Add to favorite
Operetta Park, a unique open-air festival will be held in Gatchina Park, St. Petersburg, in early August. Two operetta performances and a gala concert featuring European theater stars will take place during three festival days.
Gatchina Park is hosting again one of the most exciting musical events of the summer - a festival dedicated exclusively to the genre of operetta. The park will see vivid theatrical fantasies based on stage productions from the repertoire of the Musical Comedy Theater of Petersburg (Russia), created in collaboration with the Budapest Operetta and Musical Theater (Hungary).
Festival Program
Operetta Baroness Lili
The festival will be opened with a fantasy based on the Baroness Lili operetta by significant Hungarian composer Jeno Huszka (1875 – 1960). This performance gained the first Golden Mask Award to the Musical Comedy Theater. It was an award in The Best Actress nomination won by Valentina Kosobutskaya. For twelve years, this operetta has held the position of the audience hit.
Operetta Countess Maritsa
The Countess Maritsa operetta was adapted for the festival by the famous Hungarian director Miklos-Gabor Kerenyi, who has impressive experience in staging performances outside the theater.
Gala Concert
The festival will be completed with a gala concert demonstrating the diversity of the operetta genre. The program includes the most spectacular and virtuoso vocal parts, including those from rarely performed compositions. Each part features ballet dancers, the fact adding a lot to the spectacular concert. The program will feature invited soloists from Europe and the near abroad, such as Poland, Lithuania, and Moldova.
Park, Music, and Theater
The festival will be held in the Gatchina Park, one of the most picturesque St. Petersburg suburbs, the beloved residence of Paul the First. This is a unique place where you can relax and spend all day long. If you have not visited the luxurious Gatchina Palace Museum or the colorful Priory Palace yet, that is another reason to come here. In summertime, the Gatchina Park appears in all its glory. During the festival evenings it will be filled with wonderful live music, to top it all.
A large stage and an amphitheater for spectators will be constructed near the Gatchina Palace on the Silver Meadow. Tons of lighting and sound equipment will be brought here. Giant screens will be installed here for video projections. On the one hand, everything will be like in a theater, but on the other, it will be unusual and new.
The project organizers have introduced such elements into the stage productions that you will never see in a regular theater. The open-air stage makes it possible to involve unusual performers and resources. For example, real Cossacks and animals (a cow, a pig, and a few greyhounds) took part in performances of past festivals; besides, there was a whole parade of retro cars. This time, there will be a novelty as well: Baroness Lili will be performed in the Own Garden, a beautiful place in the park, which was intended specially for the recreation of the royal family. The organizers promise that the operetta will be presented in the way never done before!
The shows will be performed by the Musical Comedy Theater troupe, which means high-end professionals, the winners of international competitions and theater awards. The operettas and the gala concert will be accompanied by the Musical Comedy Orchestra under the conductorship by Andrei Alekseev.
See details on the official festival website
When: from 6 pm on August 2, 3 and 4, 2019
Where: Gatchina Museum-Reserve at the address 1, Krasnoarmeysky Prospect,
The Best Russian Opera & Ballet Theatres
Author: Vera Ivanova
