Celebrating 130 years since the birth of Samuil Samosud

The fourteenth of May marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of People’s Artist of the USSR Samuil Abramovich Samosud. A whole era in the history of our theatre is linked with this legendary musician. Samosud was the Principal Conductor of the Maly Opera Theatre from 1919 to 1936.

He conducted three world premières here: Shostakovich’s The Nose (1930) and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1935) — both interpretations were acknowledged as exemplary by the composer — and Prokofiev’s War and Peace (1946, 1955). Samosud also collaborated with director Vsevolod Meyerhold on a new version of Tchaikovsky’s opera The Queen of Spades (1935). It was an epoch-making production that defined its time and remains the subject of intellectual discussions today. The conductor worked patiently and tirelessly with young composers, assisting Ivan Dzerzhinsky to bring his operas Quiet Flows the Don and Virgin Soil Upturned to life. These and many other works by Russian composers earned the theatre its reputation as the “laboratory of Soviet opera”.

Samosud was also not afraid to tackle works by contemporary Western composers. He conducted the Russian premières of the operas Der Sprung über den Schatten (1927) and Jonny spielt auf by Austrian composer Ernst Krenek. “It would be worth travelling from Germany for Der Sprung über den Schatten alone. It is an astounding, stunning production”, enthused composer Paul Hindemith. Ernest Ansermet, at that time Principal Conductor of the Geneva Symphony Orchestra, was fully in agreement: “I would be so bold as to say that the former Mikhailovsky Theatre is the best opera house in Russia; only La Scala in Milan can compete with it as regards performance. The production is simply brilliant. Samosud has no rivals in the West.”

Thanks to Samuil Samosud, the mastery of the Maly Opera Theatre’s opera company and orchestra reached such a high level that almost every première was a sensation, attracting the cream of the country’s creative intelligentsia. The Mikhailovsky Theatre continues to follow the artistic principles laid down by Samuil Samosud: attention to and interest in the classics, coupled with experimentation and a search for new stars.