Welsh National Opera summer residency at the ROH from 2014

[jmhopton]

I noticed an article about this on the ROH website yesterday. I don't know how long it's been there. it was under 'News' but doesn't seem to be there now (been ousted by info about the snow!). My first thought was, will this affect the Bolshoi/Kirov summer seasons at the ROH? Does anyone have any more info on this? Perhaps if we're only talking about a couple if weeks there would be opportunity for both though I assume any building repairs/maintenance will also need to be done in the summer months and there isn't a huge amount of closure time. Joan

[Bruce Wall]

I was at the reception for the opening of new Mariinsky 2, and Gergiev said that there would be much less foreign touring of the Mariinsky Ballet and Opera in future as they now (with three theatres) have 500 performances a year to attend to in St. Petersburg and that their commitment was serving audiences in Russia. (It seems that money too seems to have reverted to other locations. He gave the example of Japan where he said that he, himself, had travelled for work on five or six occasions each year for decades. He said the company's next commitment IN JAPAN (and all the support has has been so vocally built there) was for three year's hence and it would only be on on specific journey in that year (2016). Enough said. He did say the enhanced Mariiinsky would have a renewed focus on electronic touring to satisfy international audiences and they gave examples (largely opera) of the same at this launch reception. The Mariinsky 2 (beautifully designed) opens in May of this year. (I think is also clear as he, himself, has greatly reduced his conducting commitment to the Metropolitan Opera where once he was very busily employed indeed. He certainly is very proud of the commitment of Russian artists there which he made a point of more than a few times over. No mention of the Royal Opera - let alone Ballet - was made.)

 

This may, of course, not be the case with the Bolshoi and they may well travel, (in addition to their electronic commitments in cinemas) and perhaps go into the Coliseum as they have done in the past. (This may in the end prove difficult if the repertoire is not expanded - which is already proving a problem as we have seen in this current season with the Royal Ballet. That said, the powers that be at the RB seem to be effectively addressing this issue (or attempting such) and, hopefully, will be building audiences to ensure health long into the future.)

 

Times are changing; and so is the artistic world in its tow.

Edited January 19, 2013 by Meunier