The Tsar’s Bride Comes to Bangkok

Thailand Cultural Center. Bangkok, Thailand. October 6, 2011. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride is seldom performed outside of Russia, where is remains a staple of that country’s opera repertoire. Quite coincidentally, I was in London on April 14, 2011, when The Tsar’s Bride had its UK premier at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, about 110 years after its Russian unveiling. I very much liked the opera on first hearing and the Royal Opera’s splendid cast, mostly Russian, sang up to international standards. The opera takes place during the reign of Ivan the Terrible in16^th century Russia, but in the Covent Garden production, the plot was updated to present day Moscow, a very common production technique in Europe, which I don’t particularly like, but in this instance, the Royal Opera’s modernization worked quite well, especially with its very creative set designs.

Having thought that seeing The Tsar’s Bride in London was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I was excited to learn that, as part of this year’s Bangkok Festival of Music and Dance, the Ekaterinburg State Opera Theatre visiting from Russia, was going to perform this quintessentially Russian opera in Bangkok on October 6, 2011. The Ekaterinburg State Opera Theatre hs made several visits to Bangkok and from my prior experiences, I knew it to be a very professional and excellent company. I was also looking forward to seeing The Tsar’s Bride performed in a traditional way, absent the 21^st century transplanting of the Covent Garden version.

I was not disappointed. The four-hour length of the opera passed quickly as the Ekaterinburg State Opera Theatre production brought more than competent singers, a superb orchestra, and a production steeped in Russian culture and performance norms. I liked the period costumes better than the business suits of the London production, but the sets and the lighting were not up to, say, the Metropolitan Opera or Covent Garden, which is understandable given that this was a road show. While the Ekaterinburg State Opera Theatre may not inspire, it does satisfy.