A New Boris Godunov at the Met, with René Pape, Stephen Wadsworth Director, Valery Gergiev, Conductor, by Michael Miller
Modest Mussorgsky (music and libretto),
Metropolitan Opera House: 10/18/2010.
Boris Godunov - René Pape
Prince Shuisky - Oleg Balashov
Pimen - Mikhail Petrenko
Grigory - Aleksandrs Antonenko
Marina - Ekaterina Semenchuk
Rangoni - Evgeny Nikitin
Varlaam - Vladimir Ognovenko
Simpleton* - Andrey Popov
Nikitich - Valerian Ruminski
Conductor - Valery Gergiev
Met Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Production - Stephen Wadsworth
Set Designer - Ferdinand Wögerbauer
Costume Designer - Moidele Bickel
Lighting Designer - Duane Schuler
Choreographer - Apostolia Tsolaki
Today science fiction seems to have replaced history as the field in which the great truths of our inner and social lives are reflected, and historicism, as it evolved in the nineteenth century, is no longer a tangible part of our world. This is not to say that the discipline has died out or even declined, but the historical perspective which for a century or so stood as the foundation of people’s perception of their world, became a branch of philosophy, and permeated fiction, poetry, and theatre is no longer so essential to us. And this, in turn, is not to say that great history is no longer being written, or that people don’t reach for historical books with some urgency, or that historical fiction is no longer popular. Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov

