Performance

A concert without words, as the play Times…Seasons… is often called, is the final part of a triptych, which is preceded by the plays P.S. Dreams and Absinth. In this final segment, the authors continue their search for a unique way of representing a musical interpretation on stage, as a mixture of instrumental and vocal components. In fact, all the plays that director Popovski works on are visually impressive, and include imaginative set design, plastics and light effects.

The topic of the seasons has always been artistically interesting, because of the unique philosophical meaning it carries. The change of the seasons reminds us of the cyclic nature of human life: spring, that reawakens us, represents youth, and winter, which rounds up the year, symbolizes aging and maturity. Because of this, Times…Seasons… is a mental journey through time and space, complete with elements of poetry and music. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, as well as well-known pieces by Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Astor Piazzola, have been selected as the play’s musical backdrop, but are performed in an original way, giving a new spin to popular classical masterpieces. This final segment of the triptych combines the experiences of the two preceding productions, at the same time also achieving a completely different instrumental concept.

The creative team of Elena Kamburova’s Theatre of Music and Poetry, who were involved in this performance, received an award in Moscow in 2009 in recognition of their creative contribution and production of this play. 

Director

Ivan Popovski is currently a director at Moscow's Peter Fomenko’s Studio Theatre. He was born in 1969 in Macedonia. He began studies in direction in the class of Peter Fomenko in 1988 at the Russian Academy of Drama, after mastering Russian after only three months. During his second year of studies, he directed the play Adventure, based on a drama by Marina Cvetajeva, which was pronounced the production of the year in Moscow. He also directed The Masked Sculptor, based on the drama by F. Krommenlink, which was his final year project. His other directions include Eugene Onegin (an interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s opera), Pugachova, based on poetry by Pushkin and Yesenin, Gogol’s Notes of a Madman, as well as Hotel Europe, The King’s Bride and Rigoletto, the trilogy P.S. Dreams…, Absinth, Times…Seasons… at Moscow's Theatre of Music and Poetry, and many others. 

Theatre

The Theatre of Music and Poetry was established in 1992 on the basis of a creative study by Elena Kamburova. The theatre takes song as the basis of dramatic expression, thus presenting a new style, which can serve as a functional segment of operas, operettas, ballets and musicals, and in which poetry is the equivalent of music. In setting up the theatre, Kamburova brought together young and talented musicians (such as Bulat Okudzhava and Yuliy Kim), as well as actors and like-minded professionals, who, just like she does, see theatre not as a place that aims to provide entertainment to audiences, but one that strives to make them part of a global culture. The plays and performances produced by this theatre are approachable and understandable to all theatregoers – even to those not inclined to the phenomenon of pop culture, or to the music it generates.