The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb recently cancelled a production of Eugene Onegin, an opera by Tchaikovsky whose premiere was scheduled for May 2022. Instead, the theatre will stage one of the most famous operas in history, Puccini’s Tosca, directed by Mario Pontiggio. The premiere is scheduled for May 27th, writes Jutarnji list.
Ukrainian conductor Alla Kulbaba from the National Opera in Kiev has been invited to orchestrate the performances in Tosca, and Ukrainian soloist Oksana Kramareva is also expected to perform. The Croatian National Theatre stated in their announcement that they ‘stand in solidarity with artists from Ukraine and consider it an obligation to provide an opportunity to Ukrainian colleagues to continue their artistic work’.
Widely known as one of the most spectacular operas ever written, the new production of Tosca will feature performances of opera singers Tomislav Mužek, Luciano Batinić and Valentina Fijačko Kobić of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, and Kristina Kolar of the Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc in Rijeka.
The Zagreb theatre originally planned for the opera Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky to be produced by a creative team from Russia, namely Mikhail Sinkevich, conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre, and director Yuri Laptev, Putin’s former cultural adviser and holder of the title of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation. In view of the war in Ukraine, the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb cancelled the plans they’ve been working on for the last year, envisaged as a project bringing renowned Russian artists to stage Pushkin’s famous work in Zagreb.
