Byelorussian Theater of Opera and Ballet

(full name, Great Academic Byelorussian Theater of Opera and Ballet), opened in Minsk on May 25, 1933 with the opera Carmen. It grew out of the former State Studio of Opera and Ballet in Minsk (1930–33). The theater’s first leaders were I. A. Gitgarts (artistic director), G. N. Petrov (conductor), O. M. Borisevich (director), and L. V. Kramarev-skii (balletmaster); the singers L. P. Aleksandrovskaia, R. V. Mlodek, S. Iu. Druker, I. M. Bolotin, and M. I. Denisov; and the ballet soloists A. V. Nikolaeva, T. S. Uzunova, Iu. V. Kherasko, and S. V. Drechin.

Along with Russian and Western classics, the theater has staged the following national operas: Tikotskii’s Mikhas’ Podgornyi (1939) and Alesia (1944), Bogatyrev’s In the Dense Forests of Poles’e (1939) and Nadezhda Durova (1956), Turenkov’s Flower of Happiness (1940) and Clear Dawn (1958), and Semeniako’s Thorny Rose (1960). It has also staged such national ballets as Kroshner’s The Nightingale (1939), Zolotarev’s Prince-Lake (1949; State Prize of the USSR, 1950), G. Vagner’s Light and Shadow (1963), and Glebov’s Dream and Alpine Ballad (1961 and 1967). Also in the theater’s repertoire are works by composers from the other Union republics, including the operas The Quiet Don by Dzerzhinskii, October by Mura deli, and Brest Fortress by Molchanov, and the ballets The Path of Thunder by Karaev and Spartacus by Khachaturian. The theater’s productions are staged both in Byelorussian and Russian. In 1940 the theater was awarded the Order of Lenin.

At various times the following people have worked in the theater: the singers People’s Artist of the USSR N. D. Vor-vulev, N. A. Tkachenko, People’s Artist of the Byelorussian SSR L. F. Alekseeva, A. D. Arsenko, V. F. Volchanets-kaia, M. A. Ziuvanov, and N. N. Serdobov; the ballet soloists People’s Artist of the Byelorussian SSR Z. A. Vasil’eva, V. P. Mironov, and L. M. Riazhenova; the conductors People’s Artist of the Byelorussian SSR L. V. Liubimov and T. M. Kolomiitseva; the directors People’s Artist of the USSR L. P. Aleksandrovskaia, B. A. Pokrov-skii, and Honored Artist of the RSFSR B. A. Mordvinov; the choreographers People’s Artist of the Byelorussian SSR S. V. Drechin, People’s Artist of the RSFSR and the Byelorussian SSR A. N. Ermolaev, and Honored Art Worker of the Byelorussian SSR K. A. Muller; and the artists People’s Artist of the Byelorussian SSR S. F. Nikolaev and others. The troupe presently includes (1970) the singers People’s Artist of USSR T. N. Nizhnikova, People’s Artist of the Byelorussian SSR L. I. Galushkina, I. D. Sorokin, V. M. Chernobaev, and T. I. Shimko; and the ballet soloists People’s Artist of the Byelorussian SSR N. S. Davydenko, V. K. Davydov, A. A. Korzenkova, and I. N. Savel’eva. The principal conductor is Honored Artist of the RSFSR K. K. Tikhonov, the principal choreographer is Honored Artist of the RSFSR O. M. Dadishkiliani, the principal chorus director is Honored Art Worker of the Byelorussian SSR A. P. Kogadeev, and the principal artist is People’s Artist of the Byelorussian SSR E. G. Chemodurov.