On April 27, 2023, graduates of Russian and Italian conservatories united in an international project to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the great Russian writer and playwright Alexander Ostrovsky in the concert hall of the Russian House in Rome.
The event was held with the support of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly and the Peace and Harmony Social Initiatives Foundation.
“The Snow Maiden” by Ostrovsky is a casket full of precious deposits of Russian folklore. The opera tells about Russian folk traditions, shows folk costumes in all their glory, it is also full of philosophical meaning.
“The parts created by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov are extremely difficult to perform, and the music literally breathes in spring. Thanks to the skill of the performers and musicians, our audience plunged into the magical world of opera, which, unfortunately, is extremely rarely performed in Italy,” said Daria Pushkova, Director of the Russian House in Rome.
The musical part was preceded by a video tour of the exposition of the Museum of the Moscow Art Academic Theater (MKhAT), presented by the director of the museum, Sofia Gracheva. After all, the opera “The Snow Maiden” by Ostrovsky became one of the very first productions of the Moscow Art Theater, which in October of this year celebrates its 125th anniversary.
“Today, we have a lot of exhibits related to the premiere of “The Snow Maiden” at the Moscow Art Theater: costumes, photographs of actors, a model of theatrical scenery, props used during the production, which were collected by the artist and stage designer Viktor Simov during an ethnographic expedition to the north of Russia”, - said Sofia Gracheva.