On Thursday 24th April at 8pm (session A), at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the 2008 Opera and Ballet Season and the VIII Festival di Sant’Efisio will be opened with The legend of the invisibile city of KiteÂ? and the maiden Fevronija, in four acts with libretto by Vladimir Bel’skij and music by Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov. It is a new staging by the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari in co-production with the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.

Once again the Opera and Ballet Season will be inaugurated with an Italian premiere or rare production: The Teatro Lirico di Cagliari continues, into 2008, on its journey that began ten years ago in 1998 with Die Feen (The Fairies) by Richard Wagner (the live recording for Dynamic was awarded the critics prize for recording of the year), following in 1999 with Dalibor by Bedřich Smetana, in 2000 with Čerevički (Gli stivaletti) by Pëtr Il’ič Čajkovskij, in 2001 with Die ägyptische Helena (Elena egizia) by Richard Strauss, in 2002 with Euryanthe by Carl Maria von Weber, in 2003 with Opričnik by Pëtr Il’ič Čajkovskij, in 2004 with Alfonso und Estrella by Franz Schubert, in 2005 with Oedipe by George Enescu, in 2006 with Chérubin by Jules Massenet and in 2007 with Die Vögel by Walter Braunfels, all recorded in collaboration with Dynamic.

The opera will be performed, in Russian with Italian surtitles, by two prestigious casts of singers specialized in this repertoire who will alternate for the performances: Michail Kazakov/Igor Mathiukin (26th, 29th) (Principe Jurij Vsevolodovič), Vitaly Panfilov/Roman Muravitskij (26th, 29th) (Principe Vsevolodov), Tatiana Monogarova/Tatiana Smirnova (26th, 29th) (Fevronija), Mikhail Gubskij/Vitalij Tarashenko (26th, 29th) (Griška Kuter’ma), Gevork Hakobyan/Albert Schagidullin (26th, 29th) (Feodor Pojarok), Marika Gulordava (Un giovinetto), Riccardo Ferrari (Bardo), Stefano Consolini (Domatore di Orsi), Valerij Gilmanov (Bediaj), Alexander Naumenko (Burundaj), Rosanna Savoia (Sirin), Elena Manistina (Alkonost), Gianluca Floris (Primo Ricco Borghese), Marek Kalbus (Secondo Ricco Borghese), Alessandro Senes (a beggar), Mirko Dettori (First commoner), Victor Garcia (Second commoner).

The new staging in Cagliari is directed by the outstanding Eimuntas Nekrosius, the Russian artist of genius, well-known in the performing world for having directed important theatrical productions. Marius Nekrosius has been entrusted with the scenography (has designed the set) and Nadezda Gultiajeva with the costumes, while the lights are arranged by Audrius Jankauskas.

The Teatro Lirico di Cagliari Orchestra will be directed by the conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Alexander Vedernikov. The Chorus Master is Fulvio Fogliazza.


The opera The legend of the invisibile city of KiteÂ? and the maiden Fevronija was first staged on 7th February 1907 at the Mariinskij Theatre in St Petersburg. It was met with extraordinary enthusiasm and its success soon spread over the Russian border reaching Europe, and therefore Italy, where it was performed for the first time on 30th December 1933 at the Scala Theatre in Milan. The opera was last performed in Italy at the 53rd Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 1990 and was designed, visually, entirely by Pier Luigi Pizzi.

This demanding production of the masterpiece by Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov (1844-1908), put on by the Cagliari theatre, on the centennial of his death, is intended as a tribute to Russian patriotism, to the pre-Christian Slavonic mythology and to the Orthodox faith. These details can be found side by side in this magnificent musical composition and are told with the customary rigour, sensitivity and deep awareness of Eimuntas Nekrosius, the greatest interpreter of Russian dramaturgy of our times.

The legend of the invisibile city of KiteÂ? and the maiden Fevronija will also be performed on Saturday 26th April at 7pm (session G), Sunday 27th April at 5pm (session D), Tuesday 29th April at 8.00pm (session F), Wednesday 30th April at 8.00pm (session B), Friday 2nd May at 8.00pm (session C) and Sunday 4th May at 5pm (session E).

The 2008 Opera and Ballet Season is subsidized by the Fondazione Banco di Sardegna and is accomplished in collaboration with the Azienda e Vigneto Feudi della Medusa.




Awaiting The Legend of the Invisibile City of KiteÂ? and the Virgin Fevronija