Dismissal for achievements – Kommersant

One of the most famous opera houses in Russia, the Perm Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre, has left its director Dovlet Anzarokov and chief conductor Migran Agadzhanyan. Mr. Anzarokov stated that the contract with him was terminated at the initiative of the regional Ministry of Culture. The ex-director also said that the Minister of Culture of the Perm Territory, Alla Platonova, allegedly demanded that he fire Migran Agadzhanyan and the head of the ballet troupe, Anton Pimonov. Alla Platonova herself does not comment on the departure of the chief conductor and the reasons for the termination of the contract with the director.

On May 10, the regional Ministry of Culture and the director of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater Dovlet Anzarokov terminated the contract. Tatyana Gushchina, financial director of the Perm Opera, has been appointed acting director. According to informed interlocutors Kommersant-Prikamyethe contract with Mr. Anzarokov ended in 2024 and was terminated ahead of schedule.

The next day, chief conductor Mihran Aghajanyan announced his intention to leave the theater. He announced this on his page. on VKontakte: “In connection with the termination of the contract of Dovlet Anzarokov, with great pain in my heart, I have to announce that I will leave the post of chief conductor on June 14, 2023, immediately after the premiere performances of G. Verdi’s opera Un Ballo in Maschera.”

The press service of the Ministry of Culture of the Perm Territory confirmed the information about the termination of the contract with the director of the theater, but the department does not comment on the reasons for this decision. The press service of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater specified that Dovlet Anzarokov announced his resignation from the post of director on May 10 at a meeting with employees of the Perm Opera.

According to Kommersant-Prikamye, the decision to terminate the contract with the director of the Perm Opera was unexpected both for the theater staff and for most employees of the regional Ministry of Culture.

The interlocutor, who is familiar with the situation, notes that a limited circle of employees of the regional Ministry of Culture (“literally the minister and a few other people”) knew about the upcoming personnel decision. Another source suggests that the termination of the contract could have been discussed before the start of the May holidays at a meeting between the Minister of Culture of the Perm Territory, Alla Platonova, and Dovlet Anzarokov.

Mr. Anzarokov himself wrote on his page on May 11 on VKontaktethat the contract was terminated at the initiative of the regional ministry of culture. According to the ex-director of the theater, Alla Platonova advised him to fire the chief conductor of the theater Mihran Aghajanyan and the head of the ballet troupe Anton Pimonov. “Personally, it seems to me that such advice for a successfully operating institution is not the most constructive and at least strange. That is, I had to remove the two main creative leaders in the theater, which received 4 masks in 2 full years (Golden Mask awards.— “b”), released many successful new productions, performed on the stages of the Moscow International Theater Theater, the Novaya Opera, the Bolshoi Theater, the Alexandrinsky Theatre, is now planning to go on a big tour to the Mariinsky Theater, and last year he made the biggest ballet tour in the last few decades on the stage of the Mikhailovsky Theater? I beg your pardon, but I have not seen and do not see any reasons for this!

And as a decent and generally adequate person, I am not ready for such instructions on “conducting the theatrical process,” writes Mr. Anzarokov.

He also noted that under his leadership, the theater team was able to “seriously improve” the financial situation of the institution. “In two years, the theater has significantly increased its income, which allowed us to increase the composition of the orchestra, seriously strengthen the staff of the opera troupe, the conductor staff, and also raise the salaries of some of the employees, which, in fact, were beggarly, for which I, as director , it was a shame. We were able to move in this direction and would move further,” insists the ex-director.

Alla Platonova did not comment on the information about the conflict with Mr. Anzarokov, but thanked the ex-director for his work. “He took over the management of one of the best theaters in the country at a very difficult moment, he was able to continue and develop the traditions that exist here (such as concert performances of operas, big tours). His achievements are indisputable,” Platonova told Kommersant-Prikamye.

“At the moment, there is no question of further personnel changes: repertoire performances are underway, important premieres are being prepared, and it is extremely important to create all the conditions for the team,” the minister added. According to her, the new head of the theater is planned to be presented before the end of May.

According to Kommersant-Prikamye, now the main candidate for the post of director of the theater is Anna Volk, former technical director and head of the headquarters of the Golden Mask festival.

Dovlet Anzarokov, a graduate of the composition department of the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, was appointed General Director of the Perm Opera in June 2021. At that time, the leadership position was vacant after the departure of Andrei Borisov, who in November 2020 took over as general director of the Moscow Academic Musical Theater (MAMT) named after. K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.

Prior to working in Perm, Mr. Anzarokov in different years was the chief administrator of the concert hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, head of the sales department at the St. Petersburg Theater of Musical Comedy, deputy director at the Youth Theatre. A. A. Bryantseva, head of the marketing and ticket sales department of the National Drama Theater of Russia (Alexandrinsky Theatre). He is the founder and former director of the St. Petersburg International Youth Center for Musical Art.

Nadezhda Agisheva, project coordinator of the New Collection Foundation, member of the Public Chamber of the Perm Territory, notes that the decision to terminate the contract with the head of the Perm Opera was made non-publicly, so it is difficult to judge its reasons. “The problem is that there was no public assessment of both the artistic and economic and managerial components of the theatre’s work. It is not clear what caused this personnel decision, what is the economics of the theater, the quality of its management,” the expert says. “In my opinion, this is wrong, because the townspeople should understand why the head of one of the main theaters in Perm leaves with a significant budget, what is the concept of development of this institution. Such decisions should be made transparently and reasonably,” adds Nadezhda Agisheva.

Anton Klepikov, vice-president of the Center for Strategic Research Foundation, former vice-premier of the government of the Perm Territory for culture, sports, tourism, education and science, youth policy, believes that frequent changes in leadership may hinder the development of the Perm Opera. “In my opinion, the change of leadership every two or three years does not allow us to develop a long-term strategy for the development of the theater, form a permanent team and a recognizable repertoire, the image of the theater. Moreover, there were no visible reasons for terminating the contract: Dovlet Anzarokov attracted new personnel, the theater developed under his leadership, received Golden Masks. The departure of the chief conductor is also a big loss,” the expert notes.

Konstantin Kadochnikov, Perm