Schedule for Opera in one act "Aleko" by Rachmaninoff 2022

Aleko, composed in 1892, was Rachmaninoff's graduation work for the Moscow Conservatoire. The complex conditions for writing the opera (the pre-prepared libretto was by Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko after Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin's poem The Gypsy; nothing could be altered and there was a time limit – just one month could be spent on the score) did not prevent the young composer from becoming truly engaged in the subject. As Rachmaninoff later recalled, his opera drew Tchaikovsky's attention and Tchaikovsky's influence in Russia's music circles was so great that at his advice the young composer´s opera was accepted for production by the Bolshoi Theatre. The premiere took place on 27 April 1893. After the stunning success of the opera, Tchaikovsky asked Rachmaninoff if he would agree to a combined production of Iolanta and Aleko at the Bolshoi Theatre in autumn the same year. Tchaikovsky's unexpected death prevented this plan from coming to fruition…

Sergei Rachmaninoff's opera "Aleko" (libretto V.Nemirovicha-Danchenko on Pushkin's poem "The Gypsies").
Director - I.Fokina (Department of opera direction). Conductor - graduate student of opera and symphonic conducting Masieyra Cattell Wendell (Brazil). Artist - Daria Bochkarev (workshop E.Kochergina). Choreographer - Elena Dudin (Department directing the ballet).
The play involved students in the department of solo singing and choir Theatre Conservatory (hud.ruk. Yu.Hutoretskaya, choirmaster M.Pozhidaev).

It is a romantic love story of a gypsy Zemfira Aleko. In order to be with his lover, Aleko renounced his former life. But his happiness was short-lived. Upon learning of the infidelity of his young wife, Aleko kills her in a fit of jealousy. Roma expelled the murderer of the camp. From now on he is doomed to loneliness.

Opera "Aleko" was the thesis work by Rachmaninoff, for which he won a gold medal in the final examination at the Moscow Conservatory. The product has attracted the attention of Tchaikovsky, who even asked the young composer's permission to give "Aleko" with his own one-act opera "Iolanta". Outstanding performer as Alec was F. Chaliapin, a friend of Rachmaninoff.

The current production of the opera "Aleko" at Theatre St. Petersburg Conservatory dedicated to the 140th anniversary of the composer and the 120th anniversary of the first performance of "Aleko" at the Bolshoi Theatre (April 27, 1893, conductor I.Altani).
This project is implemented student staging team. Director - Irina Fokine (Department of opera direction), conductor - graduate student of opera and symphonic conducting Masieyra Cattell Wendell (Brazil), artist - Daria Bochkarev (workshop E.Kochergina), choreographer - Elena Dudin (Department directing the ballet). The play involved students in the department of solo singing and choir Theatre Conservatory (hud.ruk. Yu.Hutoretskaya, choirmaster M.Pozhidaev).

The play is intended as education project, through which children and youth audience can get to know a masterpiece of Pushkin and Rachmaninov.