National Opera's plans and ambitions for 2010-2011 season

The National Opera and Ballet Theater has presented its projects for 2010-2011 season, including 3 openings, one being a ballet on Freddie Mercury's music, and several plays for children, Info-Prim Neo reports. Theater director Valeria Seican has held a press conference. She considers the opening of Rimsky-Korsakov's “Tzar's wife” (in Russian), in three versions of cast, with local actors, as the Theater's biggest achievement. “It's a very difficult opera. Even in Russia very few theaters include it in their programs. It will diversify our repertoire, which was based mainly on works of Ceaikovski, Puccini, Verdi”, she said. The opening will take place on October 22, 23 and 24. Opera singer Elena Gherasim stressed “Tzar's wife” was “Rimsky-Korsakov's most appreciated opera”. Besides, its practical importance is that it involves 30 singers, including 3 newly-hired sopranos. This will ensure the National Opera deals with possible personnel issues in the future. Another ambitious project is staging “The Bat” operetta by Johann Strauss II in December, in cooperation with Vienna State Opera. In 2011, the opening of Verdi's “Othello” is planned. Besides, an interesting surprise will be the ballet based on Freddie Mercury's music. The program for kids includes “Cippolino”, “Doctor Ouch!-it-hurts”, “Seven dwarfs”, “Peter Pan” and others. An experiment announced by Victoria Seican is the sale of tickets for general rehearsals at a price of 15 lei, compared to 30-50 for shows and 50-300 for openings and festivals. The 2010-2011 season of the National Opera and Ballet Theater was opened with “Aida” opera, during the 18th edition of the International Festival of Opera and Ballet Stars “Maria Biesu invites...”, which took place between September 10 and 17.