Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Umberto Giordano
Gioachino Rossini
Francesco Cilea
Richard Wagner
Richard Strauss
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Georges Bizet
Gioacchino Rossini
Alexander Ostrovsky, music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
César Cui. Igor Stravinsky
Richard Strauss
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Dimitry Rostovsky
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Hector Berlioz
Gaetano Donizetti
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Modest Mussorgsky
Andrei Rubtsov
Sergei Prokofiev. Maurice Ravel
Alexei Verstovsky
Giuseppe Verdi
Anton Rubinstein
Benjamin Britten. Camille Saint-Saëns
Mieczysław Weinberg
Sergei Banevich
Modest Mussorgsky
Grigory Frid. Udo Zimmermann
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Georg Philipp Telemann
Sergei Prokofiev
Giacomo Puccini
Dmitry Shostakovich
Tatiana Kamysheva
Georges Bizet
Giacomo Puccini
Jacques Offenbach
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Dmitry Shostakovich
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Giuseppe Verdi
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky received the commission for Iolanta and The Nutcracker from the directorship of the Mariinsky Theatre. It is considered that the idea to combine a one-act opera and a two-act ballet in one evening belonged to the director of the Imperial Theatres, Ivan Vsevolozhsky. In July 1891, the composer started working on the opera. In September, the vocal score was completed, and the orchestration was finished in December.
In Autumn 1892, the rehearsals began in the Mariinsky Theatre. The opera was conducted by Eduard Nápravník while Riccardo Drigo conducted the ballet. On the 5th of December 1892 the general rehearsal took place in the presence of Alexander III. “The Sovereign was delighted, invited me to the box and spoke many sympathetic words. The production of both is stunning, and is even too magnificent in ballet, the eyes get tired of the splendour”, as the composer wrote. On the 6th of December 1892 the premiere was a great success. Despite the enthusiastic reception by the audience, the critics took a rather cool attitude to the new creations.
Premiered on October 28, 2015.
Presented without interval.
Thursday, 19:00
Wednesday, 19:00
Tuesday, 19:00
Sunday, 14:00
Saturday, 19:00
Tuesday, 19:00
Sunday, 14:00
Saturday, 19:00
Saturday, 12:00
Friday, 19:00
Sunday, 14:00
Saturday, 19:00
Saturday, 12:00
Sunday, 14:00
Saturday, 19:00
Saturday, 12:00
Sunday, 14:00
Saturday, 19:00
Saturday, 12:00
Friday, 19:00
Thursday, 19:00
Wednesday, 19:00
Wednesday, 19:00
Tuesday, 19:00
Sunday, 14:00
Saturday, 19:00
Saturday, 12:00
Sunday, 19:00
Thursday, 19:00
Iolanta, the blind daughter of the King of Provence, is telling her nurse, Martha, that she is full of some unknown longing. Iolanta's friends, Brigitte and Laura, try to cheer her up by singing songs and bringing her flowers. Martha also tries to comfort Iolanta by singing her favorite lullaby. This sends Iolanta to sleep.
Enter Alméric, King René's sword-bearer. He informs the castle porter, Bertrand, that very soon the King will be arriving with a famous Physician who, it is hoped, will cure Iolanta's blindness. The trumpets sound, announcing the arrival of the King. King René enters accompanied by the Moorish Physician, Ibn-Hakia. The King explains that Iolanta has been betrothed from infancy to Robert, Duke of Burgundy, and is soon to marry him, but the Duke does not know that his future wife is blind. Indeed, Iolanta herself is totally unaware of her misfortune. Iolanta has been brought up by her father in this remote castle. He surrounded her with loyal retainers and forbade them on pain of death to tell her the truth. Ibn-Hakia says that the only hope for Iolanta is to inform her of her disability and then, so long as she passionately wishes to recover her sight, she will do so. King René is full of doubts and fear for his daughter's future.