Bauer
Dramaturgy, Beate Breidenbach
Choir director, Mark Biggins
Prince Ivan Khovansky, Dmitry Ulyanov
Prince Andrey Khovansky, Arnold Rutkowski
Prince Vasily Golitsin, Dmitry Golovnin
Dosifey, John Relyea
Marfa, Raehann Bryce-Davis
Boyar Fyodor Shaklovity, Vladislav Sulimsky
Emma, Ekaterina Bakanova
Scrivener, Michael J. Scott
Susanna, Liene Kinca
Kuzka, Emanuel Tomljenovic
Grand Théâtre de Genève Chorus
Maîtrise du Conservatoire populaire de Genève
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
The music
Brutal and unscrupulous struggles for power, in which those who suffer the most are those who participate the least – the common people: it’s a situation typical to many authoritarian regimes, including present-day Russia. So we don’t have to look far today to find the ‘past in the present’, as Mussorgsky was already wishing when creating the work. It seems very much as if history is repeating itself, not only in Russia, but also in many parts of the world.
