Live, Fight and Create - National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of Belarus

14 june 2024

Interesting

The National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of Belarus was established in 1933 as the State Opera and Ballet Theater of Belarus on the basis of the Belarusian Opera and Ballet Studio. In the 1930s three national operas were staged - "U Pushchakh Palesya" by A. Bogatyrev, "Mihas Padgorny" (2nd edition) by E. Tikotsky and "Kvetka Shchastsya" by A. Turenkov.

The most important event for the national culture and theater was the staging of the first Belarusian ballet "Salavey" by M. Kroshner based on the story by Z. Byaduli (1939, 1951), which laid the foundation of the history of the ballet of national themes in Belarus. In June 1940 the theater's performances were a great success within the framework of the Decade of Belarusian Art in Moscow.

During the Great Patriotic War, many actors of the theater went to the front or joined the partisan movement. Actors of the theater created frontline concert brigades, outstanding artists performed on the front line in front of soldiers. The opera and ballet theater was evacuated to the Volga region of Russia (the cities of Gorky and Kovrov), where it continued its active creative work.

Immediately after the liberation of the capital the company returned to Minsk and in December 1944 opened the season with the premiere of the opera "Alesya" by E. Tikotsky. This event marked the revival of the National Opera and Ballet Theater of Belarus. After the repair and reconstruction of the theater building damaged by the bombing, its work resumed, and very soon the theater became one of the recognized leaders of the cultural space of the post-Soviet countries.

Based on the materials of the Bolshoi Theater of Belarus

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