Opera and Ballet Theatre (Minsk)

Big Opera and Ballet Theatre

The National Academic Big Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus is located in a park in the Trinity Banlieu of the city of Minsk. Local people call it the "Opierny Teatr" (Belarusian) or the "Opera and Ballet Theatre". It opened on May 15, 1933 but it first didn't have its own building and performed at the Belarusian Drama Theatre building until 1938.

History

The first stationary theater was founded in Belarus in 1933 on the basis of the Belarusian opera and ballet school. The list of brilliant performances staged in the theater was opened with Bizet's Carmen. Several highly professional soloists and dancers were added to the troupe in the first few years at this location. "The Swan Lake", performed by K. Muller, was the first show on the scene of the new theater building. Theater's performances at the Decade of Belarusian Art in Moscow turned to be a great success. The theater didn't stop working even during the war (it worked in Nizhny Novgorod till Minsk Liberation in 1944, than in Kovrov).

During this time the repertoire was greatly enriched. The most famous operas staged in this theater are "Boris Godunov" by Modest Mussorgsky, "Othello" and "Don Carlo" by Giuseppe Verdi, "Hoffman's Fairy Tales" by Jacques Offenbach, "Sadko" and "Golden Cockerel" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, "Lohengrin" by Richard Wagner and many other masterpieces of the world art. Nowadays you can see new interpretations of classical plays like "Carmen" and "Boris Godunov" as well as traditional performances.

Today

The theater tours a lot and is welcomed in many countries all over the world. In Spain, Russia, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Israel, Portugal, China opera admirers are well acquainted with the repertoire of this Belarus theater. The theater's participation in the well-known annual festival in Germany called Classic Open Air has already become traditional. It should be mentioned, that in 1996 State Theater was divided in two independent theaters: National Academic Bolshoi Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus and National Academic Opera Theatre of Belarus.

Building

Current theater building was opened in 1939. It was designed by Belarus architect Joseph Langbard. His original design was only partially implemented and some design details were omitted yielding to financial and other problems.

The theatre building has reliefs by Zair Azgur.

It was recently renovated and reopened in 2009. Many sculptures were added around the theater, its stage was slightly moved and audience space expanded. The latest theater lighting and motion equipment was added while adhering to the original design by Joseph Langbard.

External links

• Belarus National Theater of Opera and Ballet (in Russian)

Media related to Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 53°54′37″N 27°33′41″E / 53.91028°N 27.56139°E / 53.91028; 27.56139