Il trovatore turns down Golden Mask

The management of the Mikhailovsky Theatre has sent a letter to the organizers of the Golden Mask Awards, requesting that the opera Il trovatore be removed from the list of nominees in the Best Opera Production category. The reason for the request was that the panel of experts included the production among the nominations without acknowledging its creators, namely the director and conductor. The theatre’s management is not cancelling the performance of the opera that is set to take place as part of the Golden Mask Festival, however, as Tatiana Ryaguzova and Scott Hendricks have been nominated in the Best Actress and Best Actor in Opera categories, respectively, for their performances in the main roles. Il trovatore is scheduled to be performed on 26 February 2016 at the Mikhailovsky Theatre.

The Artistic Director of the Mikhailovsky Theatre, Vladimir Kekhman, said: “The incident with Il trovatore is by no means the first case when we have seen evidence that the Golden Mask Awards have no clear criteria for assessing theatrical productions. It is inconceivable that they can nominate a production and yet completely overlook its creators, director Dmitri Tcherniakov and conductor Mikhail Tatarnikov, who had full control over the shaping of its artistic vision and significance. I can only put this down to a lack of professionalism on the part of the Board of Experts, the management, and the director of the Golden Masks, Maria Revyakina.”