On April 21, 2022 the press conference dedicated to the premiere of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly was held at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre.
The Artistic Director of the Opera Company of the Primorsky Stage, Irina Soboleva, welcomed conferees by video and noted that the forthcoming premiere would demonstrate the singers’ growing professionalism and a higher level of the Primorsky Stage. “I get filled with pride because I see the Theatre and singers growing and the changes for the better occurring in a sweeping way. For the pandemic years, we have not lost our audience; this is the most important thing for the Theatre. The appreciative audience rising in applause is worth much,” Irina Soboleva emphasized.
Anna Shishkina, Stage Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, Executive Stage Director for the performance at the Primorsky Stage, told the conferees that for the image of Butterfly, she aimed to orient the soloists so that they “diminished” themselves to show their true Japanese moderation and very tactful or careful attitude towards people. By contrast, Pinkerton has the image of unceremonious American culture.
Vladislav Karklin, a guest conductor at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, said that the orchestra was faced with an unusual task. “I tried to disclose the passionate, colorful music written by Puccini and at the same time to emphasize the continence in the music. Together with the full-scale symphonic canvas, there are softness and delicacy in all details. The very subtle music and the libretto are woven in various forms. The production itself is very unusual and interesting, and sometimes I found it complex to aggregate all subtleties acoustically. That was the point to which our rehearsals were primarily dedicated. All members of the orchestra are very good at coping with any task set before them. I have been coming to Vladivostok for many years to collaborate with the wonderful company of the Primorsky Stage, and I may say that not every theatre can boast of such great number of excellent artists,” he said.
Elena Glushenko, Director of the Opera Company, stressed that the soloists had met the challenge that allowed them to reach their potential and to display some new facets of their talents in order to rise to a higher level of mastery. She noted a great help of the Italian tutor Maria Nikitina and a lot of day-to-day effort and thorough work of the Artistic Director of the Opera Company Irina Soboleva. “The opportunities given by the Theatre allow five soloists to be involved in performing the role of Butterfly, and almost the whole opera company takes part in this premiere. We’ve got several ready casts and we would like our spectators to come to enjoy Madama Butterfly with different casts because every soloist shows his or her own facets and peculiar features of his or her role. We hope that it will turn into a true gift to our audience and become a real cultural event in the Primorsky Territory,” said Elena Glushenko.
