Bass Alexander Roslavets about the Golden Cockerel in Berlin

The premiere of Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera The Golden Cockerel, directed by the famous Australian director Barry Koski, took place at the Berlin Komische Oper. The role of Tsar Dodon is performed by the young Belarusian bass Alexander Roslavets, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory and the Bolshoi Theater Youth Opera Program. On a new interpretation of Pushkin’s Tsar and Russian operas in today’s Europe Alexander Roslavets told Vladimir Dudin.

— How willingly did you agree to sing with Barry Kosky?

– With joy, without hesitation. Ten years ago I sang Dodon in St. Petersburg, when I was still a fifth-year student at the conservatory, but over the years I had completely forgotten the part, so I had to start over. Barry, at a meeting with us, spoke so sweetly about Rimsky-Korsakov’s music in this opera, leaving no doubt about how much he adores it: “There is so much color, love, sex in the melismas in The Golden Cockerel.” Koski said that if “Kitezh” and “Sadko” cannot be staged not about Russia, then this can be avoided here. The performance was staged by Dmitry Ulyanov, who this time also sings several performances. Since he and I have different parameters, different physics, I had to look for my Dodon. Barry Koski suggested several points that helped in the search. According to his idea, the king should go out like a “tired rabid beast.” And I was asked to go out like a hundred rabid animals, that is, with increased strength. In general, the whole production is Dodon’s nightmare. The choristers have horse faces, Polkan is also like a horse, everyone runs around, intimidating Dodon, who is afraid of everything. The king’s main goals are sleep, food and dreams of a young beauty. The Shemakhan Queen is sung by Ksenia Proshina, a soprano from Samara who lives in Paris.

— In front of which do you appear in your underwear in one of the scenes?

— In the play, everyone is beautifully dressed in the wedding procession scene, which turned out to be very bright, everyone is in dazzlingly glamorous costumes, as Barry loves. But Dodon, yes, remains where he was, which emphasizes the feeling that all this is just his illusion. “Where is the queen? Gone!” Dodon’s eyes are pecked out by a cockerel, to which the king runs with the hope that at least he will save him when everyone has turned away from him, but this does not happen. Barry actually had a radical idea for Dodon to come out either completely naked, or in just his underpants, they settled on a T-shirt and underpants, plus they also smear him with mud. The king’s head is swelling with problems; his kingdom’s neighbors “from the south, now from the east” are threatening pogroms. “They used to wait from the south, and lo and behold, an army was coming from the east.”

— But did all this coincide with your own sense of the fairy tale – Koska’s reading, the color scheme?

– I liked it all very much. In my opinion, it turned out to be a masterpiece. And I wouldn’t say that I noticed any hints towards Russia or some other state; everything turned out to be more like a myth, a fairy tale out of time and place. The visual side reminded me a little of the world of Barry Koski, who was born in Australia: a dry tree on a hill, dry grass, in which Australian landscapes “sounded”. Although, of course, you can easily find them somewhere in Russia. But overall, I repeat, the result is a psychological story, in no way an anti-Russian pamphlet. As far as I understand, Barry is very attached to Russian music, loves to work with Russian singers, he staged both “The Nose” by Shostakovich and the rather decent “Eugene Onegin”, which was shown in many places. And conductor James Gaffigan showed himself to be very sensitive to the word, it was very convenient to work with him. And in parallel with The Golden Cockerel, Gaffigan led performances of Onegin in the same Komische Opera.

— You studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with the famous bass Nikolai Okhotnikov. What kind of life did he prepare you for?

— I was preparing to work in the theater, but we never specifically discussed where I would work next. He was generally a most modest person. Nikolai Petrovich gave me a very good school, since before the conservatory I did not study at a music college, did not sing opera, sang folk songs, sang in the choir, including in the church choir, which I really liked, this is a whole chapter of my biography. But I had no understanding of the specifics of opera singing, so I can say with complete confidence that Okhotnikov molded me. I really miss him now, he left early. And at one time I went to the Hamburg Opera thanks to participation in the competition “St. Petersburg” by Irina Bogacheva, where the casting director of this opera house came to the jury, who invited me there to audition and where I was immediately accepted. There I was very lucky to work with the amazing maestro Kent Nagano.

— What does performing Russian music mean for Western musicians today?

— There are only more Russian operas; I just can’t agree with the imposed opinion that they are supposedly being cancelled. Both for Western musicians and for opera houses, if we talk about Central Europe – Austria, Switzerland, Germany – this is a very important component of the operatic repertoire. Last season, almost every fifth theater took on Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth, and there are also many plans for future seasons. At the festival in Erle, which was recently headed by Jonas Kaufmann, Mazeppa will be staged this summer, where I will make my debut as Kochubey. “Queens of Spades” is now being staged in parallel in three theaters – in Munich, where Borya Pinkhasovich (baritone Boris Pinkhasovich, soloist and director of the Mikhailovsky Theater opera) is participating. “Kommersant”) and Roma Burdenko (baritone Roman Burdenko, soloist of the Mariinsky Theater.— “Kommersant”), at the Deutsche Oper, where mostly foreign singers sing, and in Lyon. This is a very interesting phenomenon. I don’t think this has any special connection with politics, since everything was planned in advance. It just happens that way.