Katerina Izmaylova - the famous opera by Dmitry Shostakovich will premiere on stage of the Bolshoi Theater again.

      

      In the Soviet epoch the opera based on Nikolay Leskov's story Lady McBeth of the Mtsensk District was prohibited twice — nowadays it packs the house.

      

      Dmitry Shostakovich wrote the libretto and music in 1930 and that is when the opera premiered on stage. The story about the horrors of merchants' personal life was well acclaimed by the Soviet public, but top authorities of the USSR disapproved the author's compassion to the main character and music experiments of the young composer.

      

      Joseph Stalin saw the opera in the Bolshoi Theatre and then a devastating article was published in the Pravda newspaper. It was titled Mess Instead of Music and accused the author of excessive naturalism, abundance of sensitive contents and strong words, whereas his music was linked to jazz.

      

      The famous stage director Rimas Tuminas, the art director of the Vakhtangov Theatre was invited to stage the modern version of Katerina Izmaylova in the Bolshoi Theatre.

      It will premiere on February 18.