Days of Russian Arts in Sardinia

The opera theater of Cagliari (Sardinia) opens its season by the premiere of Tchaikovsky's Oprichnik. According to Italian tradition, the opera is sung in the original language. The show will be performed by Russian singers, conductor - Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

The theater's director Graham Vick said on Friday that it was the fourth time that Cagliari Theater chose rare operas for opening season. Oprichnik will be on for the whole January.

Tchaikovsky's opera was first staged on April 24, 1874, in St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater. The libretto was written after Ivan Lazhechnikov's book of the same name and narrates about the reign of Ivan the Terrible (second half of the 16th century).

Oprichnik is not the only work to be performed by Russian musicians in Cagliari.

A concert of the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yury Temirkanov will take place there on Saturday and Sunday. They will play Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev.

This is not the first time that Russians perform in Cagliari. In early January, 2000, Tchaikovsky's opera Cherevichki was performed at the Cagliari Opera with Rozhdestvensky conducting.