27.12.2018
The Stars speak
Artists with close creative links to the Mikhailovsky Theatre send New Year greetings to their colleagues and all of St. Petersburg’s theatregoers.
POLINA SEMIONOVA, prima ballerina
It is always an enormous pleasure for me to dance in St. Petersburg. I should like to offer traditional New Year greetings to theatregoers and to my colleagues at the Mikhailovsky Theatre. I think the most important wish is for health, as clichéd as that may seem. Health comes from inner wellbeing, from an inner state of purity, from pure thoughts and a pure soul. That is what I would wish everyone in St. Petersburg — a pure soul, health in body and soul.
ROLAND BÖER, conductor
First of all I should like to wish myself something: I would like to be able to use my experience and talent for the benefit of the Mikhailovsky Theatre and to be useful here. My wish for the theatre is that it should occupy a prominent place within the international musical scene. The theatre has an amazing orchestra: the musicians are very hard-working and capable of concentrating on a specific work and a particular musical style. I was overflowing with emotion at how beautifully and appropriately the orchestra played in Die Zauberflöte and The Marriage of Figaro. And yet their sound and style is completely different in Puccini operas. I like their flexibility, and that is not a show of so-called ‘American professionalism’. It is a flexibility based on a profound knowledge of styles and sounds and I am delighted to get the chance to work with this orchestra. I wish the musicians more opportunities to demonstrate their talent and for them to be more in the public eye. I should like them to enjoy more opportunities to play symphonic programmes, accompany splendid operatic productions, and, perhaps, even make recordings.
IGOR TSVIRKO, ballet soloist
For the New Year I should like to wish my beloved Mikhailovsky Theatre as many ballet and opera premières as possible. I would like to see the theatre launch the careers of new young stars, as it has done throughout its glorious history. My wish for theatregoers is that they should leave every performance aflutter and with a feeling of bright sunshine in their hearts, something to fend off the grey St. Petersburg weather, which is often cold and bleak. May they take this little bit of warm, sincere sunshine home with them to pass on to their friends and families.
ILDIKÓ KOMLÓSI, singer
All the operas I have sung in on the Mikhailovsky Theatre stage have been really special thanks to my colleagues and the theatre’s wonderful atmosphere. I can say that love reigns in the company here. And I simply have to mention the beautiful city of St. Petersburg: especially now, in the run-up to the festive season, its beauty staggers the imagination. I can imagine what it is like to live here, surrounded by art and historic marvels. My wish for the theatre is that all the productions it stages maintain their high quality and professional standard. May they bestow on audiences art to lift them above their daily cares and problems — pure art, the joy of theatrical illusions! God bless you all! May He grant you love, happiness, and warmth.
POLINA SEMIONOVA, prima ballerina
It is always an enormous pleasure for me to dance in St. Petersburg. I should like to offer traditional New Year greetings to theatregoers and to my colleagues at the Mikhailovsky Theatre. I think the most important wish is for health, as clichéd as that may seem. Health comes from inner wellbeing, from an inner state of purity, from pure thoughts and a pure soul. That is what I would wish everyone in St. Petersburg — a pure soul, health in body and soul.
ROLAND BÖER, conductor
First of all I should like to wish myself something: I would like to be able to use my experience and talent for the benefit of the Mikhailovsky Theatre and to be useful here. My wish for the theatre is that it should occupy a prominent place within the international musical scene. The theatre has an amazing orchestra: the musicians are very hard-working and capable of concentrating on a specific work and a particular musical style. I was overflowing with emotion at how beautifully and appropriately the orchestra played in Die Zauberflöte and The Marriage of Figaro. And yet their sound and style is completely different in Puccini operas. I like their flexibility, and that is not a show of so-called ‘American professionalism’. It is a flexibility based on a profound knowledge of styles and sounds and I am delighted to get the chance to work with this orchestra. I wish the musicians more opportunities to demonstrate their talent and for them to be more in the public eye. I should like them to enjoy more opportunities to play symphonic programmes, accompany splendid operatic productions, and, perhaps, even make recordings.
IGOR TSVIRKO, ballet soloist
For the New Year I should like to wish my beloved Mikhailovsky Theatre as many ballet and opera premières as possible. I would like to see the theatre launch the careers of new young stars, as it has done throughout its glorious history. My wish for theatregoers is that they should leave every performance aflutter and with a feeling of bright sunshine in their hearts, something to fend off the grey St. Petersburg weather, which is often cold and bleak. May they take this little bit of warm, sincere sunshine home with them to pass on to their friends and families.
ILDIKÓ KOMLÓSI, singer
All the operas I have sung in on the Mikhailovsky Theatre stage have been really special thanks to my colleagues and the theatre’s wonderful atmosphere. I can say that love reigns in the company here. And I simply have to mention the beautiful city of St. Petersburg: especially now, in the run-up to the festive season, its beauty staggers the imagination. I can imagine what it is like to live here, surrounded by art and historic marvels. My wish for the theatre is that all the productions it stages maintain their high quality and professional standard. May they bestow on audiences art to lift them above their daily cares and problems — pure art, the joy of theatrical illusions! God bless you all! May He grant you love, happiness, and warmth.
GEORGY KOVTUN, choreographer
It so happens that the only theatre in which I desperately wanted to work was the Mikhailovsky, formerly known as the Leningrad State Academic Maly Opera Theatre. When I was thrown out of a job in another country to which fate had taken me and was in utter despair, it was as though the hand of God suddenly pulled me out, raised me up, and transported me to the theatre I had always dreamed of joining. It’s like The Nutcracker: you wanted a particular toy and that’s exactly what you got. The productions I have staged here, and those I have been involved in, are like Christmas tree decorations — toys which should accompany every child, regardless of their age. As the festive season approaches, I should like to wish everyone their own tree laden with presents — the gifts they dream about. That’s my wish for all the artists of the Mikhailovsky Theatre and those who come to watch the performances — that they should each have their own ‘tree’.
