Personal life of Currentzis Theodore. Teodor currentzis Teodor currentzis official
Original taken from matveychev_oleg in Conductor Teodor Currentzis: don't advertise the devil
Eternal music, that is, the Musica Aeterna chamber orchestra, created by conductor Teodor Currentzis on the basis of the Novosibirsk Opera House, does not fit in the small hall of the First Moscow Hospice. I had to reduce the number of musicians. An orchestra playing authentic instruments, gut strings and antique bows. Pianissimo trembles like blood in an artery if you've ever touched an artery with your fingers. Fortissimo are as distinct as a scalpel incision. Conducting Currentzis is like a primary school teacher who does not just tell the students a lesson, but looks into each notebook, makes sure that the children correctly draw the hooks according to the prescriptions, helps, if necessary, threatens, if necessary, with a finger and strokes, if necessary, on the head . The board is empty. Currentzis walks around the orchestra.
And during the duet of Susanna and Almaviva from The Marriage of Figaro, Currentzis cannot help but sing along with Susanna and Almaviva, just as Glenn Gould could not help singing when playing Bach's sonatas.
There are chairs in front of the orchestra in a small hall. In the front rows sit the doctors working in the hospice and the so-called friends of the hospice: actresses Tatyana Drubich and Chulpan Khamatova, dancer Andris Liepa. The musicians (mostly young women with frightened eyes) asked the guests and doctors to sit in the front rows. They, the musicians, according to Teodor Currentzis, came up with the idea of playing in the hospice themselves. But when they came and saw the patients, their hands began to tremble with excitement, and they were afraid to lie notes if the patients would sit eye to eye.
Currentzis will say later:
Music is a mission. Give light and love to people. Not only to those who can afford it, but to everyone. We don't make music to earn a living. To make a simple biological circle is not interesting. It becomes interesting when you live a spiritual life. Unfortunately, this is not available to everyone. Not everyone can come to the conservatory. This is the initiative of the orchestra: to make concerts for those who cannot go to the conservatory. For the sick, for the prisoners.
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Ainars Rubikis, Chief Conductor of NGATOiB, held his first briefing in Novosibirsk.
Maestro Ainars Rubikis held the first briefing as chief conductor and musical director of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. Representatives of the local media were invited to ask the new artistic leader of the "Siberian Coliseum" any questions of interest. However, the journalists preferred to focus on the first impressions of the conductor in his new position, the plans of the NGATOiB for the near future and the upcoming symphony concert with the Commander of the Order of the British Empire Peter Donoghue at the piano.
The October debut and December appointment made Ainars Rubikis a major active attraction on the city's academic scene. The arrival of the Latvian maestro to Novosibirsk was accompanied by growing excitement: for almost a year the Opera and Ballet Theater worked without a chief conductor and musical director and, according to rumors, could hardly count on the equally charismatic maestro Teodora Currentzis. The invitation of Ainars Rubikis, although it gave a lot of reasons for comparison, definitely did not disappoint. The guru of baroque interpretations and the main authenticator of musical Russia was replaced by a European-level professional, winner of the Third Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition and winner of the first prize of Nestle and the Salzburg Festival. By a strange coincidence, both the Greek and the Latvian maestro made their debut on the stage of the Siberian Colosseum on the same day, however, with a difference of eight years: Teodor Currentzis conducted Alla Sigalova’s ballet “Kiss of the Fairy” on October 18, 2003, and Ainars Rubikis on October 18, 2011 year - a concert of the Symphony Orchestra of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. At the time of his debut, Mr. Currentzis had a growing fame as a specialist in the field of vocals and opera style, work with leading orchestras in Russia and the first appearances on foreign festival venues. Maestro Rubikis has collaborated with the world's best orchestras, has a powerful festival double and has serious experience in the field of choral conducting. The starting positions are close, but not equivalent: Teodor Currentzis only sought recognition from the West, while Ainars Rubikis has already received a head start and cooperation with a leading music agency, which, by the way, did not accept the ex-artistic director of the NGATOiB under its wing. In addition to different points of departure, the former and current chief conductor have different ideas about what the Novosibirsk opera should be like. Teodor Currentzis wanted to make Novosibirsk a center of pure art, but year after year he moved his ambitions deeper into Europe. Ainars Rubikis, on the contrary, seeks to bring the classics closer to the people, being sure that the time has come when Mohammed needs to go to the mountain:
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Our main cultural media outlet on a federal scale, Teodor Currentzis, no matter how he denied the rumors about moving to Perm, nevertheless left Novosibirsk at the beginning of the year, taking with him the best musicians of the Musica Aeterna orchestra and leaving the country's third opera theater without a chief conductor.
Time passed, everyone was busy with their own business. Theodore sang the virginity of perception of Permians, dazzled on the pages of glossy magazines, provoked curentzisomania among impressionable young ladies from the Urals, and the directorate of the Novosibirsk Opera was looking for a new hero. Almost a year has passed, and his name has sounded, albeit still outside the official context: on October 18, a young Latvian maestro Ainars Rubikis conducted a symphony concert on the stage of the NGATOiB.
How successful the performance was (Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun, Haydn's Symphony No. 104, Mahler's Symphony No. 4) can be discussed. I got the feeling that the orchestra was striving to reproduce a non-native symphonic text with high quality, without setting itself big musical tasks. Metropolitan critics diplomatically called this performance "a European restrained interpretation." Be that as it may, it was difficult for competent listeners to get an idea of the possibilities of Rubikis: the collective clearly did not show all its capabilities and certainly did not realize 100% of what the conductor wanted.
But at this stage of the relationship between the theater and Ainars Rubikis, there should not be a strict creative demand from the latter. Now it is important to impress, win over and place the public in its mass, and this turned out quite well. The listeners were attracted by a foreign name, a young handsome face, a spectacular image of the Latvian maestro on the facade banner. It seems that many of them came to the symphony concert for the first time: confirmation of this and applause between the parts and the level of replicas on the Internet, in which delight clearly prevailed over competence. The effect is produced, Rubikis was impressed, he was remembered. Now you can do something further.
Well, what could be next? He will either be announced as the chief conductor of the NGATOiB, or not. On the one hand, a comparison with the frantic Theodore suggests itself, on the other hand, it is tempting to speculate, as it always happens when new relationships begin in life: what was wrong last time?
Currentzis's path to recognition and fame has lasted for the last 10 years, eight of which he was the head of the Novosibirsk Opera. No matter how much he is now in demand and impressively promoted, Rubikis has something to oppose to the current one, not to mention Theodore eight years ago.
Currentzis first strengthened his professional position in Russia, and only then began his work in the West. The Novosibirsk Opera has played a key role in this success. After the premiere in Novosibirsk, he conducted Macbeth on the stage of the Paris Opera (the initial condition of the contract, the signing of which was prepared by the director of the NGATOiB Boris Mezdrich), went on tour abroad with his Musica Aeterna, and performed with foreign eminent groups.
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The new director and chief conductor of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater will have to find the right strategy for the development of the largest cultural facility beyond the Urals
On December 9, 2010, the director of the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (NGATOiB) Ruslan Efremov was found dead in the Victoria Hotel in Minsk (already in January, the Minsk prosecutor's office established the fact of suicide). And after the new year, long-circulated rumors that the world-famous chief conductor Teodor Currentzis was leaving the theater were confirmed. These events, probably, are not directly connected, but they clearly characterize the state of timelessness in which the Novosibirsk Opera House has now found itself. Who will become the new leader is still unknown. But it is up to him, in cooperation with the local theater community and focusing on world cultural trends, to develop a clear and ambitious strategy for the development of one of the main symbols of Novosibirsk.
Anniversary to Anniversary
In 2005, NGATOiB was born, in fact, for the second time - after a large-scale restoration dedicated to its 60th anniversary. This time is considered to be the most successful period in the recent history of the theatre. Boris Mezdrich, who became director in September 2001 (who had previously headed the Omsk State Academic Drama Theater for 12 years), not only carried out a reconstruction worth about 1.3 billion rubles allocated under the Culture of Russia federal program, but also returned the opera house to the top of theatrical Russia . Under Mezdrich, the theater received the main prizes of the national theater festival "Golden Mask": the ballet "Coppelia" (two awards), the operas "Life with an Idiot" (three awards) and "Aida" (four awards). Finally, it was under Mezdrich that Teodor Currentzis, who by that time was already widely known in the world, began to work as the main conductor in the theater. Thus, the Novosibirsk Opera House, which in 1963 became the first non-Moscow theater to receive the title of "academic", once again declared itself as a cultural object of Russian and world scale.
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Is the chief conductor of the Novosibirsk Opera House moving to Perm with the orchestra?
Rumors that the property of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater - conductor Teodor Currentzis will move to Perm, appeared a long time ago. The reason for the gossip was the statement not by anyone, but by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Perm Territory, who, they say, had already agreed on everything and the departure of the conductor from the capital of Siberia was a settled matter.
"Business quarter" named "man of the year" in the culture of Novosibirsk. The winner was determined by questioning experts. The majority of votes were given to the chief conductor of the Opera and Ballet Theater Teodor Currentzis
The musical director of the Novosibirsk Opera House Teodor Currentzis is one of the most fashionable and sought-after conductors in Russia today. But he does not part with the Siberian residence permit, explaining this by the fact that here is a "prayed space of like-minded people."
The Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater has always been distinguished by its interest in creative experiments and its openness to the world. Teodor Currentzis further strengthened the theater's reputation as a stage venue with a worldwide reputation. Suffice it to recall at least a joint project of the Novosibirsk theater with the Paris National Opera - the production of Macbeth by Verdi.
The past year brought many significant events to the biography of Teodor Currentzis. In February, on his initiative, the First International Music Festival "Music-Aeterna" was held on the opera stage, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the groups created by Currentzis - the orchestra of the same name and the New Sibirian Singers choir. The creation of groups within the theater that expand the scope of musical perception for the audience is just in the spirit of a young conductor. He boldly demonstrates new approaches to the performance of music and new genres. Famous performers from Great Britain, France and Germany took part in the festival. But, perhaps, the most unexpected guest for the public, who came to Novosibirsk at the personal invitation of Teodor Currentzis, was Anton Batagov, who thereby broke his “pianistic silence”.
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The Moscow Tchaikovsky Hall will host a gala concert where the Russian National Orchestra (RNO) will perform works by young composers, winners of the YouTube online competition. The director of the Novosibirsk Academic Opera and Ballet Theater Teodor Currentzis, who headed the jury of the competition, will conduct.
Teodor Currentzis told Izvestia columnist Elena Loria about why no one in Russia needs modern academic music, why he doesn’t like the Internet, and why no one got the first place in the YouTube contest.
Currentzis doesn't like the internet. He spoke about this more than once in his interviews. However, he also does not like to give interviews. We managed to talk with the conductor at an informal meeting, which he arranged at his friend's house.
...An apartment in a Stalinist building. In the twilight (there is no light, only candles are on the table) people are sitting. They drink, eat and listen to Theodore, who is waving an unlit cigarette and is quite sincerely indignant:
Well, why? Why does a person need two mobile phones? This is the fall of man. It's Armageddon! - the composer stops, greets affably and continues the interrupted monologue. - And the Internet? It's just an illusion of connection. And a medium of porn culture. By the way, I don't have people with two phones in the orchestra. They begin to play worse, and it is already completely incomprehensible whether Currentzis is joking or not.
news: Theodore, if you don't like the Internet so much, how did you decide to head the jury of this competition?
Theodor Currentzis: And it was very difficult for me to decide. But I did it because composers just die.
And: Well, then, it's good that there is such an opportunity to declare oneself? In June, Google and the Guggenheim Museum launched the "YouTube Play. Creative Video Biennale" project on YouTube. Peter Nalich became famous after the only video on the Web "Guitars, guitars". Now the competition of composers. Can the Internet become an alternative to traditional contests?
currentzis: Well, in general, this should have been done not on the Internet. Do you know how it should ideally be? For example, the Ministry of Culture or someone else gathers the directors of opera houses and philharmonic societies, creates a commission consisting of specialists in contemporary music, conductors of different generations and directions. And he says: we have such a policy, we must give an opportunity to revive modern music. Therefore, you should make sure that your philharmonic society gives a premiere of contemporary music once a month. And the work will be selected not by the director, but by that same authoritative commission.
And: Do you think it will do something?
currentzis: If the commission starts reading and selecting scores, then, believe me, there will be many good compositions. So they should be included in the theater repertoires. If composers see that their works are performed, they will have an amazing incentive! But nobody needs it. No one needs living composers.
And: Why? Unprofitable?
currentzis: And this too. We need dead composers. After the death of which 75 years have passed, and you can no longer pay for copyright. In Novosibirsk, I play premieres every month, I find money, sometimes I pay out of my own pocket. And there are viewers who come to see it. They want to listen to the premiere with Tchaikovsky. There is a need.
And: The first place in the competition was not given to anyone. From what? Does the level of work fall short?
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Half-forgotten orchestral works by the outstanding composer of the 20th century Mieczysław Weinberg will be performed today in Novosibirsk by the MusicAeterna Chamber Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of the Opera and Ballet Theatre. Novosibirsk will present the same program at the international music festival in Bregenz (Austria) on August 1 and 2.
The audience will hear the Flute Concerto, Sinfonietta No. 2, Moldavian Rhapsody No. 1 and Chamber Symphony No. 4 by Mieczysław Weinberg, better known to the public for his music for the films "Tiger Tamer", "The Cranes Are Flying", "Tehran-43", cartoons "Vinnie -Pooh" and "Vacation of Boniface". The Bregenz Festival this year is dedicated to Weinberg.
Teodor Currentzis, the winner of the national theater awards "Golden Mask", Chief Conductor of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater, will stand at the conductor's podium. “It is very important that we began to perform works by Weinberg, partly forgotten. If we do not play this music, then part of the history of Soviet art will disappear, and it has the right to be known. We do a kind of missionary work, we play music in order to preserve it for new generations,” the conductor said.
The annual festival in Bregenz, in which musicians from Novosibirsk will participate for the first time, takes place from mid-July to mid-August at two venues - on a floating stage near the shore of Lake Constance and in the city festival hall. A highly artistic program and unique performances attract more than 200,000 music lovers to Bregenz every year.
tayga.info/news
THREE FIVE-YEAR anniversaries and a great desire to get out of the music supermarket stimulated the holding of the MusicAeterna International Festival in Novosibirsk. The main ideologist of the festival, maestro Teodor Currentzis, and the bands created on his initiative on the basis of the NGATOiB, the MusicAeterna orchestra and the New Siberian Singers choir, came out to fight the demons of fast food and musical tongue-tied tongue. The result - three days of pure art and the slow but sure transformation of the capital of Siberia into the Mecca of baroque music.
The current theatrical season at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater is marked by a whole constellation of anniversaries: from the 65th anniversary of the opening of the Siberian Coliseum itself to the round dates associated with the name of Maestro Currentzis, the fifth anniversary of the MusicAeterna chamber orchestra, which, by the way, gave the name to the newborn festival , the fifth anniversary of the chamber choir "New Siberian Singers" and five years of work of Teodor Currentzis as the chief conductor of the NGATOiB. The celebration of the last three dates has resulted in the holding of an ideologically adjusted festival with a pronounced baroque bias, which lies at the center of the musical interests of the most expressive conductor-authenticist in Russia.
Maestro Currentzis spoke about how it all began at a press conference that preceded MusicAeterna: “I came to Novosibirsk from Moscow. Prior to that, he lived in St. Petersburg, even earlier - in Central Europe. I knew for sure that I did not want to live in a world where music is equated with a supermarket and consumption is at the forefront. I didn't want to swim in the chocolate of the music supermarket. For myself, I saw two options for the development of events - either to hammer this wall, or not to do anything at all. I agreed to the position of chief conductor of the theater on one condition - if they let me build here such a platform that Moscow, St. Petersburg and all of Europe would only dream of. To build an idealistic and maximalist world where the spirit of music is carefully preserved, where people can create pure art, where musicians work because they like to work here, and not because they did not find a place in another prestigious group. I'm not sure that the then director Boris Mezdrich clearly understood what authenticity was, but he knew that I was very good at my job and gave me carte blanche. So, together with the musicians, I began to conduct my laboratory research. The local music community didn't approve of us. Gradually, however, resistance and misunderstanding gave way to approval and recognition.”
At the same time, the chief conductor of the opera house noted that the distance from the musical capitals played into the hands of the formation of its unique groups: “The teams working beyond the Urals think that everything is fine only in St. Petersburg or Moscow.
THOSE WHO live in the capital believe that beauty begins somewhere after Poland. As Baudelaire wrote, the whole world is a big hospital, where every patient dreams of changing beds with a neighbor, thinking that he will recover faster on it. Distance misinforms and gives us false ideas, and musicians should fill life with beautiful and pure emotions. In Russia there is only one open field for work, one center of pure music - this is Novosibirsk. If it were even closer to the North Pole, it would be even better. In addition, we do not seek to please anyone. We make music not for charmed ladies, but for disappointed gentlemen, so our main audience is here, not in Vienna.”
Vyacheslav Podielsky, chief choirmaster of NGATOiB, also spoke to journalists about the contribution of Maestro Currentzis and the role of his anniversaries: “For me, meeting Teodor was a great happiness. This meeting changed all my professional orientations. Previously, work in the opera house, as in other similar theaters in our country, was distinguished by routine, routine, everyday life. But the appearance of the maestro and two new bands brought a fresh stream to our activity. They, like a comet, burst in swiftly and illuminated the musical life of our city. I would also like to note that in the person of Theodore I first met a conductor who does not ruin, but continues the work of the choir.”
Maestro Currentzis positions the MusicAeterna festival, on the one hand, as a real holiday, on the other hand, as an ideological protest against the devil in music. That is why he invited only friends and like-minded people to participate in the new music forum. The leading opera singers of Europe and America became the guests of MusicAeterna: baroque divas Simone Kermes (soprano, Germany) and Deborah York (soprano, Great Britain), Stephanie Houtzel (mezzo-soprano, USA), Markus Brutscher (tenor, Germany), Arno Richard (bass , France), a unique countertenor Oleg Ryabets (Russia) and an inaccessible legend - composer and pianist Anton Batagov.
The friendly family atmosphere of the newborn festival was noted by almost all the invited stars. “I am coming to Novosibirsk for the fourth time,” Simone Kermes assured. - And every time it's a pleasant meeting with old friends. We are all from different countries and speak different languages, but here we work like one family. And I really like it. Not to mention that I always enjoy working with Teodor Currentzis.” “It is much warmer inside here than outside,” French bass Arnaud Richard continued the thought of Madame Kermes. “It’s cold outside, but we have a warm, friendly atmosphere. Here at the festival it doesn't matter what your native language is - German, English, French or Russian. We all speak the same language - the language of music. And Teodor Currentzis is one of the real conductors of baroque music. When in Paris for the first time they saw a disc with Purcell's recording of "Dido and Aeneas" and read that it was performed by the "New Siberian Singers", many laughed, they say, what kind of baroque music can be in Siberia. However, after listening, everyone said that it was good, although not quite familiar compared to what French baroques do. In addition, not all specialists will be able to perform as required by Maestro Currentzis.”
Especially for the festival audience, the maestro and the anniversary bands presented a three-day program of their best achievements. On the Big Stage of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, one of Handel's best works was performed - the psalm "Dixit Dominus" for choir and orchestra, Henry Purcell's opera "Dido and Aeneas", Mozart's "Requiem", as well as a gala of baroque opera arias. The foyer of the theater hosted a rare concert by the reclusive pianist Anton Batagov, who, having become disillusioned with the public, stopped giving concerts 15 years ago. True, in recent years he has made two exceptions - for Novosibirsk and Seattle. According to rumors, music lovers from Moscow and Europe came to listen to Bach's partitas performed by him, but the journalists had no opportunity to verify this. Unfortunately, the press was not invited to the musical evening by candlelight.
Fortunately, concerts on the big stage turned out to be available and in demand by the Novosibirsk audience. The high level of performance, purity of sound, non-academic drive, the most interesting interpretation of baroque masterpieces and honest fanaticism made each festival piece unforgettable, although sometimes it seemed that what was happening on stage was done more for themselves than for the audience - the degree of musicians' enthusiasm was so high. The performers received some incredible pleasure from the concert and easily gave encores. So, everyone who came to the final evening of the MusicAeterna festival was once again convinced of the transcendent energy of Simona Kermes, who knows how to give the ancient art a “fatal drive”, and for the first time heard the singing conductor Teodor Currentzis. The chief maestro of the NGATOiB turned out to be an almost perfect example of a characteristic performer of a comic opera. Having made his debut in Mozart's comic opera Cosi fan tutte, Mr. Currentzis finally shook off the age-old dust from the main theater stage in Siberia. And if Wolfgang Amadeus himself did not respond to his call at that very moment, then this was pure misunderstanding. If Mozart had such an opportunity, he would certainly have bowed.
Yulia SHCHETKOVA, New Siberia
The experimental conductor and cosmopolitan Teodor Currentzis was born and received his musical education in Athens, continued it in St. Petersburg, and went to work in Novosibirsk, and then in Perm. He headed the Academic Opera and Ballet Theater there and turned it into a stage with a worldwide reputation. As a conductor and soloist, he worked at many venues, with many bands, participated in various music festivals. In his creative search, he prefers non-academic means, does not like psychological theater, cinema with beautiful actors, and is outraged by television and Internet addiction. Member of the Snob project since December 2008.
Birthday
Where he was born
Athens
Who was born
“I am an oriental person. One half of my history is Athenian, the other half is Constantinople.”
Where and what did you study
He graduated from the Faculty of Theory and Faculty of String Instruments of the First Greek Conservatory in Athens. He studied vocals at the Athens Academy.
Since 1994, he studied at the conducting department of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with Professor Ilya Musin.
“My teacher Ilya Musin once told me: “If you say that you know all the music, then you have exactly three days left to live.”
Where and how did you work?
He was chief conductor of the Musica Aeterna Ensemble in Athens, then assistant conductor in the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.
Since 2003 he has been a permanent conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia under the direction of Vladimir Spivakov.
“I remember how I lost my job, I was looking for it all over Moscow and no one wanted to take me. Only one amazing person, Vladimir Spivakov, allowed me to conduct the National Philharmonic Orchestra.”
Musical director and chief conductor of the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
"The Novosibirsk theater is one of the best in Russia, the third after the Bolshoi Theater and the Mariinsky Theater."
What did he do
In 2002, he became the conductor-producer of the world premiere of the Russian opera performance "The Blind Swallow" by A. Shchetinsky in Lokkum (Germany) as part of a music festival.
He staged the ballet The Fairy's Kiss by I. Stravinsky (choreographer Alla Sigalova) at the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
As a conductor and soloist, he took part in the concert programs of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, and the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra. Repeatedly performed at festivals in Colmar (France), Bangkok, London, Ludwigsburg, Miami.
Achievements
On the basis of the academic theater, he created the Musica Aeterna Ensemble chamber orchestra and The New Siberian Singers choir, specializing in historical performance.
“When I created Musica Aeterna, I did not select only the best of the best. I called like-minded people. Which do not stop the rehearsal "on call" and do not immediately run about their business. I need people who think about music day and night, even if they play a little less accurately and strictly than some of their colleagues - indifferent techies.
public affairs
Co-organizer of the festival of contemporary art "Territory". Conducted at a concert for patients of the First Moscow Hospice.
“I am friends with Chulpan Khamatova. I called her ... and I said: "There is such a hospice here, do you know someone there so that we can go play?" And that's it. We agreed and came."
Public acceptance
Special Jury Prize of the National Theater Award "Golden Mask" (2007) for the production of the ballet "Cinderella" at the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Important life events
In 2007, as part of the "Offering to Svyatoslav Richter" project, he presented to the public "Requiem" by G. Verdi, changing the usual interpretation and bringing the composition of the instruments closer to that which sounded at the premiere in 1874.
“I gave more than half of my life to Verdi's Requiem. From the age of 15 I thought about it, then looked closely at the singers, rehearsed. This dream was superimposed on my interest in early music, in baroque masters.”
Successful projects
Staged in 2004 at the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, G. Verdi's opera Aida won the Golden Mask award.
Known for being
He experiments with music, restores its authentic sound, feels poetry and mysticism in music and is not afraid of scandals.
"I fight stereotypes in music... My goal is for people to kiss at my concerts, go home filled with love, inspiration, hope."
“I am one of those people who strive to completely change the art of conducting.”
I love
“The West has always been guided by Aristotle, who showed the earth, the East - by Plato, who showed the sky. I am a Platonist. But this does not mean that I have a bad attitude towards Aristotle. He is also my ancestor, but Plato is closer to me.”
"Creative loneliness is necessary if I want to create a piece of music, I can't stand any other loneliness."
Well I don't like
“... I don’t like psychological theatre, I don’t like cinema where fundamentally beautiful actors play, I don’t like beauty in its purest form. It takes away from the essence of art.”
opera films
“Opera is already an unnatural phenomenon, and making an opera film is legitimizing the meaningless.”
television and virtual communication
“People get addicted to TV and the Internet. It seems to them that they communicate, but in fact they become isolated in their loneliness.
“TV is based on porn culture. On TV they show either black magic or porn. People on TV talk in such jargon that if Lermontov heard, he would cut his wrists.
And generally speaking
“...I never wanted to be a conductor. I conduct without a baton and consider myself not quite a conductor. I am a kind of poet, and maybe better than others, and in my own way I understand what needs to be done in music. I have something to say. In the case when I have nothing to say, I will simply stop playing music.
“...every day I try to destroy all the towers that I myself have built and built around me. A thorough destruction of one's own mythology is very important."
“... I am a very big romantic. But not in the sense that "landscape", "embankment", "my darling" ... My romance is exalted. Wild cats jumping on the piano, wild flowers with scents like incense - from the Baudelaire region.
Russian and Greek conductor, musician, actor.
Theodor Currentzis. Biography and creative path
Theodore Ioannis Currentzis was born on February 24, 1972 in Athens, Greece, in a family that had a great love for music. At the age of four, Theodor began to learn to play the piano, and from the age of seven, the violin.
Theo's mother took him to the opera from an early age, and in the morning she performed various works on the piano, including Schubert's sonatas, Mozart's sonatas. Rather, she played a leading role in her son's choice of his future profession.
Theodore's father was for some time a sailor, ship engineer, and then became a policeman. He also had a particular passion for music.
Teodor Currentzis: My childhood memories are associated with the music that my father listened to and felt. He often sang to me one folk song, beautiful and sad, about children who either left or died. I loved her and sobbed every time, but not with pain, but with some strange nostalgia. Along with that song, a sweet truth arose about life, about how valuable people are ...
When Theo was 15 years old, his parents separated, and his mother devoted herself entirely to raising her sons. Theodore has a younger brother, Evangelos, who also connected his later life with the art of music.
Theodore: Vangelino perfectly understands the secret language that exists between us. I taught him a lot - to feel music, to perceive beauty just like me. As a result, at some point he was my double... He lives in Prague, writes original music, including for theater and cinema. In some ways, he is a more open and bright person. Better than me. He often helps me to come to my senses, to return to those ideas that I once began to preach.
At the age of 12, he simultaneously entered two faculties (theoretical and stringed instruments) at the First Greek Conservatory in his homeland. He graduated from the first of the faculties in 1987, the second - a couple of years later. In the same conservatory in 1988-1989 he studied vocals, after which he became a student at the Athens Academy (Professor K. Paskalias), later taking master classes from G. Gabor. In 1990 Teodor Currentzis founded a chamber orchestra in Athens.
In 1994 he came to Russia, where he spent five years conducting under Ilya Musin, whose students at different times were Odysseus Dimitriadi, Valery Gergiev and Semyon Bychkov, at the State Conservatory named after N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. At the same time, he took part both in her concerts and in the programs of the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra. In 1999, he began to assist the conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.
Teodor Currentzis: The main culprit of what I am is the conductor Ilya Musin, with whom I studied in St. Petersburg. He worked a lot with movements, gestures. He explained that a conductor is both an artist and a director. It is important to first draw your idea, and then direct it ...
Subsequently, Currentzis began to actively cooperate with various orchestras, including Moscow Virtuosos, BSO, RNO and GASSO, New Russia, NPR, etc. Since the spring of 2004, he has been the music director and chief conductor of the Novosibirsk Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, where in 2003 he acted as a conductor-producer of the ballet "The Fairy's Kiss" by Igor Stravinsky, and a year later he staged Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida", which was then awarded the "Golden Mask".
In 2004, Teodor created a chamber orchestra on the basis of the NGATOiB Musica Aeterna Ensemble and choir The New Siberian Singers. These groups work in the field of historical performance.
Teodor Currentzis (from an interview in 2009): The Musica Aeterna orchestra I created in Novosibirsk and the New Siberian Singers choir is a free territory for young musicians who have not yet drowned in the “swan lakes” of the sterile art that surrounds us. This is an artistic commune… For my orchestra I am like a psychoanalyst. I do not ask to do something specific, but I say: “Here I do not need it to be loud or quiet. I wonder what her hair smelled like." The musicians turn on… It needs to be a common experience. There is a language of tricks that is understandable only to them, for example, “guts on the remote control” ...
In 2011 Teodor Currentzis headed the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, which in five years became the leader of the domestic theater scene and earned an enviable reputation abroad. The Musica Aeterna orchestra was applauded in the best European halls, and in 2016, as it happened before, the orchestra held the record for the number of nominations for the prestigious Golden Mask award.
Order of Friendship - 2008. "Golden Mask" - 2004, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015. Stroganov Prize - 2013.
In the spring of 2014, an experimental conductor and cosmopolitan Teodor Currentzis, who works at various venues with many bands, participates in a lot of music festivals, prefers non-academic means in his work, received Russian citizenship.
Theodor Currentzis. Filmography
Conduction (2015) (Himself)
Dau (2014) / Dau (Lev Landau, main role)
From the age of four he studied piano, from the age of seven he took violin lessons, and five years later he entered the theoretical faculty and the faculty of string instruments of the Greek Conservatory in Athens.
In 1987 he graduated from the Theoretical Faculty of the Hellenic Conservatory, in 1989 - the Faculty of String Instruments.
In 1988-1989 he studied vocals at the Greek Conservatory with Professor D. Arivas, continued his studies at the Academy of Athens with Professor K. Paskalias, and later attended the master classes of G. Gabor.
In 1990 he founded a chamber orchestra in Athens.
From 1994 to 1999 he studied conducting with Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. As a conductor and soloist, he took part in the concert programs of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, and the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra.
Creation
Since 1999, he has been an assistant conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.
Currentzis constantly collaborates with the Moscow Virtuosi Orchestra, the Grand Symphony Orchestra (BSO), the Russian National Orchestra (RNO), the State Academic Symphony Orchestra (SASO), the New Russia Orchestra. With the Pratum Integrum orchestra, which brought together the best Russian performers of early music on historical instruments, he prepared, performed and took part in the recording of the CD of the first Russian symphony - Symphony in C major by Maxim Berezovsky. Since 2003 he has been a permanent conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia (NPR).
Repeatedly performed at festivals in Colmar, Bangkok, Carton, London, Ludwigsburg, Miami.
Conductor-producer of the world premiere of the Russian opera performance "The Blind Swallow" by Alexander Shchetinsky (libretto by A. Parin) in Lokkum (Germany) as part of the 2002 music festival.
In October 2003, he acted as a conductor-producer of the ballet "The Fairy's Kiss" by Igor Stravinsky at the Novosibirsk Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (NGATOiB) (choreographer Alla Sigalova).
In March 2004, as a stage director, he staged Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida (directed by Dmitry Chernyakov) at the NGATOiB. The performance was awarded the Golden Mask award.
Since May 2004 - music director and chief conductor of the NSATOiB. In the same year, on the basis of the theater, he created the Musica Aeterna Ensemble chamber orchestra and The New Siberian Singers choir, which specialize in the field of historical performance.
In 2005 and 2006, he performed concert performances of the operas Dido and Aeneas by G. Purcell, Orpheus and Eurydice by C. V. Gluck (as revised by G. Berlioz), This is how everyone does it, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni "Mozart, in 2007 - "Cinderella" by G. Rossini.
At the beginning of the 2006-2007 season, he again acted as a conductor-producer of the performances of the NGATOiB - "The Wedding of Figaro" (stage director - Tatyana Gyurbach) and "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" (stage director - Genrikh Baranovsky).
Since the autumn of 2006, among the well-known young cultural figures, he has been a co-organizer of the festival of contemporary art "Territory".
On March 20, 2007, Teodor Currentzis presented Verdi's Requiem to the public as part of the "Offering to Svyatoslav Richter" project, changing the usual interpretation and bringing the composition of the instruments closer to that which sounded at the premiere in 1874.
In April 2007, the play "Cinderella" by NGATOiB became a laureate of the National Theater Award "Golden Mask". Teodor Currentzis, conductor and musical director of the ballet, was awarded the special jury prize "For the bright embodiment of the score by S. S. Prokofiev."
In addition to the interest in the music of composers of the Baroque and Classical eras, successful experiments in the field of authentic performance, Teodor Currentzis pays great attention to the music of our days in his work. Over the past few years, the conductor has performed more than 20 world premieres of works by Russian and foreign authors.
In the 2007-2008 season, the Moscow Philharmonic presented a personal subscription "Theodor Currentzis Conducts", the concerts of which were a resounding success.
In June 2008 he made his debut at the Paris National Opera as a stage director of G. Verdi's opera Don Carlos. In December 2008, he acted as musical director of the production of G. Verdi's opera "Macbeth" - a joint project of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater and the Paris National Opera. In April 2009, the premiere took place in Paris with great success.
Decree of the President of Russia Dm. Medvedev dated October 29, 2008, Teodor Currentzis, among cultural figures - citizens of foreign countries - was awarded the Order of Friendship.
From Season 2009-2010 Teodor Currentzis is a permanent guest conductor of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia. In November 2009, the premiere performances of A. Berg's opera Wozzeck (staged by Dm. Chernyakov) took place on the New Stage of the Bolshoi under the direction of Teodor Currentzis.
In January 2011, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Perm Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre. Together with him, some of the musicians of the Musica Aeterna Ensemble moved to Perm.
Movie
2009 - starred in I. Khrzhanovsky's biographical drama "Dau", - plays the role of Lev Landau.
Theodor Currentzis. Photo: Charis Akriviadis/EPA/Scanpix/LETA.
On October 23, Teodor Currentzis, a superstar conductor of Greek origin, Russian residence and global stature, will perform with his orchestra MusicAeterna at the Latvian National Opera.
Where does Europe begin? This geographically incorrect question will be answered without hesitation in the largest of the easternmost cities in our part of the world - in the Urals Perm. “Perm is the first city in Europe!” - such a flattering thesis for the townspeople gave rise to its place on the map. True, this place can be described in the opposite way: they say, Europe ends in Perm. However, in the last half dozen years, the supporters of the first point of view have an unkillable trump card. This is the name of the most famous Permian in the world and one of the most famous Russians in the world of contemporary music. Greek, born in Athens. Conductor, musician, cultural trader, frantic experimenter Teodor Currentzis.
true caliber
Recently, Robert Wilson, the most famous American theater director, said: "New York is a provincial city, because they don't know anything about Perm." In this phrase, there are actually more reasons for the patriotic pride of Russians than in all the reports from Moscow military parades, as well as reports on the launch of Kalibr missiles, taken together. But the merit is that the Americans Wilson and Peter Sellars, the Italian Romeo Castellucci, the Austrian Markus Hinterhäuser and other theatrical giants are now well aware of Perm, that Moscow snobs and millionaires are pouring into the premieres of performances in the gloomy industrial-prison-taiga Prikamye , belongs to one person. To the artistic director of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, who lives in a village house an hour's drive from the city, but at the same time constantly moves somewhere between Vienna, Salzburg and other musical capitals of the planet. An undoubted and sincere Russian patriot, who still speaks Russian with a rather strong accent.The case of Currentzis says a lot about the role of the individual not even in history, but in geography. “It’s a lot of fun when you fly to conduct the Vienna Opera from Perm, and not from Paris,” he notes in an interview, not without panache. The frenzied activity of the maestro eliminates geographic distances and familiar cultural hierarchies. At the time of his work at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater (currentzis was its main director in the 2000s), he thundered with Verdi's Macbeth: Moscow director Dmitry Chernyakov staged the opera, the Paris National Opera actively participated in the project, and artists from the most different cities and countries. Currentzis called the Moscow composer Dmitry Kurlyandsky, the Greek director Theodoros Terzopoulos to Perm to stage the opera Nosferatu, and the British observer said about the result: “Even in London you rarely see such a bold and radical performance both in music and in staging.” I was no less impressed by the boldness and radicalism of the staging in Perm of what seems to be a textbook "La Traviata" (it was directed by Robert Wilson) - in the work on which Danes, Austrians, and Luxembourgers also participated.
And these are just a few examples from the endless track record of Currentzis, about which the aforementioned Markus Hinterhäuser, intendant of the prestigious Salzburg Festival, said simply (of the conductor and his orchestra): “At the moment, there is nothing better in the world.”
“I conquer the capitals of the world from my village,” states Theodore. - And you tell me which of the Moscow orchestras performs at the Salzburg Festival? No one will offer a Russian orchestra to play Mozart in Salzburg and Mahler in Vienna or Provence. And that's exactly what we're doing."
Press photo.
His self-importance is understandable and deserved: this summer, Currentzis and his Perm orchestra and the MusicAeterna choir (however, musicians from different countries play in the orchestra) opened the opera program of the Salzburg Festival with the Mercy of Titus staged by the American director-master Peter Sellars. Salzburg is perhaps the main music festival in the world, and "Mercy" is one of the last two operas of the local genius of Mozart's place. The work of the 18th century in the Permian-American interpretation has turned into a statement on topical contemporary topics (for example, the topic of refugees), and even has undergone its own musical changes. Journalists wrote: showing this in Mozart's homeland is like a chef from Russia coming to a restaurant with centuries-old traditions in the center of Vienna and saying: "Now I will show you how to cook schnitzel." However, the production was a resounding success.
This year, Currentzis held the traditional Perm Diaghilev Festival (Teodor is its artistic director), signed a contract with the famous German SWR Orchestra (from the 2018/19 season he will be its chief conductor), and a concert at the Latvian National Opera, which will be held as part of "Baltic Musical Seasons", his joint tour with pianist Alexander Melnikov will begin in Europe.
Orchestral and flying cymbals
In 2017, the name of Currentzis is constantly heard in the media - but it has been heard in them (at least in Russian ones) more or less constantly for many years. This is facilitated by the director's amazing performance, and his tireless innovation (often provocative), and, of course, his very figure: extravagant, imposing, highly attractive to journalists and the public.The conductor is generally a public profession, and Currentzis behaves no less artistically in front of cameras and voice recorders than his fellow theatergoers from the acting department. A 45-year-old tall brunette with an unusual appearance for Russia and with a piquant accent, he participates in glamorous photo shoots, releases a perfume of his own name, willingly gives interviews to various publications, including glossy ones. They call Theodore the "black prince" and mention his reputation as a heartthrob. As a result, Russian Google immediately strives to supplement the query like this: “Teodor Currentzis, wife” - the girls, therefore, are interested and, perhaps, count on something.
Brightness, catchiness, showiness are characteristic of everything the conductor does. Whether it's the avant-garde La Traviata, concerts where listeners can lie on the floor and receive programs at the exit, Currentzis's manner of conducting or his own manner of dressing. “Now he is wearing a strict black jacket, but the stage image of the maestro is usually very theatrical and thought out to the smallest detail,” writes Russian Vogue. - Clothes - only black or white. Legs are pulled into almost ballet tights and boots with lacing, a shirt with wide sleeves and cuffs a la Don Juan. With hair, too, something intriguing.
In articles about the maestro, the adjectives “mysterious”, “mystical”, even “alien” flicker. Which, in general, is natural - since we are talking about a resident of the Urals, the Russian metropolis of mysticism and ufology. Old-timers, like me, should remember the cycle of reports "M-sky Triangle", which once glorified the Riga newspaper "Soviet Youth" throughout the Union. It was about contacts with aliens, behind the mysterious letter “M” there was hiding the village of Molebka of the then Perm Region - to this day it claims to be the mecca of ufonauts and ufomans.
One may not believe in specific Ural miracles, but one cannot but admit that the Urals are a wonderland. The writer Olga Slavnikova, a native of Sverdlovsk, sang a special Ural (“Riphean”, as it is called in the novel “2017”) type: a passionary, an idealist, an eccentric, a contactee with extraterrestrial and otherworldly entities. “The thinking of a true Riphean is fantastic thinking,” she says. The one who maximally corresponds to the spirit of this earth, who breaks away as far as possible from the Earth in general, from solid ground, flat reality. Born in hot yellow Attica, having lived for twenty-two years on the shores of the Aegean Sea, the Greek Currentzis, according to this definition, is one hundred percent Riphean, Uralian.
Idealist and ascetic, caught even in the messianic. A mystic who gives journalists business cards with the inscription Dreamer of dreams (“Dreamer of dreams” in his own translation) and explains: “The real life in which we live is in harmony with the world of dreams.” A hoaxer who can casually tell an interviewer that he sometimes looks into the past.
“I called Brahms yesterday, and he told me how to perform it,” the conductor drops in a dispute with fellow musicians. This is, of course, a joke. But it is unlikely that Currentzis is ironic, explaining his own “superpower” as follows: “My intuition is close to mysticism - that which connects us with another world.”
Speaking about music, he often resorts to metaphors from the field of magic and alchemy. The word "alien" in the mouth of Theodore is a high praise for the performer and composer. So he calls Stravinsky, whom he considers "the greatest artist of the 20th century" for his musical radicalism, the ability to go against the established rules. “Stravinsky was kind of like an alien,” Currentzis says. “But this is the real voice of Russia.” Exactly the same can be said about him.
Hundred-ruble opera
Look into the past, break the usual rules: for Currentzis himself, both are something like a credo. On the one hand, he is known as an innovator, even a provocateur, an adherent of music and theater of the future, on the other hand, as a kind of reenactor trying to reproduce old works in the form they were once conceived and sounded. After all, centuries ago, the instruments were different, the music sounded differently, the opera scenery and costumes looked different - hence the legendary performance of Mozart on violins with gut strings and other historical meticulousness of Currentzis, which seems no less a radical gesture than the performance of cutting-edge avant-garde works.“Informal from classical art”, as it is called, Currentzis is closely within the traditional framework and boundaries, he tries at least to go beyond them, at the maximum - to erase them. For example, to erase the boundary between the stage and the auditorium, which the conductor directly calls his goal. The Laboratory of the Modern Spectator operates at his Perm theater, introducing the audience to the working process of musicians. These are lectures, master classes, rehearsals, to which outsiders are allowed. “Only by seeing and hearing all the stages of work on a work, one can understand what the composer has invested in it,” says Currentzis. - In general, my goal is to erase the boundary between the stage and the audience. I want to create the feeling that we are all together, the orchestra and the audience, making music.”
Consistent democratism in celebrities is as infrequent as it is attractive. Adhering to leftist convictions in his Greek youth, going to demonstrations, Currentzis even now, not without pride, albeit ironically, calls his Perm theater "absolutely communist." In the Russian capitals, Theodore's concerts are famous for sky-high ticket prices - but he himself complains that he has no power over pricing in the touring process, and claims that in Perm you can listen to him for 100 rubles. At the current exchange rate, one and a half euros.
By the way, he rarely performs in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Having worked in Siberia and the Urals for a decade and a half, he is generally a convinced patriot of the province. In it, according to the conductor, money and status considerations weigh much less on the performers, in it the musical policy is more flexible and not so crushed by tradition.
However, it is impossible not to pay attention to the disadvantages of Russian provincial life even as Currentzis. World-famous thanks to him, the Perm Theater has almost the smallest stage of all the opera houses in Russia. “Musicians rehearse in gyms, ballet does not fit on the stage, and the roof is blown away by the wind,” is how Currentzis describes preparations for premieres that delight Western theatergoers and Moscow oligarchs. By 2020, the Perm Opera House is promising to build a new stage, and the conductor is forced to back up his agreements with them by threatening to leave Perm if the promise is not kept.
Theater of the Permian period
However, it all started for Currentzis just in the capitals. In the capital of Greece, where he was born in 1972, he entered the Greek Conservatory, graduated from its musicological faculty and the faculty of stringed instruments. In the northern capital of Russia, where he came in the first half of the 1990s to study with the legendary teacher Ilya Musin. “Petersburg educator of conductors, he seems to have taught everyone, including the current leaders of the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi,” they write about Musin; and if there is something that unites such dissimilar Russian stars as Gergiev and Currentzis, then this is studying with Ilya Alexandrovich.In the 2000s, Teodor managed to work in Moscow with the orchestras of Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Spivakov, with the Bolshoi Theater - but since 2003, the name of Currentzis begins to sound in connection with loud, even sensational premieres in distant Novosibirsk. In the same place, in 2004, the MusicaAeterna orchestra appeared, which the conductor now calls “special forces” (“This is a team of outstanding musicians who gather to transform the musical system. The strength and passion of the performance that they give is something amazing. They are like special forces in that").
Currentzis ended up in Perm in 2011. Under the then young, ambitious governor Oleg Chirkunov, they tried to turn the scary industrial city into the cultural capital of Russia - including through the efforts of invited enthusiasts. Little came of this. Moscow gallerist Marat Gelman became a personal enemy of the Permian patriots and was eventually fired from his post as director of the Museum of Modern Art he had created. Chirkunov was also soon expelled from public service. And only Curentzis, appointed at that time as the artistic director of the Perm Opera House, is still in his post.
To understand how a single extravagant Greek influenced the reputation of the harsh Ural millionaire, we can compare two passages. Here is what Aleksey Ivanov, a Permian writer (and a great patriot of the Urals!), said about his hometown and the area where he lived, the author of “The Heart of Parma” and “Tobol”: “You can’t walk here alone in the evening. Not long ago, by the side of the path I walk down when I'm plotting, a gas station guard and a girl operator were shot dead at night at a gas station for thirty thousand in proceeds. Not far from the house of my student, they dug up the corpse of his classmate. By the way, at the local school where I worked, a gang of schoolchildren was identified, which accounted for eleven murders. If I take a collective photo of the students who went to my local history circle, a third can be safely crossed out: he hanged himself, they killed him, they sat down ... "
And here is what a Moscow glossy magazine wrote less than a year ago: “Now the most demanding audience from all over Russia and the real figures of world art flock to the Diaghilev Festival in Perm. Theatrical legends walk the streets of Perm: directors Peter Sellars and Bob Wilson. In the dumpling shop one could meet the radical performance artist Romeo Castellucci. And for a bowl of soup in the Ural Hotel - the quartermaster of the Vienna and Salzburg festivals Markus Hinterhäuser.
The Perm festival bears the name of Diaghilev not by chance - the organizer of the "Russian Seasons", who grew up on the Kama, stunned Paris, until recently was the main symbol of the involvement of the Ural province in the big cultural world. True, Pyotr Vail, having visited Perm, wrote that Diaghilev "left it into the world and will never return." But - turned out to be wrong. Diaghilev is back, at least with the most popular festival of his name; moreover, the world itself came to provincial Perm.
True, the person who made this happen did not receive Russian citizenship until many years after the application was submitted (although by the time it was submitted, he was already a world celebrity). It cannot be compared with the speed with which Depardieu and Segal were recognized by the Russians - for nothing that for those it was pure clownery, and Currentzis for decades raised (and how successfully!) The international prestige of Russian culture.
When this Greek speaks of his Russian patriotism, you suddenly realize how rare a case is in front of you in modern times - a declaration not of loyalty to the authorities, not of belonging to an aggressive majority, but of real idealism: “Perhaps I am overly romantic, but I really believe that Russia is a country that was created to make people dream, to set new tasks for the future. After all, reality does not exist apart from us, it is formed, among other things, from our participation. I believe that Russia can still give a lot to humanity.”
By the way, for all his undoubted romanticism, Currentzis is by no means an overworld dreamer. He has a civic temperament, which he proved by writing an open letter in support of Boris Mezdrich, director of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater (he was fired after a scandal with the Tannhäuser opera, which was considered insufficiently moral by the local Orthodox community).
There, the conductor writes among other things: “Show me the state of cultural life in your country, and I will tell you what the future holds for you.” At a time when Tannhauser is banned, Nureyev is canceled, Matilda is being burned, these words are hardly optimistic. But the fact that Currentzis is working in the same country at the same time and enjoying incredible success allows us to believe that not everything is hopeless.
