Open-air premiere of A. Lorzing's opera "The Tsar and the Carpenter, dedicated to the 350th anniversary of Peter the Great's birth"
On July 20, 2022 a grand open-air performance took place in the framework of the XI St. Petersburg International Festival "Opera for Everybody".
For the first time the opera "The King and the Carpenter" by German composer Albert Lorzing directed by German and Russian director Hans-Joachim Frey in cooperation with conductor-director Fabio Mastrangelo was staged in the open air.
The Tsar and the Carpenter, written by Albert Lorzinger, an eminent master of the German romantic school and the founder of German comic opera, is the first Western reference to the image of the Russian tsar, based on an authentic episode from the biography of Peter the Great. During his travels in Europe, Peter the Great visited the cities and lands of Saxony more than once.
The play, structured on the principle of the zingspiel, is full of witty dialogues, relief characters, including a buffoonish burgomaster, a lyrical love couple, the majestic wise Peter the Great and the unexpected public appearance of the young tsar - the denouement of intrigue - is rightly considered one of the best rarities of 19th century romantic opera.
The premiere took place in Kronstadt in front of the St. Nicholas Cathedral on Anchor Square and was dedicated to the 350th anniversary of the birth of Peter the Great.
The project - an opera "The Tsar and the Carpenter" - was highly appreciated by experts in the field of culture and art and was a winner of the Grant Competition of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives.
The organizers and participants of the project are as follows: Hans-Joachim Frey, Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Bridge of Arts Foundation, Stage Director and Initiator of the project, Artistic Director of Sirius - Talent and Success Foundation, Advisor to General Director of The Bolshoi Theatre, Fabio Mastrangelo, Project Conductor, Artistic Director of St Petersburg State Music Hall Theatre, Peter Okunev, Project Stage Designer, Chief Stage Designer at Primorsky Krai Theatre, and the Foundation for Support of Projects at Mariinsky Theatre.
In the autumn this major opera production will be transported to the stage of the St Petersburg Music Hall Theatre, where it will continue to be performed in the theater's repertoire.
The opera production of The Tsar and the Carpenter has become a landmark event not only in a series of anniversary events dedicated to the great reformer and founder of St. Petersburg, but also in the entire cultural life of St. Petersburg and Russia.
