New exhibits added to theatre museum collection

The Mikhailovsky Theatre Museum has added a number of new documents to its collection with the acquisition of the personal archive of Ivan Pichugin, tenor at the Mikhailovsky Theatre (then the Maly Opera Theatre) from the 1930s to the 1960s.

A graduate of the Leningrad State Conservatory and a student of the renowned Ivan Ershov, Pichugin was noted for his unique and dramatic tenor voice. During his years at the theatre Pichugin performed around fifty solo roles in Russian, Soviet and foreign operas.

The archive was found by Tatyana Trudova in an apartment she bought from relatives of the singer. A qualified historian, Trudova preserved Ivan Pichugin’s personal documents before handing them over to the museum. The documents include autobiographical writings, personal records, letters and a large portrait of the singer. Of particular interest is the tenor’s repertory diary, which even survived the war years and the upheaval of evacuation. Over the course of thirty years Pichugin wrote the date of every one of his performances, as well as the surnames of stage partners and directors.

The theatre company extends its gratitude to Tatyana Trudova for her careful safekeeping of part of our heritage.