THE PLANET PI — An Opera World Premiere

"THE PLANET PI " Media - opera

The Planet Pi was ruled by the cruel tyrant Omicron. His step-father Kappa – the former king of the Planet Pi, kind magician and prophet – gave him the crown and taught him all magic secrets when he became adult because he loved him a lot. Omicron had an assistant of all his cruel actions – Discord. Omicron carried off the most beautiful girls of the Universe, married them and after 40 days turned them into penguins. As to those girls who rejected him he turned them into ugly monsters and tortured them in the secret cave. This way he slaved and turned into the monsters the neighboring planet’s king Epsilon’s daughter and daughter-in-law. Because Gamma and Delta were faithful to their beloved bride-grooms – Epsilon’s son Jota and his friend Sigma. But also Omicron carried off the eldest Epsilon’s daughter Alfavita, enchanted and married her. His step-father Kappa tried to tell her the truth about her husband but she didn’t believe him. Then Kappa took her to the secret slaved monsters’ cave where she met her sisters and saw their sufferings. She fainted and woked up in Omicron’s arms. He managed to make her think it all was a dream. Meanwhile her father, brother and brother-in-law landed on the Planet Pi. They demanded to free Alfavita, Gamma and Delta. But Alfavita confessed that she’s in love with Omicron. Epsilon, Jota and Sigma insulted Omicron, and after that he challenged Epsilon to a duel in the open Space. Jota and Sigma flied with the father because they saw that Omicron cheated his enemy. He invisibly changed rockets’ names, and Jota killed his father instead of Omicron by accident. Kappa told Alfavita what she would do to save herself and other girls and to kill the villain. So she did but couldn’t stop to love him and traveled after him to the Deads’ Kingdom.

The operа consists of Prologue and 4 acts

Cast:
Natalia Pavlova - soprano (Alfavita)
Pavel Bykov - bariton (Omikron)
Alisa Giztba - soprano (Dischord)
Andjey Beletzky - bariton (Epsilon)
Rustam Yavaev - countertenore (Kappa, Jota)
Musical director - Anastasia Braudo
Ensemble of New Russia Orchestra's soloists

Authors :
Media - opera by Iraida Yusupova (music&video), Vera Pavlova (libretto), Alexander Dolgin (video), Steven Seymour (translation)

NATALIA PAVLOVA - soprano
Moscow and Rome-based soprano Natalia Pavlova (who is a descendant of Russian national poet Alexander Pushkin) has graced the stages of Carnegie Hall, Moscow Chaikovsky State Conservatory, Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome), and many others throughout the world.

Active in performing music from antiquity to today, she was a soloist for 6 years in the Moscow theater School of Dramatic Art, directed by Anatoly Vasiliev. Natalia has sung world premiere performances and recordings of works by composers Giovanni Sollima, Venus Rey and Iraida Yusupova, composed specially for her voice, as well as pieces by Vladimir Martynov. She serves on Artistic Council of The First Cultural International Festival, Russian-Rome, Palazzo Poli in Rome, and was recently awarded the Silver Lion at the Narnia International Festival, as well as the International "Clean Sound" Award.
She has recorded 3 CD with contemporary music of Rey Jr and Yusupova in Da Vinci Classics and in Art Classics

PAVEL BYKOV - baritone

Pavel is graduated from the Russian Academy of Music of Gnesin, trained at the Duquesne University Opera Studio in Pittsburgh, USA (Prof. Genko Geshev).

Pavel Bykov is a laureate of international competitions, a member of the International Union of Musical Figures and of the Writers' Union of Russia. He worked as a soloist of the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic Society, of a chamber musical theater directed by BA Pokrovsky, Pavel was a soloist of the Helikon-Opera theater directed by Dm. Bertman and of the Moskontsert of Moscow.

ALISA GITZBA - soprano

Alisa is the soloist of the Moscow musical theatre Helikon-opera. She is the diploma winner of the International vocalist competitions. She took part in such music festivals as: December evenings of S. Richter in The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Sacro Art festival in Loccum (Germany), Russian seasons in Nice (France), Russian cinema festival in Monte-Carlo and others.

The significant amilestone in the artistic biography of the actress has become her participation in large-scale project – dramatic production “Master-class of Maria Callas”. There is music of different styles in singer’s concert repertoire: from the baroque epoch to the nowadays avant-garde. Due to Alisa, the following operas has been sounded for the first time: “The Blind Swallow” by A. Schetinsky, “Station” by A. Syumak, oratorio “Death of the Poet” by G. Sidelnikov, 5th symphony by A. Rybnikov, vocal cycles by E. Denisov, P. Hindemith, O. Messian and the others.

In 2004 for the merits in Russian musical and theatrical art development she was awarded a title “Merited Artist of the Russian Federation”, and in 2007 awarded a title People’s Artist of the Republic of Abkhazia.

ANDJEY BELETSKY - Baritone

Graduated from the Tula State Musical College and the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts, the singer, joined the Helicon Opera theatre of Moscow, where he performed major baritone parts, he also was as a soloist with the Moscow Kremlin Choir.
The singer is a soloist at the Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow and Bolsoi Opera Theatre of Moscow where he sang many main baritone parts, like Mizgir (The Snow Maiden), the title role in Nabucco, Rigoletto and other.

ENSEMBLE OF NEW RUSSIA ORCHESTRA'S SOLOISTS

The orchestra has performed with great success at many famed and prestigious music venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Barbican Hall in London, the Tivoli in Copenhagen, the Berliner Philharmoniker and in Wellington (New Zealand).

The orchestra has performed with soloists including Sviatoslav Richter (piano), Gidon Kremer (violin), Mstislav Rostropovich (cello), Viktor Tretyakov (violin), Maxim Vengerov (violin), Vadim Repin (violin), Sarah Chang (violin, USA), Barbara Hendricks (soprano, USA), James Galway (flute, USA), Natalia Gutman (cello), Lynn Harrell (cello, USA), Mario Brunello (cello, Italy) and Thomas Quasthoff (bass, Germany).

In 1994 the Moscow Soloists with Gidon Kremer and Mstislav Rostropovich recorded a compact disc for EMI. A disc of works by Dmitry Shostakovich and Johannes Brahms with Sony Classics was named “best recording of the year” by STRAD magazine critics and nominated for a Grammy. The orchestra received a repeat Grammy nomination in 2006 for a disc of chamber symphonies by Shostakovich, Georgy Sviridov and Mieczysław Weinberg. In 2007, the Moscow Soloists won a Grammy award for a recording of music by Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev.

The orchestra has frequently performed at the most prestigious music festivals, among them the Rostropovich Festival in Evian (France), the Music Festival of Montreux (Switzerland), Sydney Music Festival, Bath Music Festival (UK), The Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Prestige de la Musique at Paris’ Salle Pleyel, Sony-Classical at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées, Semaines musicales de Tours (France) and the December Evenings in Moscow. Over sixteen years, the musicians have given over one thousand two hundred concerts, or around two thousand three hundred hours of music. In “trains, planes and automobiles” they have spent over four thousand three hundred and fifty hours, covering distances of one million three hundred and sixty thousand kilometres, equivalent to thirty-four times round the Earth’s equator.

The orchestra’s performances have met with passionate applause in over forty countries on five continents. Over two hundred masterpieces of world classics and rarely performed works by composers of the past and present make up the repertoire. The Moscow Soloists’ programmes stand out for their vivid nature, variety and interesting premieres. The orchestra regularly appears on various television programmes in Russia and abroad. Their concerts have been broadcast and recorded numerous times by the world’s leading broadcasting companies, such as the BBC, Bavarian Radio, Radio France and Japan’s NHK corporation.

Information about authors :

IRAIDA YUSUPOVA - cv is available on Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraida_Yusupova

VERA PAVLOVA
Best-selling Russian poet Vera Pavlova was born in Moscow. She graduated from the Gnessin Academy, specializing in the history of music. She is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems (2010) and L’ Animal Céleste (2004). She has also written several opera librettos, lyrics to four cantatas, and many essays on musicology. Her works have been translated into over 25 languages. She lives in Toronto, Ontario

ALEXANDER DOLGIN (1958-2019).
Outstanding Russian videoartist, cinematographer, media-artist & photographer. Graduated from
Russian State University of Cinematography in Moscow. Laureate of cinema festivals in Marsel, Babelsberg, Moscow, Saratov. Many personal exhibitions in Russia and abroad. Author of many multymedia projects, creator of video image of AZ museum in Moscow. Nominant of national theatre prize Golden Mask. Winner of Courtans D'Hor - Rusk-Off festival's prize in Nizza.