The premiere of Jānis Kalniņš’s opera Hamlet is expected at the National Opera / Article

The new performance consists of the musical director and conductor of the show Mārtiņš Ozoliņš, director Kristina Wuss, set designer Andris Eglītis, costume designer Kristīne Pasternaka, choreographer Agris Daņiļevičs and lighting artist Mārtiņš Feldmanis. The patron of the production is the Latvian National Opera Guild (USA).

The main roles are Raimonds Bramanis or Andris Ludvigs (Hamlet), Jānis Apeinis or Rihards Mačanovskis (Claudius), Evija Martinsone or Inga Šlubovska-Kanceviča (Ophelia), Ilona Bagele or Dana Bramane (Gertrude).

“The Latvian composer had a great deal of courage to resort to Shakespeare ‘s famous tragedy. “the world of deeply romantic and bright images, the witty and humorous illustrative language of music, and the spiritually fulfilled and deeply philosophical perception of the world,” the opera was described by the new musical director Mārtiņš Ozoliņš.

The premiere of Jānis Kalniņš’s opera “Hamlets” directed by Jānis Zariņš at the Latvian National Opera took place in 1936 with the composer at the conductor’s desk. Once again, in a musically modified version, the production was directed by Jānis Zariņš in 1943. In both performances, the title role was sung by tenor Mariss Vētra, and the role of Claudia was sung by baritone Adolfs Kaktins.

The new production will be the third performance of this opera at the Latvian National Opera.

The opera “Hamlet” was completed in 1935, written in both Latvia and Austria. VEF soon began producing its own radio, the VEF Super Lux MD / 37, with a scale in the form of a map of Europe. which connects the moments of different centuries: 16th century (drama) – 1935 (opera) – 21st century (paintings). “The theme is personified in at least 20 different characters, the composer Kalniņš lives with fewer characters. Viewers of the Latvian National Opera have got acquainted with her creative manuscript in the productions of the operas “Alchina” (1998) and “Don Juan” (1999).

Set designer Andris Eglītis has created eight large-format paintings for the set design of the opera “Hamlets” – stage conquests. To do this, the artist used a variety of homemade tools, large-format brushes and technical constructions. “It was interesting for me to review the possibilities of stage painting. What is its place nowadays, when the possibilities of printing and projection are endless? The meaning of painting could be in its physicality. It is color, stroke, expressiveness of elements. “It is important that these paintings are not just magnified reproductions of sketches, but are created in a process in which one layer or line of paint shows the way to the next. scenographer.

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