Musical and dramatic poem “October .. 17” by Vano Muradeli

The premiere of the play created with the participation of leading artists of the St. Petersburg Opera and students of the course of People’s Artist of Russia Semyon Spivak was held on November 07 and 08, 2017 at the  Public Theatre “On Mokhovaya”.

The play “October .. 17” was awarded the Prize of the Government of St. Petersburg.

The St. Petersburg Opera offers the audience a unique opportunity to watch this production online on the theatre’s official YouTube channel - ...

The director of the play, artistic director of the St. Petersburg Opera Yuri Alexandrov: “We gave this production the title “October ..17 ", without specifying a century, and we dedicate it to the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution. The number “17” here is the date of the events taking place in the opera, and the upcoming anniversary, and even the age of the main characters referred in this work. There is nothing unexpected in the fact that the theatre became interested in this topic because in our productions we have repeatedly tried to understand the events of Russian history. In our repertoire there is already “Crimea” by Marian Koval and “Young Guard” Julian Meitus that became the diptych play “To Remember ...”. And today we have set ourselves a very difficult task: to remind the young generation opera heritage of Muradeli. In our performance, we removed almost all political components. In this experimental musical dramatic production, the music of Vano Muradeli is adjacent to the poems of the Silver Age poets - Balmont, Blok, Gippius, Akhmatova, Mayakovsky. Therefore, we invited students of the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts to participate in this unique project. ”

The First Vice-Rector of the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts, Dean of the Faculty of Musical Theatre and Pop Art Elena Tretyakova: “The production premiered at the Public Theatre “On Mokhovaya”, the assembly hall of the former Tenishevsky School, where Nabokov and Mandelstam studied at the beginning of the 20th century, and Meyerhold produced the famous “Balaganchik” by Blok. The performance is consecrated by beautiful artistic theatrical traditions.”

The first performance of the opera “October” by Vano Muradeli took place in 1961 in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses with the participation of artists from the Bolshoi Theater. Unlike the staging of the last century, in the play by Yuri Alexandrov there is neither Lenin singing, nor a chorus of revolutionary sailors from Aurora, but a clean and tragic story of first love is clearly highlighted.

The royal offcier Masalsky is in love with the Sister  of Mercy Marina.  She is in love with Andrei, a Bolshevik and agitator. Masalsky was sent with the task of killing Andrei, but Marina covers her beloved with her body ...