From 27 to 30 November in Moscow in the concert hall "Mir" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard premieres of the new production of the rock opera "Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta" will take place.
The rock opera was staged according to the play of the famous Spanish writer Paul Grushko, who wrote it based on the dramatic cantata of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda "The Shining and Death of Joaquin Murieta" and the folk epic. The author of the libretto will come to the premiere in Moscow from Boston.
Famous figures of culture and show business, representatives of the embassies of Chile, Venezuela, Mexico - those countries, in which the tour of the performance are planned, are invited to the performance. A new production of the rock opera will be visited by Alexei Rybnikov's long-time friend Pierre Cardin, with whom a joint project is conceived.
Music by Alexey Rybnikov
Libretto - Pavel Grushko
Director - Alexander Rykhlov
Choreographer - Zhanna Shmakova
Scenography - Theodore Tejik
Costumes - Nata Tejik
In the lead roles: Dmitry Koldun (Joaquin Murieta),
Svetlana Svetikova (Teresa),
Igor Sandler (Death).
A rock band led by Dmitry Chetvergov takes part in the play
From the history of rock opera
In the mid-70's Mark Zakharov introduced Alexei Rybnikov to the libretto and suggested writing music for the play. In 1976, the triumphant premiere of the rock opera "The Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta" took place at the Moscow Lenin Komsomol Theater. Joaquin played Alexander Abdulov, Teresa - Lyudmila Matyushina, Death - Nikolai Karachentsov.
The setting awaited phenomenal success. The performance was held in Lenkom for 18 years: 1050 times it was played not only in the theater, but also in stadiums, exported to foreign tours. Released in 1978, the double album "Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta" took the 1 st place in the hit parade of the best recordings. In 1979, Alexei Rybnikov was recognized by the All-Union Hit Parade as the most popular composer of the year. In 1985, the screens of the same name feature film directed by Vladimir Grammatikov.
About the modern version of rock opera
The creators of the play interpret the story as the eternal story of good and evil, the eternal story of love, passion and hatred. What happened in California 150 years ago, is actual today - people come to a foreign country in search of work and a better share, go through humiliation, face xenophobia ...
This is the long history of the glorious robber, fearless and fair Joaquin (Dmitry Koldun). He set off on a long journey, hoping to find love, wealth and happiness. Human anger destroyed love, gold turns to dust, the dream of happiness drowns in the streams of blood. Joaquin pays for the scorned honor and death of the beloved (Svetlana Svetikova) and turns into a cruel avenger, which is governed by Death itself.
The stage will be rotated diagonally by 45 degrees: its right lower edge "looks" at the viewer. In the center there are musicians of Dmitry Chetvergov's group. In the course of action, the audience will see the shore of the ocean, then the desert. Theodore Tejik installed on the stage two volcanoes in height with a 3-storey house. In the finale there will be a real "eruption".
All costumes - and more than 50 of them - were created manually, and work on them was conducted almost two years.
For the first time in the history of such productions, a camcorder will be installed on the head of the actor who performs the role of Death (Igor Sandler), the image of which will be projected onto large screens. Thus, the viewer can see the action as it were "from within", with the eyes of the performer.