Facts from the history

About the theatre

The Musical theatre of the Republic of Karelia is located in a building, which was built according to the project of architects E. N. Chechik, A. P. Maksimov and S. G. Brodsky. A pediment and friezes are decorated with the works of a famous Russian sculpture S. T. Konenkov. On November 5th in 1955 the theatre opened its first season with the first night of operetta «The Free Wind» by Isaak Dunaevsky. For half a century in the repertoire of the theatre works of all music-and-theatre genres in the repertoire: opera and ballet, musical comedies and musicals, classical and modern operetta were presented. From 2006 to 2009 the major reconstruction was carried out in the theatre building. Simultaneously, a significant amount of work was done to form the vocal and ballet companies, chorus, and orchestra. Today the Musical theatre of the Republic of Karelia is the largest stage of the Republic. The audience hall is designed for 608 spectator seats.  The company of actors, creative professionals and technical staff amounts to more than 300 persons. The repertoire is based on opera and ballet performances. The People’s artist of Russia Yuri Alexandrov is a principal Guest Stage Director. Anna Osipenko is a main Stage Director. The Honored Arts Worker of Karelia Kirill Simonov is the Artistic Director of the Ballet. Mikhail Sinkevich is the Chief Conductor of the theatre. The theatre is headed by the Honored Culture Worker, the Managing Director Elena Larionova.

Large-scale performances, such as operas «La Traviata», "Carmen", «Eugene Onegin», «The Queen of Spades», «Cavalleria rusticana», «Die Zauberflöte », ballets «Swan Lake», «The Nutcracker» ( a reconstruction of the first production of 1892 in The Mariinsky Theatre), «Romeo and Juliet» and "Cinderella», "Anna Karenina", Coppélia", "Giselle", «Don Quixote», operettas «Mister X», «Die Fledermaus» and «Die Csárdásfürstin» are publicly successful. Specially for the Theatre an opera «Karelian Prisoner» and a musical fairy tale «Nasto, the Beauty» were created.


Professional achievements

The theatre is a permanent participant of different festivals. Participation in «The Golden Mask»  National Theatre Award and Festival became a significant event in the theatre  life. The prize winners in different years were a ballet soloist Vladimir Varnava, for his performance as Merkuccio (ballet «Romeo and Juliet») and a lightning designer Aleksandr Mustonen (ballet «Cinderella»). Several times performances were nominated for the award and entered the long-list of «The Golden Mask». The performances of the Musical theatre are regularly included in the regional program «The Golden Mask»- the best performances in Russian cities». Since the year 2000 the leading theatres, which works are awarded, come to Petrozavodsk: The Mikhailovsky Theater, State Theater of Nations, The Big Drama Theater named after Georgy Tovstonogov, The Russian Academic Youth Theater, The Moscow Young Generation Theater, Mossovet State Academic Theatre, Theater "Tabakerka" and etc.

In 2016 the theater was honored to open the First Festival of Music Theatres of Russia «To See Music» in Moscow with an opera « Die Zauberflöte».  In 2018 at this festival a ballet «Coppélia» was performed . Also in 2018 a performance «Anna Karenina» opened the VI  International Festival of Modern Choreography in Krasnodar.  In the program of National Festival of Theatre Arts for Children «Harlequin» there were performances «The Black Hen» » and «The Nutcracker» (ballet master and art director Kirill Simonov and Vladimir Varnava became the laureates of the «Harlequin» national theatre award. The Musical theater also participated in the International Arts Festival of Northern cities "Parallels" in Norilsk and the International Festival of National Cultures in Kostomuksha «Kanteletar».

The Musical theatre is a permanent partner in federal project «Bolshie Gastroli» in which performance of leading Russian theatres are regularly shown on the stage. Among them there are Theater named after Evgeny Vakhtangov, Maly Theater, theater «Satyricon», Mayakovsky Theater and other leading Russian creative groups.

The performance of the Musical theatre of Karelia  were watched by audience from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Murmansk, Saratov, Ekaterinburg, Cherepovets, Izhevsk, Orenburg, as well as Belarus, Finland and Norway. The soloists of capital theatres of opera and ballet with great pleasure participate in the productions of the Musical theatre. The stars of the world opera scene performed with the Theatre’s orchestra with a big concert program on the stage of The Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia. The performances and the actors of the Musical theatre were more than once the laureates of the Republican Theatre Award «The Onego Mask. In 2019 the Musical theater became organized the significant theatre events in the Republic of Karelia. They are International Festival of Modern Choreography «Nord Dance», which includes creative teams working in the genre of modern dance from Russia, Norway and Finland, Festival of Young Opera Stars «Opera Vita», which central figure became Nadezhda Pavlova, who started her career on the Karelian stage and nowadays she is the Russian opera star. Both festivals are carried out regularly. Due to all these events, due to participation of the theatre in a national cultural process, Karelian audience can become acquainted with main theatre events of Russia and feel like a part of a cultural life of the country , and the Musical theatre is being recognized o the highest level of professional evaluation and deservedly stands high in the rating of Russian theatres.

The company

The ballet company of the Musical theatre is one of the youngest in Russia. Since 2004 it’s conducted by Kirill Simonov, one of the choreographers who shape the modern dancing art. The ballet company consists of graduates of the Academy of Russian Ballet named after A. Vaganova and choreography colleges of Ulan-Ude, Perm, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Ufa cities, dancers from Japan and Kirgizia. The actors work in various genres: from classical dance to contemporary dance. Nowadays the high level of professionalism of the theatre’s ballet company allows it to participate in prestigious international festivals and to compete with the leading Russian and world ballet companies. Honored artists of Karelia, laureates and award winners of All-Russian and international contests, creative young people are working in the opera company. No doubt, the most attractive factor for them is the opportunity to cooperate with such an outstanding opera director as Y.I. Alexandrov. His creative personality and the highest level of professional mastery attracted a lot of best young singers of Russia to Petrozavodsk. Nowadays the company presents sophisticated musical performances, and it plans to continue mastering the world opera repertoire. Anna Osipenko, who started leading the company in 2020 is changing a familiar the format of an opera genre, modernizing aesthetics of performing, charging the stage and audience with energy. The brilliance of talented young vocalists, freedom from erroneous genre clichés and originality that are inherent to the company make the opera performances of the Musical theatre of the Republic of Karelia modern and up-to-date.