W ruinach historii
In the Ruins of History

Summary/Abstract: Natalia Jakubowa analyzes two opera stagings by Dmitri Chernyakov: The Tsar Bride by Rimski-Korsakov at the Staatsoper in Berlin (premiere: 3.10.2013) and Borodin's Prince Igor at New York's Metropolitan Opera (premiere: 6.02.2014). In the former case, the author mainly focuses on the skillful transposition of Russia of the times of the oprichnina into our contemporary times of media hyper-reality. In the fragment devoted to Prince Igor the critic concentrates on the director's innovative interpretive and staging techniques (e.g. portraying the whole Kipchak act as a hallucination of a heavily wounded military leader). She also analyzes the opera's finale, which she believes the composer purposefully left unfinished. Flying in the face of previous productions, Chernyakov shows the protagonist as humbled, defeated, and with a pained conscience.

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