Six years have passed and now, again, in 2019, Brisbane hosts the Bolshoi Ballet from Moscow on the stage of the QPAC Art Center. The arrival of the Bolshoi is always a special event, people get ready for it, they buy tickets in advance, they know that you don’t hurry - you will be left without a place, performances always take place in crowded halls. Many come from other cities of the country: Sydney, Melbourne, because the Bolshoi Theater in Australia performs only in Brisbane.
This time, on tour of the Bolshoi Ballet, together with the director of the ballet group, Mahar Vaziev, arrived 162 people from Moscow, more than 100 of them - the artists of the ballet troupe. Earlier, theatrical props were brought in containers by sea: costumes and scenery. The Bolshoi Theatre brought two ballets to the fifth continent: Spartak, staged by Yuri Grigorovich and George Balanchine's The Jewels. The Queensland Symphony Orchestra was led by Bolshoi Theatre conductor Pavel Sorokin. Artists will be performing in Brisbane for a little less than two weeks, from June 26 to July 7.
On June 27, at the official opening of the tour, Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk, and Director of QPAC, John Kotzas, greeted Bolshoi Ballet with words of welcome. The opening was attended by Russian Ambassador Alexei Pavlovsky, Honorary Consul General of the Russian Federation in Queensland Irina Brook.
One of the important reasons why the Bolshoi Theater conducts tours only in Brisbane, besides the established friendly relations between QPAC, the leadership of the state and the Bolshoi Theater, is that this is the most suitable ballet theater scene in Australia. But even she is a bit small for the artists of the Bolshoi Ballet. Therefore, the guests were greeted by the Annastacia Palaszczuk story in the hall that a new theater, the largest in Australia, will soon be built here, and Brisbane will be happy to invite guests from Moscow to come again to the new stage. “When the Bolshoi Theater came for the first time, we met the artists as distinguished guests, on the second visit we meet them as good friends,” Annastacia Palaszczuk said in her greeting. Premier noted participation in the tour of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, as well as the live broadcast of the ballet in six regional cities of Queensland on July 6, which will allow state residents who could not get to Brisbane to watch the Bolshoi Ballet on the screen for free. In general, more than 25 thousand people will watch performances of guests from Moscow.
QPAC director John Kotzas added that both ballet performances brought by the Bolshoi Theater were created in the 60s by remarkable directors in two major world capitals, Moscow and New York, and now viewers can see them in Brisbane.
On this day, many well-known persons could be found in the QPAC hall: among them, the former Australian Governor-General Quentin Bryce, members of parliament and mayors of Queensland cities. The head of the Bolshoi Theater Press Center, Katerina Novikova, whom I met in Brisbane in 2013 during the previous tours of the theater, and the special TASS journalist Olga Svistunova came from Moscow. Among the stars of the ballet troupe who came to Brisbane this year are Yulia Stepanova, Ekaterina Krysanova, Anna Nikulina, Olga Smirnova, Denis Rodkin, Anton Ovcharenko, Mikhail Lobukhin, Vyacheslav Lopatin, Alexander Volchkov and others. The ballet of the Bolshoi Theater has a very significant composition of soloists, different artists play leading roles on different days.
On June 27, Igor Tsvirko and Margarita Schreiner starred Spartacus and Phrygia, Alexander Volchkov and Olga Smirnova as Crassus and Aegina. The main theme of the ballet is the male confrontation of Spartak and the commander of Roman army Crassus, the choreography surprisingly accurately falls on A. Khachaturian’s music. Both dancers beautifully conveyed the spiritual state of their heroes, it is impossible not to note the ease of movement and high soaring jumps of artists. Against the background of the male battle scenes, the female roles were not lost at all - the gentle Phrygia and the royally gorgeous Aegina, who perfectly complemented the performance and gave it the necessary softening effect, energetic dances of mimes and shepherds flowed in a fresh stream.
The journalist Olga Svistunova, who traveled a lot with the Bolshoi Theater during their tours around the world, said that the premiere of the ballet "Spartacus" was held 51 years ago. “Since then, there have been practically no new editions, only performers are changing. From the very first, including Vladimir Vasiliev, Ekaterina Maximova, Maris Liepa, Nina Timofeeva, then Mikhail Lavrovsky, Natalia Bessmertnova. The performance is in the repertoire for more than half a century, and this is a unique phenomenon. "Spartacus" has traveled more than once around the globe. This is one of the most sought-after productions by foreign audiences, and after Australia “Spartacus” will be shown on Covent Garden in London. Everything in this performance has merged - the brilliant music of Aram Ilyich Khachaturian, the wonderful sets of Suliko Virsaladze and, of course, the unique ballet master’s drawing by Yuri Grigorovich. And new performers, as Yuriy Nikolayevich (Grigorovich) said a year ago, when they celebrated this ballet for 50 years, are becoming every year «more technical, better and better». However, the Bolshoi Theater is not only soloists, the Bolshoi Theater corps de ballet is the best in the world. ”
Together with the artists a large group of theater workers arrived on tour, without whom the performance would not have been successful. They are specialists in light, as well as stage workers, make-up artists, costume designers, they even have their own doctor. The work of these people behind the scenes is not visible, but representatives of the costume designers said that only in the first act they helped to dress up a group of artists three times.
In conclusion, I would like to note that the tickets for all the performances of the Bolshoi Theater are almost sold out. At the performance on June 27 in the huge QPAC hall, designed for 2 thousand spectators, there was not a single empty seat. After each action and after particularly successful episodes, Brisbane viewers burst into applause, and the loud Russian “Bravo!” also sounded in the hall.
Vladimir KOUZMIN
