Evening of autobiographical ballet & rarely-performed opera celebrates Russian composer.
May 16 at The Theater at El Museo del Barrio
New Opera NYC and Museo del Barrio NYC present VIVA! TCHAIKOVSKY, an evening of Tchaikovsky's music featuring the biographical ballet DEAR NADEZHDA and the composer's last opera, IOLANTA. VIVA! TCHAIKOVSKY will be presented for one night only, May 16 at 7:30pm at the Theater at El Museo del Barrio (1230 5th Avenue between 104th & 105th Streets -- accessible from the #6 at 103rd or the #2 & 3 trains at 110th). Tickets range from $25 to $65, available at www.nonyc.org or 800-838-3006.
VIVA! TCHAIKOVSKY opens with DEAR NADEZHDA by choreographer Venti Petrov. This one-act ballet explores the mysterious relationship between composer Tchaikovsky and the woman who loved him. Between 1877 and 1890, Tchaikovsky and reclusive patron of the arts Nadezhda von Meck sent each other nearly 700 letters. Nadezhda supported Tchaikovsky financially for 13 years, but stipulated that they were never to meet. DEAR NADEZHDA brings to life this complex and passionate epistolary relationship -- an unorthodox
romance between an artist and a fervent admirer. It is set to a score by Tchaikovsky and features a company of 14 dancers including Oksana Maslova (Moscow Ballet, Connecticut Ballet) as Nadezhda.
After intermission, VIVA! TCHAIKOVSKY concludes with New Opera NYC's staging of IOLANTA, Tchaikovsky's final opera, a one-act originally composed to play on the same bill with The Nutcracker. It tells the story of a blind princess whose disability has been kept from her by the King. She learns of her condition along with the love that gives her the strength to overcome it. The production is directed by New Opera NYC's Igor Konyukhov, with an emphasis on King Rene as a great master of a secret Order whose rituals are responsible for Iolanta's condition. It stars Grammy Award nominee Mikhail Svetlov (Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Bolshoi Opera) as the King with Julia Lima in the title role.
VIVA! TCHAIKOVSKY will be conducted by Anthony LaGruth, featuring a full orchestra and sets by Ika Avaliani. Additional members of the design team will be announced shortly, as will complete casting for DEAR NADEZHDA. The cast of IOLANTA stars Mikhail Svetlov, Julia Lima, Vladimir Lokshin, Dmitry Gishpling-Chernov, Rachel Arky, Gennady Vysotsky, Yelena Dudochkin, Jesse Maglieri and Aliya Kamenshikov.
Igor Konyukhov, founder of New Opera NYC, opera director and choreographer, was born in Russia, and graduated from the Moscow State University with Master Degree in Nuclear Physics. He studied ballet in Moscow and in New York City at the Joffrey Ballet School. In 2009 his choreography was presented by The DanceNOW Festival (NY) and at LaMama Dance moves, NY. Igor has danced with Russian Souvenir, Russian Imperial Ballet, Lumiere Ballet, Laurel Ballet, Ballets with a Twist, and Seed Dance Company Igor holds Master Degree in Fine Arts from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. In 2012 Igor directed and produced the premiere of the opera The Armida Project at Angel Orensanz Foundation in NYC. His Baroque Opera Celebration was presented at the Academy of Music, Northampton and Manhattan Movement and Arts Center. Later this year, Igor will direct IOLANTA for the Russian Cultural Center of Naples, Florida.
Venti Petrov, Artistic Director of Long Island's Lumière Ballet, is a graduate of the Sofia National Choreographic Institute of Bulgaria. He moved to the US upon receiving a medal at the New York International Ballet Competition in 1990 and became a full US citizen in 2001. He performed with Arizona Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Omaha Ballet Theater, Arlington Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, New Jersey Ballet, Nouveau Chamber Ballet and Sioux City Ballet, among others. In addition to co-directing and teaching at Lumière Ballet on Long Island, he also teaches at the Dokoudovsky New York Conservatory of Dance. His original ballet works include the 2-act story ballet El Cid, Romeo and Juliet Pas de Deux, an original version of Les Patineurs, Domino and Twinkle with music by Mozart and an original version of Sylvia Pas de Deux. In collaboration with prominent pianists Michael Zeiger, Ferdy Tumakaka and Olga Merson, Petrov has released three CDs for ballet classes, a book and a ballet app.
American conductor Anthony LaGruth currently serves as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Garden State Philharmonic (NJ) and the Shrewsbury Chorale (NJ). Mr. LaGruth has worked with some of the greatest composers of our age, including Hans Werner Henze, John Corigliano, and Pulitzer Prize winner Karel Husa, and has collaborated with a wide range of soloists including Frederica von Stade, Judith Ingolfsson, Philip Smith, Christopher Collins Lee, and Neil Sedaka. A proponent of American music, Mr. LaGruth is one of the co-founders of the American Symphony Orchestra League’s commissioning project, Ford Made in America..He recently made his Lincoln Center debut leading a young artists concerto concert at Alice Tully Hall. He serves as an adjunct faculty member of both Georgian Court University and Ocean County College. Mr. LaGruth is a member of the Board of Directors of the Conductors Guild.