70th Anniversary of Yuri Alexandrov

The 7th of February is an important date for the St. Petersburg Opera since on this day we celebrate the 70th  anniversary of the founder and artistic director of the theatre, People's Artist of Russia Yuri Alexandrov. Yuri Alexandrov is one of the few directors sought-after both in Russia and abroad.
His productions have been appreciated by the audiences in the United States, Italy, Turkey,Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, France, Serbia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Productions by Yuri Alexandrov have been staged in the most prestigious venues in the world including Arena di Verona, Metropolitan Opera, and La Scala. Overall, he has created over 250 performances in Russian and foreign opera houses. In total, more than 250 performances were staged in Russian and foreign opera houses. Yuri Alexandrov staged following productions: ‘Khovanshchina’ by Mussorgsky at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, ‘Cherevichki’ and ‘Eugene Onegin’ by Tchaikovsky (Italy), ‘The Queen of Spades’ (USA), ‘L'elisir d'amore’ by Donizetti (Latvia), ‘Don Giovanni’ by Mozart (Lithuania), ‘Turandot’ by Puccini, ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ by Donizetti, ‘Ablay Khan’ by Yerkegali Rakhmadiyev (Kazakhstan), ‘Pagliacci’ by Leoncavallo (Serbia), ‘Eugene Onegin’ by Tchaikovsky (Wroclaw, Poland) and ‘Die Entführung aus dem Serail’ by Mozart (Warsaw), ‘The Tsar's Bride’ of Rimsky-Korsakov in Tallinn (Estonia) and others.С 1978 года по настоящее время Юрий Александров сотрудничает с Мариинским театром.
In 1987, Yuri Alexandrov founded the Chamber Music Theatre. It was originally intended to be an art laboratory later grew into a professional state company, the St. Petersburg Chamber Opera that is well known both at home and also abroad.
Within thirty-three seasons, the St. Petersburg Chamber Opera Theatre has emerged as a single creative organism with a unique program. The repertoire includes all genres of opera art from comic opera and classical operetta to musical drama, as well as the works of contemporary authors.
In Petersburg, many operas in different years were staged only on the theatre’s stage. These are: ‘Pietro Il Grande Zar Di Tutte Le Russie’ by Donizetti, ‘I believe’ by Piguzov, ‘The Fifth Journey of Christopher Columbus’ and ‘Spotted Dog Running at the Edge of the Sea’ by Smelkov, Shostakovich’s ‘Gamblers-1942’ and ‘The Little Antiformalistic Paradise’, ‘Die Entführung aus dem Serail’ by Mozart, ‘The Rape of Lucretia’ by Britten, opera-rally ‘Crimea’ on the music of Koval, new author’s versions of ‘The Young Guard’by Meitus, Muradeli’s ‘October ..17’. Many of these works have been staged in Russia for the first time ever.

Over the years, the Golden Sofit and the Golden Mask awards in the nominations 'The Best Opera Performance' and 'The Best Director Work' were awarded to the plays such as 'The Lay of Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke' by Siegfried Matthus, 'White Nights of Fyodor Dostoevsky' by Yuri Butsko, ‘The Gamblers’ by Dmitry Shostakovich,'Die Fledermaus' by Johann Strauss, 'The Queen of Spades' by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, 'La Traviata' by Giuseppe Verdi, 'Cio-Cio San' by Giacomo Puccini, 'Cavalleria Rusticana' by Pietro Mascagni and 'Faust' by Charles Gounod.
A new direction in the creative activity of Yuri Alexandrov became the plays of the theatre for children. These are ‘Puss in Boots’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ by Caesar Cui. In 2019, Yuri Alexandrov was awarded the Order of Honor ‘for his great contribution to the development of Russian culture and art and many years of fruitful activity.’