Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre will enter its 104th season later this year. Renovation work postponed the usual beginning of the theater bustle, but did not bring a creative pause. Already on November 10, the theater will open to the audience and invite you to the ceremonial opening of the season, where the premiere of the unforgettable "Aida" awaits. And this is not the only holiday with which the large family of LNOBT creators will delight their audience this year.
There were no easy tasks
Although the construction fences erected during the winter still surround the access to the theater, as assured by Audrius Kundrotas, acting as LNOBT's general director, most of the works to improve the energy efficiency of the building have already been implemented. In the building, all facade windows and skylights have been replaced, external partitions - walls, roof - have been insulated, the heating and plumbing systems, electrical installation have been updated.
"Renovation started at full capacity in April, so about 20 thousand to improve. sq. m building energy efficiency in such a short time was really quite a challenge. It is good that the theater did not actually stop its activities. It has not had a project of this scale since the opening of the LNOBT Chamber, which took place almost 50 years ago.
The old building of impressive size is included in the Register of Cultural Values. This means that working in such an object requires special care and knowledge. The contractor has had to deal with various unexpected jobs more than once. For example, after moving one or another structure, what is not expected opens up, and then you have to look for new solutions, which in turn leads to both additional time and costs," A. Kundrots admitted.
According to the interlocutor, although the theater works in unusual and difficult conditions, all this is redeemed by the audience's attention and support: "The fact that the audience really loves the theater and misses the performances very much is also evidenced by the sales of our new season - tickets for many performances are already completely or almost sold." , - illustrated by A. Kundrots.
Exclusive attention to Lithuanian creators
Perhaps the greatest attention of the audience in the theater repertoire is traditionally received by the premieres of classical works. Jurgita Skiotytė-Norvaišienė, head of LNOBT's Artistic Activities Department, is happy that a large group of Lithuanian creators and performers will help to implement them this season.
"By shaping the repertoire, we wanted to open the theater spaces to the audience with a performance produced by Lithuanian creators. Therefore, we are very much looking forward to seeing the famous opera "Aida" directed by Gediminas Šeduikis, which has been seen in our theater for a long time. And in January, a constellation of Lithuanian performers will invite the audience to the opera "Hofman's Stories" directed by the Italian director Federico Grazzini.
The spirit of Lithuanianness will permeate ballet fans as well: this year we will see choreographer Živilė Baikštytė's full-length performance "In the beginning there was nothing" to the music of composer Antanas Jasenko. The creators will immerse the audience in a dance full of pagan spirit based on ancient mythology. And in June, the premiere season of LNOBT will be completed by the performance "Parkas" by the world-famous choreographer Angelina Preljocaj - the interviewer reviews the highlights of the season.
Experiences that transcend boundaries
According to J. Skiotytė-Norvaišienė, the theater has been trying to please opera lovers not only with regular but also with alternative repertoire for several years. The result of such searches is the "Opera Genome" project and the idea of the opera "Things I didn't dare to say, and now it's too late" was born from it.
"LNOBT, in cooperation with the production company "Operomanija" and the Lithuanian National Drama Theater, will see this work on the LNDT stage already in the first days of December. It can be said that the modern opera directed by Kamilė Gudmonaitė even goes beyond the limits of its genre, so for those who are interested in experiments and like to combine different branches of art, this production should give them interesting discoveries", the interviewer hopes.
As J. Skiotytė-Norvaišienė told, another unexpected experiment was born in the cooperation of the theater with the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater and the Museum of the Palace of Lords.
"On September 29 and 30, we will present the opera "Andromeda" at the Palace of the Lords, the music for which was created by artificial intelligence for the first time in Lithuania. Now the audience will see a theatrical concert opera, and in the future we would like to stage a real baroque work, the music of which would be performed with authentic instruments of the baroque era", J. Skiotytės-Norvaišienė shared the plans.
Big productions are on the way
The head of the LNOBT Artistic Activities Department was happy that the big creative projects implemented as joint productions with theaters in other countries of the world also did not stop: "Thanks to the consistent work of the team, which has been strengthened over many years, its values and responsibilities, in the next theater season, the most discerning gourmands will again be pleased with great opera works such as "Turandot", "Madame Butterflies" or "Idomeneus". It is nothing new for theaters to share productions, so they are currently shown on other stages of the world, and they will come to us according to a pre-arranged schedule already next year," said J. Skiotytė-Norvaišienė.
