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War at the Bolshoi

Tom Parfitt

Prima donna blasts "shameless" show

Moscow: The Bolshoi Theatre has been plunged into scandal after one of its celebrated sopranos branded a production of Tchaikovsky's Yevgeny Onegin an "obscenity."

Galina Vishnevskaya, 79, said she had "cried in humiliation" after attending the premiere by director Dmitry Chernyakov. "To the end of my days I will not escape my shame at participating in that public desecration of our sacred national treasure," she told the Bolshoi's management in a letter. This is the latest controversy over radical contemporary productions at the Bolshoi. Last year the lower house tried to halt an allegedly "pornographic" production called Rosenthal's Children.

Yevgeny Onegin, the tragic tale of a 19th-century nobleman who kills his friend in a duel, is seen as sacrosanct in Russia's operatic repertoire.

Vishnevskaya called off plans for an 80th birthday party at the Bolshoi in protest at the opera's "completely deformed" main characters. The prima donna had been due to entertain friends on the Bolshoi's new second stage on October 26. Her own glittering career began with a debut on the main stage playing Tatyana in Yevgeny Onegin in 1953.

In her letter she said Chernyakov's interpretation of the classic, written by Pushkin, filled her with horror at the "shamelessness" on display. "I will never go to that theatre again."

The new production had its premiere last month, drawing a mixed reaction. Some said it was more faithful to Tchaikovsky's original small-scale chamber opera performed in 1879.

Vishnevskaya, who performed across the world until the early 1980s, said she did not expect any response.

But, in a calculated riposte, the Bolshoi scheduled an extra performance of the opera, on the night of her party.

Chernyakov was unavailable for comment, but the Bolshoi general director, Anatoly Iksanov, who has robustly defended radical productions, said: "Everyone has the right to decide where to celebrate his or her birthday. Some tend to do it at home."

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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War at the Bolshoi

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