Premiere of the opera for children Velikan by Sergey Prokofiev

The opera Velikan (The Giant) was composed by Sergey Prokofiev, when he was 9 years old. The young composer at the time just started learning to play the piano. In Moscow he was so impressed by the operas Faust and Prince Igor that on his return home to the village Sontsovka Serezha told his mother that he was going to write an opera. He invented the plot and soon showed his sketches to his mom. To her surprise, the composed thing turned to be quite interesting and smooth. By the way, Mozart composed his first thing at the age of 11. Soon the first act of the opera was performed at Rayevsky’s. After the ‘premiere’ Prokofiev’s parents helped little Sergey go in for music professionally.

Later the composer described his first and beloved opera in his Autobiography. For the fact that only 12 pages of the score survived, Velikan could be reconstructed due to the notes in the Autobiography. The opera for singing and piano was revived and orchestrated by Sergey Sapozhnikov.

The world premiere — despite its chamber character one really can call it world premiere — will take place on May, 23. The opera will be staged by Arcady Gevondov. The first audience will be the children who attend the cycle Backstage Stories and have already known the secrets of opera, ballet and orchestra. After the premiere some of the little listeners might want to become a composer too.

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