Yuri Alexandrov resumes Donizetti’s opera about the Russian Tsar to the 350th Anniversary of Peter the Great

Yuri Alexandrov said: 'We decided thoroughly renew the Donizetti's opera 'Pietro il Grande zar di tutte le Russie', which was staged in the year of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg and became a real sensation in the world of the opera scene. We had to restore this work bit by bit and for many years this production had a special place in our repertoire'. He also added thay this will be the first case of renewal of opera in the entire 30-year history of the theatre. New artists will be entered in the play, as well as decorations and costumes will be restored. The score of the opera, created by a 22-year-old composer, disappeared after the fire at the La Fenice Theatre (1823). This opera was not remembered for 180 years. Yuri Alexandrov reopened this masterpiece to the world. The director had to conduct a detective investigation while searching for the disappeared scores. The Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, opera house La Fenice in Venice, the Foundation and Publishing House ‘Ricordi’, which owns the music rights of the composer, and the Italian Consulate General in St. Petersburg were involved in this process. As a result of hard work, which lasted for three years, fragments of the score scattered throughout Italy were finally put together. As Alexandrov said, after the premiere in Petersburg, this opera considered irretrievably lost, was included in the register of works by Gaetano Donizetti by the decision of the Italian Academy of Music. Yuri Alexandrov received a Donizetti medal in Bergamo for this accomplishment.

A great admirer of the Italian music, the Petersburg director in different years staged on the Russian and International scenes operas such 'Don Pasquale', 'L'elisir d'amore', 'Lucia di Lammermoor', 'Viva la mamma!'. The first in Russia, he staged the opera of Donizetti 'Il Campanello' and 'Rita, ou Le mari battu'.