Theatrical life of the country symbolizes the cultural state of society. And so it has been at all times, which is confirmed by the heritage of the classics. Indeed, it is on the stage where the acting is carried out that the formation of public opinion takes place during the period of depreciation of spiritual priorities associated with the lack of a powerful national idea. In this regard, it is interesting to look at the Helikon Opera musical theater, which was founded by its current artistic director Dmitry Bertman.
The capital's Helikon-Opera Theater, located on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, can be called quite young by ordinary standards, since its opening took place on April 10, 1990. The repertoire, consisting of operas and operettas, and determines its main focus. At one time, an ambitious and promising music director Dmitry Bertman relied on a young creative team consisting of only seven people. And today the troupe of his brainchild already consists of more than 500 artists.
Even the sophisticated Moscow theater-goers on the stage of the Helikon-Opera are always able to surprise with the daring novelty of the creative idea, which goes far beyond the limits of traditional stage decisions. Here, the audience applauds a high level of dramatic and vocal embodiment, when the composer's idea is very accurately and carefully brought to fruition. This theater stage is one of the most popular in the capital. Here, everyone is already accustomed to full houses and stormy emotions in the hall.
Historical excursion
The capital of our country celebrated the emergence of a new cultural institution in the very beginning of the 90s of the 20th century. Since its foundation, Helikon-Opera was conceived by its creator as a musical theater. For this purpose, a team of young and talented like-minded people was assembled, who became the newly formed troupe.
And the theatrical name "Helikon" today has several variants of its origin. According to one version of thematic etymology, a direct relationship to the name of the ancient Greek mountain, taken from the historical record, is inherent. There, singers and musicians sacrificed themselves to the heavenly patrons. In another interpretation, the theatrical name came from the musical sphere, as it resembles a wind instrument.
The Helikon-Opera building itself, located on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, is an architectural monument. Princess Nastasya Dashkova and Senator F.I. Glebov. Theaters and musical evenings were often organized here. And at the end of the 19th century, the building was given over to the theater, where, as a rule, Italian and French artists went on stage. The beginning of the 20th century was marked for the theater by the event that a chamber stage was opened here.
Thus, the walls of the building, inherited by the team of Dmitry Bertrand, remember many historical events. The heirs of rich musical traditions that are directly related to the cultural events held here, in the amount of only seven people, on April 10, 1990 laid the foundation for the theater, which today pleases residents and guests of the capital with significant results of their work.
And in 2007, due to the technical condition of the building of the Helikon-Opera Theater, it was decided to carry out its overhaul. During a large-scale reconstruction of the premises, the artists had to perform on a different stage. Currently, the theater troupe has returned to Bolshaya Nikitskaya, where it pleases the audience in an updated building that fully complies with modern standards.
Creative team
The numerous theatrical troupe "Helikon Opera" under the direction of Dmitry Alexandrovich Bertman gathered many famous musicians, conductors, vocalists and choristers on their stage. This includes today the following artists: M. Karpechenko, S. Creator, S. Rossiyskaya, D. Ponomyorev, A. Miminoshvili, A. Pegova, M. Maskulia, I. Morozov, K. Brzhinsky, M. Perebeinos, M. Barkovskaya, I. Zvenyatskaya, L. Svetozarova, V. Efimov, A. Gitsba, I. Reinard, T. Kuindzhi, V. Gofer, M. Maksakova, M. Pasteur, N. Zagorinskaya, D. Yankovsky, K. Vyaznikova, O. Tolkmit, V. Letunov, M. Kalinina, S. Toptygin, E. Ionova, I. Samoilova, K. Lisanskaya, I. Govzich, M. Guzhov.
Naturally, the Helikon-Opera theater owes much to its prosperity with the talent of D.A. Bertman, who has been his permanent artistic director for almost three decades. And Dmitry Alexandrovich also plays the role of stage director. He is a native of Moscow, where he received a thematic education at GITIS. The professional portfolio of the famous music director today includes many theatrical productions, which took place on the stage of Russia and Ukraine, starting from his student years.
In 1993, Helikon-Opera received the status of a state theater. Currently, Bertman is actively engaged in teaching and regularly holds master classes in foreign theatrical institutions located around the world, including Switzerland, where his own studio is located. YES. Bertman is a multiple winner of various theater awards, including the "Golden Mask" (3 times), professor and head of the department of directing musical theater in GITIS.
The list of his merits in the field of development of domestic and world culture also includes the title of People's Artist of Russia and many thematic awards. And since 2012, he began to become a permanent member of the Presidential Council on Culture and Art. It is also important that the creator and artistic director of the Helikon-Opera Theater is engaged in productions not only on his native stage, but also around the world. His professional activity is directly related to cooperation with P. Domingo, A. Netrebko, M. Caballe, M. Rostropovich, D. Hvorostovsky and V. Gergiev.
Theater repertoire
For lovers of musical productions, it will be interesting to find out up-to-date information about the current repertoire of the Helikon Opera Theater.
Currently, such musical productions are staged on the stage of this musical theater as “Visiting an Opera Tale”, “Cartoon Opera”, “Love for Three Oranges”, “Makropulos's Tool”, “Masquerade Ball”, “Pyram and Fisba”, "Doctor Haas", "Peasant Cantata", "Tales of Hoffmann", "The Bat", "Imaginary Gardener", "Falstaff", Back in the USSR, "Gershwin Gala", "KALMANIA", "Lulu", " Nabucco ", " Fallen from the Sky ", " Coffee Cantata ", " Beautiful Elena ", " Nightingale ", www.nibelungopera.ru, " Charity of Titus ", " Queen ". "Carmelite Dialogues". “Mavra”, “Maid-maid”, “Apollo and Hyacinth”, “Love forever”. Rasputin, Ban on Love, Mozart and Salieri, Requiem, Vampuka, African Bride, Siberia, Kashchei the Immortal, Pygmalion, Rita and others.
