Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow (Russia)
Faust Khachatur Badalyan (tenor)Mefisto Evgeny Stavinsky (bass)Marguerite Ekaterina Pe...
Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow (Russia)
Faust Khachatur Badalyan (tenor)
Mefisto Evgeny Stavinsky (bass)
Marguerite Ekaterina Petrova (soprano)
Valentin Alexey Bogdanchikov (baritone)
Siébel Gayane Babadzhanyan (mezzo-soprano)
Wagner Dmitri Orlov (bass)
Marta Irina Romishevskaya (mezzo-soprano)
Music Charles Gounod
Stage director Ekaterina Odegova
Set designer Etel Ioshpa
Costume designer Svetlana Grishtshenkova
Conductor Jan Latham-Koenig (chief conductor of The Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow)
Choir and orchestra of The Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow
Faust is an opera where various emotions meet, including the desire for youth, love, treachery and people becoming under the influence of the supernatural. The protagonist, an aging doctor Faust, yearns for becoming young again – his wish leads him to the point where he sells his soul to the devil Mephisto in order to feel youthful again. Passion, deception and young Margaret's fateful infatuation are just among the few turns of the opera. Gounod's Faust is a throught-provoking and adventurous journey to the world where desire knows no limits and the feelings of guilt are interfered by devilish powers that will eventually destroy all mortal beings.
Some operas remain to the cultural space of the birth country; some of them travel far away and their artistic range will touch audiences that are thousands of kilometres away. The question lies not only in the artistic standard – there is something more. Why has Gounod's Faust become so well embraced in Russian cultural space? Is it connected to the complicated moral battles and tragic history of Russia where more than once impossible choices had to be made? Why Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita begins with the quotation taken from Faust? Only darkness knows the answer. Anyway, Gounod's Faust performed by the Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow has been dedicated to Bulgakov's 125th birth anniversary.
The core of the performance staged by Yekaterina Odegova lies in the paradoxes of the good and the evil, light and shadow, as well as the dialectics of movement and statics. It is a classical performance, however it must be taken into consideration that the set designer Etel Ioshpa has come from the famous Dmitri Kromov's scenographers' studio that during the past ten years has thoroughly transformed the Russian understanding of scenography.
In 2018, Russian biggest theatre prize The Golden Mask was awarded to Yevgeni Stavinski for the role of Mefisto in Faust (performed by the Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow); not to mention the fact that the opera production was nominated in six categories – best conductor, best stage director, best artist and all three main roles (Faust, Mefisto and Marguerite). The highest standard of Russian opera tradition.
The performance “Faust” takes place in cooperation with the festival “Golden Mask in Estonia”